Panoramic Fruit Company
Current Availability for the Panoramic Fruit Company
This page serves to keep the visitor to the site updated on what is for sale at any given moment. The bulk of the fruit that we produce is only available in quantity from the end of June to the end of September. The precise timing varies every year and I will do my best to post the start of each crop. This is not an exact science!
Each year, there may be new fruits coming into production that I will be selling wholesale to qualified buyers. I have put together a page devoted to identifying fruit coming in the years ahead. Take a look at what is Coming in 2008 while you are here visiting this web site.
I am not open to the public and do not do tours. This is a working commercial farm with few good roads and is just not safe for tour groups.
Availability for 2007
Rambutan
March 22, 2007
This is the first update for the year 2007. This year, there will be some changes in distribution of the rambutan due to the projected large size of the harvest. The health and vigor of the producing trees and the increase in the number of young trees producing for the first time will push the tonnage to all-time new highs in 2007. However, the demand still is greater than the supply but more of the people of Puerto Rico will get to enjoy the rambutan again (or try it for the first time) than in 2006. The article last year in Primera Hora will be followed this year by additional media exposure and the awareness will only continue to expand by word of mouth to additional consumers of this delicious and nutritious fruit.
The projected arrival of the first fruit will be July and if there is any before that, it will be in small quantities only.
Supplemental Note April 29, 2007
I would also like to open up the rambutan distribution to other wholesale customers in the Caribbean. Logistics would be the biggest issue to overcome; the more the importer could do to facilitate the movement of rambutan fruit from the farm gate to their door, the more easily I would be able to supply them. The fruit would come off the trees and be in your hands within 48 hours or less. I would do my best to expedite the movement from Puerto Rico with USDA inspections and attached phytosanitary certificates. Brokers who are currently bringing produce from Puerto Rico to their respective islands would be able to try this fruit possibly for the first time. Each country's agriculture department would need to be consulted to be make sure that the importation of rambutan is legal.
The airports we are closest to are in Mayaguez (MAZ) and Aguadilla (BQN). Some customers may be able to obtain fruit by sea. Cruise ships are also welcome to contact me and their brokers could coordinate the deliveries with their sailing schedules in July and August.
Supplemental Note August 8, 2007
Sales of the rambutan commenced at last! This was the latest start of the harvest we have ever had and it will make the season run late, hopefully. It follows that there will be fruit into September. As I write, fruit is being picked, packed and shipped to customers in Puerto Rico and the amount of fruit being picked will increase for another few weeks.
Supplemental Note September 21, 2007
The end is in sight as the rambutan crop winds down for 2007. It was a challenging year and adjustments were needed to get the fruit to the people of Puerto Rico. I hope that there has finally been a degree of acceptance coupled with reasonable pricing because tons of fruit were wasted before sales finally took off.
Seasonal versus non-seasonal fruit pricing
In general, fruit that is available year round is priced competitively because every major store has them, needs to sell them quickly as they are perishable and must compete with all of the other vendors. Seasonal fruit is in a different category. Stores try to prevent losses by marking it up higher in case they can not sell it quickly enough to beat spoilage. An example of this would be strawberries although increasingly, they are available every month. They are also quite perishable.
Rambutan is in a special category for Puerto Rico between high priced seasonal fruit and lower priced non-seasonal fruit because it will be seasonal, appearing during the summer but available in large enough quantities that the price should come down. Look for this in the years to come. It is also not as perishable as many other fruits.
Minimum quantities, terms and other details to be worked out by email at wholesale@panoramicfruit.com
Mangosteen, Longan and Durian
The mangosteen are sold out indefinitely. I continue to receive emails about the supply and would ask everyone reading this to know that no one is sorrier than I am that there is no extra fruit beyond my current commitments. None. I have no mangosteen available for sale in 2007, 2008 and possibly ever.
Very young developing mangosteen
The two customers, Baldor in New York and Melissa's in California, are to be the sole customers for the mangosteen from the Panoramic Fruit Company. How they distribute their shipments is entirely up to them. It is too early to estimate when they will receive their first shipments from the farm or how large the harvest will be.
Notes for August 8, 2007
Mangosteens are now being shipped to Melissa's and Baldors. The young trees defy accurate predictions as to amounts or duration of the season but there should be small amounts being shipped through most of August. These are the only two recipients of this fruit at this time and no new inquiries will be considered for the foreseeable future. We have been able to get the fruit from the tree branch to the customer in 48 hours.
Longan
It is shaping up to be a better year for the longan from the Panoramic Fruit Company. This is a challenging tree to grow because the flowering is irregular, the wood is soft and the bats, birds and bugs all love them. That said, the variety Diamond River is starting to flower and there is the very earliest indication that we will have something to pick this Summer. However, even a mild hurricane can undo this paragraph completely. I will update this when the crop has progressed further. The recent heavy rains have helped a great deal and the flush of flowers resulting from that will be significant. The trees are wildly healthy. The rest is luck.
Durian
The hope is that in 2007 we will be looking at a good increase over last year's crop and this will be of interest to those who have found the charms of this fruit irresistible. The flowering is starting right now and looks pretty spectacular.
Branches loaded with durian flower buds as yet unopened
Once the initial fruit set has finished in a month or so, the crop estimates will be posted. What this pictures shows comprises hundreds of flowers about to open. After fertilization, this section of the branch may only have 2 to 5 fruits still developing!
Wholesale inquiries are welcome at wholesale@panoramicfruit.com for the longan and durian but as I indicated above, the mangosteen is sold out for many years to come.
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2006
A close-up of the Malabar Chestnut, Pachira aquatica
Rambutan in 2006
The rambutan crop this year will be our largest ever. The heavy and steady rainfall of 2005 followed the severe 2004-2005 dry season and the much-needed rain has put us ahead of where I thought we would be.
As with 2005, all rambutan will be sold through a supermarket and this one chain will have the exclusive for all of Puerto Rico in 2006 as well. We will continue to take care of our first customers, as well.
An early estimate of the first fruit to appear in stores will be made in a few months. In the early summer of 2006, a better estimate will be posted here. The expectation is that the first fruit will show up at around the usual time which is the end of July. More later.
June 28, 2006
Uh, oops! Well, forget what I said above. Things did not go quite the way I thought they would. The first rambutan will be in stores this week and the early fruit means a long season. It will go for months this year, possibly ending in September. The supermarket that has the exclusive is Pueblo.
August 25, 2006
This is the final post for 2006 regarding the rambutan. There are only a few trees still producing any fruit at this point and the amounts are too small to ship so, my thanks to all of Puerto Rico for their amazing reception of the rambutan. I am indebted to the person who wrote a wonderful article complete with photos and facts about this fruit and I can not thank her enough. I hope in the years ahead that this will become a staple in the stores, providing some additional variety to the Puerto Rican table and some color in your lives, as well. Thank you all for making this our best year ever.
Until 2007.
Mangosteen and Longan
No other fruit will be available as we are now sold out of mangosteen and longan for 2006. Please do not email us asking for these fruits.
The only exception might be some durian availability in August or later but that will not be known until well into the summer. Again, that will be posted on this Current Availability page.
June 28, 2006
There are already some large durian forming that have hit about 7 pounds and they are still green. There may be some in July that will be fully ripe and ready and will be closer to ten pounds and up. Contact R. Luciano at (787) 672-2134 for more information.
Contact us at wholesale@panoramicfruit.com or call R. Luciano at(787) 672-2134