There are a handful of untouchable Maltese food and beverage brands which stand head and shoulders above the imported competition, consistent firm favourites thanks to their quality.

Three Hills kunserva is one. The Gozitan brand celebrates its 75th anniversary this weekend as a nationwide survey reveals that eight in 10 households prefer the tomato paste in the unmistakable blue tin.

The survey, carried out by research agency MISCO last month, found that 65 per cent of respondents preferred Three Hills kunserva because of its flavour; 15 per cent bought it out of habit. A small percentage said its bright red colour skewed their choice. Some even said they bought it because it was a Gozo-made product.

Over 65 per cent said kunserva was mainly used to be spread on crusty bread (the survey seems to suggest that the consumption of traditional ħobż biż-żejt is actually on the rise); 88 per cent said it was used in everyday cooking.

The survey's findings have delighted Xewkija-based Magro Bros managing director John Magro, whose family introduced Three Hills kunserva to the local market in 1934 - but it does not seem to surprise him.

Three Hills' main competition is posed by other Maltese brands, and he believes that since the market was liberalised, the brand's presence has been strengthened.

Every incentive launched by Magro Bros Foods Ltd connected to Three Hills sees such overwhelming participation that a small team of staff is assigned to handle the truckloads of entries. It is one of the reasons why the newly launched (blue) label for Three Hills kunserva will feature one of 36 winning recipes sent in by consumers during a recent campaign.

Starkly aware of consumers' loyalty to the brand, the company has declared the summer 'open season' at its Xewkija plant: a programme of celebratory events has been lined up for Magro Bros to express its gratitude to staff, merchants, and customers.

The company has extended an invitation to every family to tour the factory and receive gifts to celebrate Three Hill's diamond jubilee - tours may be booked by calling the company freephone 8007 5533.

Today all merchants will be hosted to a tour of one of the country's largest privately owned plants before a lavish event.

A large-scale barbecue has been earmarked for the company's 140 staff members and 150 ancillary personnel in late August. A similar event will be laid on for around 400 tomato farmers in Malta and Gozo.

Farmers are the pivotal characters in Three Hills kunserva's success story. In the 1930s, farmers' main crops were cotton and cumin for export to France - tomatoes were only grown in gardens for domestic consumption. Ġianni Magro, who started the business before the Magros' manufacturing operation was established, used to buy crops from farmers in exchange for other goods.

He was what was known as a kumpratur and in the second half of the 19th century would travel to Malta and sell the Gozitan farmers' crops in exchange for animal fodder, farmers' tools, and pots for housewives to take back to Gozo.

Cash only began to circulate in limited quantities after World War I. Magro and his three sons Emanuel, Ġuzeppi and Wiġi, persuaded farmers to switch to growing tomatoes on the agreement they would be paid in cash - the crop is called a 'cash crop' to this day.

"The seeds were imported, probably from Italy. In those days, they would reap about nine to ten tonnes per hectare," Mr Magro, whose father and uncles all passed away when he was a young boy, explained.

"Today, we have reached a yield of around 65 tonnes per hectare - farmers have around 300 hectares producing solely for the company. They use drip irrigation now and the technology is very advanced. We also use mother stock every year, rather than second- and third-generation seeds like they used in those days."

Almost until the 1980s, kunserva was packaged in commercial-sized tins and housewives would buy a measure from the local grocer who would wrap it in thick greaseproof paper. Research has shown that before Three Hills was introduced on the market, two small factories were producing kunserva in Ħamrun and Marsa. The brands were known as Tal-Qattus and Tal-Bulldog. They too canned kunserva in catering-sized tins - even Cirio, the Parma-based Italian brand, packaged conserva in this size.

In the 1950s, production ran at a rate of 13 cans a minute (the Magros also manufactured the cans) - today it runs at 400 to 500 cans a minute, an extraordinary leap from the mid-1930s when production was semi-manual and just three to four cans a minute were churned out.

The second-generation Magros' target market was not domestic - because practically all houses had a garden in which tomatoes were grown, most people made their own kunserva. The brothers produced kunserva for the British Services' personnel and the Merchant Navy - the Mediterranean was hub of activity and the British Empire was at its peak.

"They wanted to be different from Tal-Qattus and Tal-Bulldog," Mr Magro pointed out. "The equipment they had acquired from Italy in the 1930s was already very modern for its time. In the 1950s, they were the first to buy a production line to package kunserva in tubes for the ships. Three Hills was registered as a trademark at around this time - it was one of the first local brands to be registered."

John Magro and his brother Michael took over the business from their mother in 1977 and immediately called a meeting with 1,000 farmers - all Gozitan - supplying tomatoes to the firm. There were more farmers then but 1,000 tonnes was "a record for those times". Nowadays, around 8,000 to 10,000 tonnes are purchased from the farmers a year.

The secret to Three Hills kunserva is that production involves only fresh fruit - a 400-gramme tin contains 20 medium-sized "good, Maltese" tomatoes, close to three kilogrammes' worth. This fact is proudly declared on the new labelling. Kunserva, essentially a blend of tomatoes, sugar and sea salt, is canned within 24 hours to seal in flavours. It is also available in tubes and jars.

Two new varieties of kunserva have been added to the brand line-up, one with basil and another with mint - strictly fresh herbs have been used, of course. Due to considerable consumer demand, Magro Bros came up with a kunserva variant with no added salt and another will be launched in September after a three-year project: reduced sugar.

Mr Magro said the company was determined to find a way to meet consumers' consistent request for a low-sugar version while preserving the traditional kunserva flavour. The project team have reduced the sugar content and compensated for it with plant extract rather than sweeteners.

Asked how many tins of Three Hills kunserva were sold every year, Mr Magro shrugged his shoulders and answered: "Millions, millions." It is one of our staple foods, after all.

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