Beans and Grains

Pulses are the foundation of many Spanish dishes, both winter and summer, from stews like fabada Asturiana to bean salads. They act like pasta in Italian dishes and make up the bulk of the meal, soaking up the flavours of the meat, herbs, spices and vegetables they are cooked with. Quality relies on being grown in an environment with clean water (like the Sierra de Gredos mountain water), permeable soil, and a dry sunny climate and then being harvested with care when perfectly ripe and dry.

Rice was brought to Spain by the invading Moors, along with their sophisticated methods of irrigation. The very first area they adapted to suit this crop was in the mountainous region near the town of Calasparra in northern Murcia, which has clean water and an ideal climate for rice production. Calasparra is a variety of short round grain rice which is highly absorbent and grows by about 70% with cooking.