The meadows of Huelva hide the best products
The Sierra de Huelva still tastes like town. To a town named after ham and vegetables, where the chaplains are still called Don Longinus and the scales weigh in quintals and arrobas because they don't understand kilos.
villages with houses whitewashed with flour and slopes that climb slowly , because neither the old nor the brown are in a hurry to reach centenarians. That's why the plazas have benches. And kids. Children who see a little lamb and they don't say how beautiful; they say how rich . The grandmothers give them a snack and clean the clothes in the laundry, because they do not need the fast program of the washing machine. Not a dryer. That's why they put the afternoon on the threshold of the doors to air.
And the doors have mosquito nets. To keep mosquitoes out. Because whoever comes from outside is a foreigner even if he comes from Badajoz; foreigners are those who come from abroad and do not speak Spanish. Some stay and repopulate the Sierra, as Galicians and Leonese repopulated it after the reconquest, in the 13th century.
They also repopulate those who emigrated in the sixties and return, because they left for work and are now retired. And they become gardeners . And water the human void. And the tomatoes. Tomatoes that taste They taste like tomato. Although few know what a tomato tasted like before. But the pink tomato tastes. It is the missing link of tomatoes. The original tomato, the one brought from America.
Life in the dehesa and tomatoes that taste like tomatoes
That's what they say. That can weigh up to a kilo the unit. That's why they don't ripen until the end of summer and they barely last two months fresh on the market, because they are robust but delicate. Like the serranos. You have to take care of them, because, according to the ** Slow Food movement **, they are in danger of becoming extinct. They fix themselves with olive oil and salt, they don't ask for anything else.
Mushrooms , on the other hand, demanding the first rains of September . They appear in autumn-winter, and with them the boletus hunter . Armed with the basket, he knows where to find senderuelos and tentullos and tanas : in the same place where he took his father to look for them, in an imprecise thicket that blurs in evasiveness. The gurumelo is more from the Andévalo area, it is the most he will be willing to give up. And in November they celebrate Mycological Conference he will add.
Chantarelas and galipiernos they hide from strangers behind a chestnut tree. Its branches tremble, decrepit, leafless from a hundred springs. Senile, he no longer remembers if primeval chestnut trees the Romans planted them; because, where there was no wheat, the Romans planted chestnut trees, to make bread with the fruit of the tree. The thing is that there are a few arbus panis that are getting on in years. They are millennials. Underdogs.
Linares de la Sierra Street
Its chestnuts are hard to peel, not like the pilongas of Malaga. And the world no longer has time to peel chestnuts. The harvest is down seventy percent in the last thirty years , they point out; while the profitability of beauty per hectare remains stable. There are almost five thousand hectares of chestnut groves in the Natural Park.
Although the most abundant tree in the past was the Pyrenean oak; until they were felled to build keels for the galleons of the Indies. These chestnut trees were grafted onto the severed stumps, and it seems that the Atlantic winds did them good . That's why there are so many. And that's why it's typical chestnut stew , which is a dessert, despite the name.
Another product with prosapia is the potato . Potatoes with historical resonance. Because, until nobody proves otherwise, the first ones that were consumed in Spain came from these fields. Hence, perhaps, "paperos" be the name of those of Fuenteheridos. For their part, those of Galaroza called “suckers” in honor of the horny dog, which is not the male of the pear, but a country apple. We will have to investigate what the pumpkins of pumpkins they are special.
In this village of the kind of cucurbits (there is another, Calabacino, in Alájar) they celebrate in mid-August a vegetable slaughter . They are scalded, peeled and blunted vegetables and fruits , to vacuum pack the summer, as when there were no refrigerators. Because the mountain people are naturally cautious, and although the sun shines today, they stockpile food thinking of cold futures. They try to keep those sacrifices in the pantry. Sacrifices that were a festive ritual. Sacrifices almost lost.
pumpkins
Few locals still slaughter pigs at home , because the pig has gone from necessity to privilege. Privilege measured in euros, in minutes, in knowledge . The children have been left without that grandfather Luis who gave them the eyes of the pig so they could play and not bother during the slaughter. And the children played. They played to see. Let's see who stamps their eyes higher against the wall.
Let's see, let's see. Let's see the pissed off grandfather because the pig wouldn't sit still and you could hear him filthy from all over the town, and the other children would come to the school exit, let's see, let's see, let's see how the grandfather fit an accurate cut in the jugular to the pig and the unpleasant growls were extinguished in a pipe of blood.
And the blood flowed, and the blood spattered, and the grandmother collected the blood in a metal bucket. Oh Grandma Corona , as if she saw her, with her tight little bow under her handkerchief, her gray checkered apron and her black dress. stirring, stirring . Stirring the feverish blood in the metal bucket, so that it wouldn't curdle. And the grandfather singeing the pig with abulaga and the grandmother stirring, stirring, stirring the grandfather's desperation, because until the veterinarian gave the go-ahead there, no one could stuff the pig.
Chorizo from Huelva
And this is the human body open in channel, the grandfather told them, before starting to take out all the tripe tripe. And the grandmother cleaned them and boiled them. And the grandfather with the pack of knives and the sharpening steel and the axe, come and carve up hams and shoulders and sirloins and loins and the “ prey of the priest ”, which was given to the priest and the veterinarian for being the tastiest piece of the pig. The less noble parts (the secret, the fan, the surprise, the lizard, the feather... which are now also cooked) They were used to fill sausages, very fat sausages, and chorizos and morcones and black puddings , which are silly when made with offal and vegetables.
And the grandmother comes to season the chacina, which is what the mandingueras used to do. Paprika, oregano, mint. And they sucked their thumb, to see how it turns out. And the children tasted it too. Let's see if it's at its point, let's see, let's see if it turns out well. Because the meat could spoil if menstruating or pregnant women stuffed it, that's why they weren't even allowed to touch it. For not spoiling the sausages because of a cabal.
And the women crossed themselves and the men drank manguara and death was celebrated and life was celebrated , among friends, in the heat of the candle where the bacon and castanets were roasted. Everyone gathered to eat the winter gazpacho and the stew and dried apricots stewed with cinnamon and wine. All gathered to eat standing up, around a communal basin, respecting the “bucket and step back” system.
Goat cheese from Aracena with organic honey from Cortegana
Something similar happens in Linares at the end of February-early March, when the town commemorates its independence from Aracena in 1724 with a public pig slaughter. " The massacre was lived as a celebration, as a party of coexistence ".
Antonio 'El China' is the most famous matachin in the Sierra; It has a statue erected at the headquarters of the Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) Jabugo for a reason. He poses gracefully, with the apron, the cap and the overalls. "I have always tried to be very well dressed, although if you got dirty you were going to get dirty for sure." His first sow tore him apart when he was eleven years old; now he is seventy-eight and retired. " But the pig thing was a hobby . I was actually dedicated to construction and the field. I have been a born worker since my mother gave birth to me under a cork oak. There I have land that gives me a hundred quintals of cork, and also some olive trees, but I don't know what must have happened to them that they haven't taken olives from me".
The last pig killed him three years ago. "I enjoyed it very much… Although it was unpleasant," he agrees. "It made me very sad when I sank the knife and took the life of the animal... But at the same time I felt joy, because with that a family would eat all year long."
And he said the bacon to the wine: You are welcome!
Barrels in Bodegas Iglesias
In the José Manuel (Mané) Iglesias winery The bouquet of salary goes up to your nose, because all of its wines are made with this native white grape variety. "It is the one that best adapts to the land." To the land of the County of Huelva. "And the most resistant to all kinds of diseases." Phylloxera only affected 7% of the vines. "In its day it was considered a coarse grape, it was only used to distill alcohol to use; but we have shown that it can be among the best Crianzas if it is treated with care" .
**It fills him with pride and satisfaction that his orange wine ** was served in The Bulli and at a dinner of the Kings of Spain. "What happens is that we are family wineries, with a small production and without money to position ourselves in the market." It is clear that he did not know the vintages of splendor, when the barrels of the region supplied the crews of Columbus, Vespucci, Magellan... Then they had no competitors, because their concoctions were cheaper than those from Seville and, moreover, they did not get seasick on long transoceanic voyages.
Iglesias wines age in poetic barrels; sing odes to the vine in an old 18th-century convent that used to be in dumplings . "Forty years ago, the town had a winery on every street," he recalls. "And the broths were bought in bulk." He grew up with small glasses of quinine, like so many other children in his fifth. "It was to whet our appetite, and because we're low on blood pressure," he excuses himself. "I also dipped the pipette of the bottle in sweet wine for my children, that's why they have never cried. One of them, Cayetana, they already call her 'la Bodeguera' ". It will be the fourth generation if it continues with the bocoy business.
"Many wineries were closed here because they did not have male heirs, because in the past wine was sold in taverns, and the atmosphere in taverns was very sexist. But that is changing." ** Sauci and Andrade ** are among the few wineries run by women. "I always say it: the great enemies of wine are sexists, drunks and fools at three." That is, those who go from connoisseurs. "Everyone understands wine, just as everyone understands coffee, muffins and rice pudding, because if you didn't like a wine you won't taste it again, it's that simple."
Beware of his Lawyer. "It's the omeprazole of wines, with this you don't need to go to the gym, it makes you stronger than the sea." Softer in the mouth is his young target. "I have no predilection for any: the one that goes in easy is a virtue, because you can have three or four drinks; the one that goes in strong, a privilege, because you have to drink it with time. The important thing is the company, the wine it is nothing more than a vehicle of communication. If Merkel drank more wine, she would be better off for all of us! ".
José baking bread
Mane (who declares himself a voter of a supposed Democratic Wine Party and supporter of the Wine Football Club ), organizes conventional tastings, blind tastings, with equestrian shows, with flamenco... Even tasting contests for couples (in addition, it organizes an annual wine painting contest and another for artistic demijohns, “ to rescue the cultural values of the vineyard ”) .
His is one of the thirteen wineries with Denomination of Origin that are part of the Huelva County Wine Route . The oldest of them is the New Tithe ; It dates from 1770, it is located in Moguer and it is famous because Juan Ramón Jiménez mentions it in Platero y yo (also because of a vermouth macerated with more than sixty aromatic herbs and colored with caramel). You must try the strawberry wine from Palos, corked in County Privilege Wineries , and the "world's first lemon wine" (inspired by the classic orange wine) , and Seseo (a Moscate similar to rebujito, the manzanilla that is drunk with 7 Up at fairs) , and Oloroso jellies, and … Enough!, that we will have to return home moderately sober...
(From the Wine Center They do not recommend visiting more than two wineries a day; We imagine that because of the tastings…)
GASTRO-PROPOSALS ON THE ROUTE
1. Buy breakfast at the confectionery Rufino of Aracena , which has been sweetening the Sierra since 1875. "Before you could buy the biscuits here and have them with a coffee in any bar in town, but now they cause more and more problems," warns José Luis, the master worker. " The most characteristic of ours is the fine sweet , because in the past there were no refrigerators and these cakes do not need cold. But the typical Sierra is the piñonate , like a sweetened dorito with syrup and honey that is eaten from El Castillo de las Guardas to Cortegana, especially at Easter".
Their Bacon from heaven it was a weakness for Don Juan de Bourbon , the grandfather of the current king. "The Marquis of Aracena sent them to him in tin cups when he was exiled in Portugal." The Marquise, for her part, had a predilection for some biscuits soaked in syrup. "She used to say that taking one of these when she had a cold was like going to the pharmacy for Vicks Vaporub, that's why we call them Vicks."
Rufino Confectionery
It has clients who expressly come from Huelva and Seville for pioneers. " Last week I sent a nut cake to Gijón and another to Mallorca ". The queue that forms on weekends is such that, to avoid disputes, he was forced to install a shift dispenser. "Once I even had to call the Civil Guard…"
He makes just enough pastries so that he runs out in the day, because in the villages nothing is thrown away. The same thing happens at the Rafalito bakery : if the bread runs out at eleven in the morning, it's over, and José Santos, the baker, closes the wood-fired oven to take a nap, without any remorse.
two. Spend the morning in the meadow and discover why acorn-fed Iberico is so good by visiting the Jamones Eiriz facilities, in Corteconcepción, or the 5 Jotas winery, in Jabugo.
3. Eat at Arrieros , the restaurant of Luismi and his wife Adela, in Linares. He could have as many Michelin stars as he wanted. "But I don't want them," replies the cook. "We are already in the Bib Gourmand (a guide that distinguishes high-quality cuisine at a good price) and a lot of foreigners come, and our dining room is very small" . About ten tables; They no longer fit in what used to be a corral.
His menu is supplied from the environment to recover traditional dishes from the Sierra, such as tomato soup with fig jam. "At home we drank it with fresh figs at the end of summer ". The essence of the dehesa is concentrated in a simple boletus aereus and Iberian feather hamburger. "My mother, who was a mandinguera, taught me to cook by the handful. And the townspeople have also provided me with recipes from the post-war period.".
What the pulley , a coarse meal that the shepherds prepared with grass pea flour and that he has transformed into a delicious dessert based on sweet acorn flour, anise and matalahúva. For wine, Luismi claims the Mencía grape. "Hardly anything was left after phylloxera, but we are trying to reintroduce it, because the white wine that traveled to America came from Huelva County, but the red came from here."
Arrieros restaurant terrace
Four. Spend the afternoon making cheese in the Monte Robledo cheese factory and eating them! "Before, everyone made cheese at home, but it was not marketed," says María Jesús. "Ours were the first intended for sale." savor your Aracena cake it is savoring the aroma of rockroses, acorns and madroñeras with which the goats feed. "Goat cheese is what grows in these lands, perhaps because the goat is the animal that keeps the dehesa clean of bushes."
However, a few years ago he rescued a sheep's cheese that was thought to be lost in the neighboring region of Andévalo. "Production stopped when many ranchers went to work in the mines, and since the sheep, which were merino, gave very little milk, they were destined for the meat industry." Another curious is the "grandma's cheese" "A cured cheese that, when the month of May arrived, the cheesemakers put in clay jars with oil to keep it safe from flies; the longer it was kept, the spicier it became." From December 8 to 10, the XVI Artisan Cheese Market will take place in Aracena.
5. Dine at El Manzano bar , the first to open in Aracena, at the end of 1800, located in the square that everyone calls “El Paseo”. When it is season, they specialize the letter in mushrooms : with rice, with cheese, in tortillas, in croquettes, au gratin with chestnut aioli, in syrup... Susi cooks them, but her husband Manolo is the fanatic who goes out for them every morning. A peculiar dish is the Iberian pork in butter. “In the old days, the meat was kept in tubs and covered with butter to keep it fresh all year round,” says the cook. "I'm from Jabuguillo, and we still prepare it like that there."
Also recommended are Jose Vicente restaurant and the Houses , “ the best place in the world to eat Iberian ham”, according to The Guardian. We will continue traveling to verify it.
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