Summer Archives - Page 5 of 6

May 202014 0 Responses

Spain’s Olive Oil Industry

This picture was taken from our room in La Iruela, just an olive stone throw from Cazorla. We drove from south of Granada to Cazorla today through olives. It was 360kms. Nothing but an olive did we see. All I can say is that they better not get anything wrong with them!

Monoculture! I thought we had big stands of pine trees. Well. Our pine trees have nothing on Spain’s olives. I mean. We just took one route. Imagine how many more olives there are than what we saw. What was the worst for me is that underneath probably 95% of these olives there is NOTHING. Mainly the ground has been cultivated with either tractor or rotary hoe depending on the terrain. But in many cases it has been sprayed off, probably for decades. There’s nothing for the bees. Read More…

May 202014 0 Responses

Air cured ham

One of the treats of Andalusia is the air dried ham. Quite different from our NZ ham, this Jamon Serrano is dried in the mountain villages. The most famous of which is Trevelez which was only 20 or so kms further up the valley from where we were staying at the tiny village of Ferreirola.

The population of Trevelez is only 1000, however with practically every soul there and in the surrounding area employed by the ham industry they manage to produce a staggering ONE MILLION hams per year, so I was told.

To air dry a ham you have to be at a minimum of 1000 metres above sea level and Trevelez boasts the highest air drying plant in Spain at very close to 1500m. The large size hams sell at around 100 Euros each but of course keep for months and months hung up – as long as you happen to live at 1000m or higher, otherwise they transform back into meat and of course – go off.

A favourite dish of mine is Habas con Jamon which is basically incredibly young broad beans gently cooked in a lot of olive oil (surprise) and ham. So glad my broad beans are growing strongly in the vege patch at home. My Mum has sent me pics!

May 092014 0 Responses

Granada – The Alhambra & Generalife Gardens

Today was one of the highlights of our Spanish trip no doubt. The famous Alhambra and Generalife gardens (the garden of the Architect).

Coming this far and to something so incredibly important we find it extremely worthwhile to pay a little more, take more time and enjoy the experience with the insight you can only really gain with a local guide. There’s no way in the world I’m going to remember half of what we were told, but will manage to retain some I’m sure. We bought the book – as you do – it’s only the second one in three weeks so we are being restrained!

The gardens of Cordoba

Today is Monday here in Cordoba. No matter where you are in Europe, Monday is never a good day to be a tourist as so many attractions close on a Monday – however Gardens don’t so we had planned to visit the Alcazar today come rain or shine – luckily it was more the latter.

Cordoba is obviously immensely old, has amazing Cathedrals, Mosques and Museums but alongside them the most memorable thing for me were the old Orange trees that studded the narrow streets and filled the gardens with their glistening leaves. Read More…