Antón Calero, the rhythm of nature
From their farm in La Mancha, the Antón Calero family has been able to maintain the agricultural tradition of many generations without losing the ambition to adapt to new markets. The brand just launched a gourmet product line based on high-quality pistachios.
Natural agriculture, respect for nature rhythms and the search for quality, define this family business.
How did this company start?
We are a family business that has always worked in the field and in the countryside. My grandfather bought and sold many farms during his life and my mother inherited the Antón Calero farm. We have worked with barley and wheat, but 8 years ago, the pistachio became a remarkable product in La Mancha, so we decided to plant it too.
We checked that it was progressing well and we set up the factory to process the pistachios as well. With the first productions we launched the brand Maná, more oriented to herbalists and organic product stores.
We verified that there was another more gourmet target and we brought out the Antón Calero line. We have the tradition of agriculture of more than 100 years and now, we also have direct sales.
How is your pistachio? What makes it special?
Manchego pistachio is amazing. It is very successful because it is very large and is a high quality product. In addition, the process we carry out is manual, so, you will never find a closed pistachio in the box, unlike other companies that do the process with optical machines. Another feature that we are most proud of is that our drying process is at a low temperature for two days.
How is the drying process exactly?
Many companies that work with very high volumes of pistachios dry them faster and at higher temperatures. We don´t do that. We dry them for more than two days and at a low temperature, without burning them. This allows. Some time ago, we tested our pistachios in the laboratory, the data indicated that they maintained an exaggerated number of particles per million of vitamin E, compared to others.
And how is the salting process?
We toast them lightly with a point of salt that is achieved through a brine obtained directly from the springs of Belinchón (Cuenca). Which makes it a 100% natural salting process.
Your philosophy is based on sustainable agriculture. How does it work?
There are some farms that only allows three meters between each tree. Ours keep 6 meters away, we cut the trees ourselves, and we work on the concept that the pistachio goes directly to the customer. We also don’t want to be in shopping malls. We opted for gourmet shops.
We maintain the utmost respect for the land, without products that damage it, with more artisanal d techniques. We use manure each year produced by cows from neighboring farms, we create jobs in the town itself and reduce the carbon footprint by avoiding distributors.
What are your next steps?
We would love for people to visit our farm and be part of the pistachio harvest, to enjoy the farming landscape of La Mancha too. We want to create a complete experience for our customers, especially European customers.
What new products will you launch on the market?
In front of the farm we have many olive trees. We have achieved the organic certification and we are looking for the oil mill to process our olive oil. The same happens with our vineyard, we will make a crianza from La Mancha. Finally, we will make a pistachio paste with a little olive oil without any chemicals. The brand will continue to grow based on what is around the farm.
Why did you join Spainery?
We want to go abroad, to Europe. We investigated which country looks for and buys more organic products and it is Germany. We were looking for a marketplace that would help us export our products and we discovered Spainery.
