Membrillo El Quijote S.A. was born in the middle of 1840, when Rafael Rivas Perez started a confectionery in Puente Genil (Córdoba) specialized in making quince paste or jelly.
From the sixties on , his successor, Miguel Chacon Rivas, started a period of technological changes in the manufacturing of this product, being a pioneer in the automatic thermoplastic vacuum-packaging .
In 1981, the company bet hard for the future, becoming a Public Limited Company and investing in the biggest quince plantation in the world, with over 80000 trees (Agrícola El Quijote S.A. and Membrillos Extremeños SL.) and this way, to assure the raw material to make its products.
In these plantations, the most modern techniques are used, as, grafting techniques, formation, trees pruning, fitosanitary treatments, automatic drip irrigation fed from our own pond of around 50 million litres, all that, so the fruit, at early autumn, is in perfect conditions to be transformed into the famous QUINCE PASTE or JELLY.
Thanks to this sweet, important element in the mediterranean diet for its great nutritional contribution, MEMBRILLO EL QUIJOTE S.A. has become the most important company dedicated to the manufacturing of creams and paste/jelly fruits, with a remarkable presence in the international market, exporting over 15% of its production to countries as the E.E.U.U., Canada , Venezuela, The United Kingdom, Germany, Belgium, Holland, Switzerland, France, Portugal, Morocco, South Africa, Italy, Czech Republic, Hungary, China or Israel .
This famous company ,which started as a simple confectionery, already owns over 26000 square metres facilities and with a staff of over 80 workers , manages to produce more than 15000 tons a year.
MEMBRILLO EL QUIJOTE S.A. has done of quality a sign of identity. In this respect, ISO 9001 Certification was obtained, which assures special care during the whole production process in order to achive the maximum quality in the products , and it is in the course of obtaining as well, the IFS (International Food Standard) and BRC (British Retail Consortium-Global Food Standard). In order to achive this, it posseses its own laboratory, where the key points of the production process are controlled (microbiological parameters, weight, temperature, PH, etc.)
This company is constantly increasing its range of products and innovating in their appearance, all this is a faithful reflex of an attitude: “satisfying our customers needs and adapting to the market requirements”.
Continuing with this idea, a range of products have been introduced, always in line with the idea of incorporating new fruits (strawberry, plum, pineapple, orange, apple, tomato, guava, peach and quince), this way, talking about creams and paste/jelly fruits, we satisfy all tastes , and we can say, we are worldwide leaders in their manufacturing.
Adapting to the new market requirements, this company has innovated, through deep research, introducing a new range of pruducts with a high fiber content, obtained adding soluble food fiber (inuline and oligofructose). These fibers provide with a prebiotic-bifidus effect and help the intestinal transit, stimulating the increasing of benefitial bacteria.
At the same time, recent independent studies show that the soluble fibers used, help the body to absorb more quantity of calcium from the food, and therefore, to strengthen the bones.
The new presentations in packages easy to OPEN, CONSUME AND CLOSE, offer the market a functional feeding, based on solid fruits, with unequalled textures and flavours that will not leave anybody indifferent in realation to the traditional flavours.All these products are easy to storage.
