Provisions

The Spanish store cupboard is full of preserved vegetables, herbs and spices.

Our vegetables are carefully harvested by hand from the Ebro valley, which has ideal growing conditions, with its dry summers, high temperature variations from one season to another, low and irregular rainfall and a strong North wind, known locally as the cierzo. Rather than growing products all year round, the tradition of preserving vegetables allows each season's produce to be prepared and packed to artisan methods, keeping the flavours and textures for use throughout the year.

Nowadays pimentón generally comes from two regions, Murcia where peppers dried in the sun were used originally (generally replaced by more modern methods now) and the better known pimentón of Extremadura, “Pimentón de La Vera” where the peppers, to qualify for the coveted D.O., must be smoked over oak fires before being ground to produce the famous paprika. The heat of the pimentón is dependent on the specific type of peppers used to create the mild (dulce), hot (picante) or bittersweet (agridulce) styles and the varieties change from recipe to recipe and on personal taste. The uses to which it is put are many and various, from stews to grilled meats, in sauces or as a garnish for many dishes. Most famously however it is the spice which gives the chorizo its distinctive colour and flavour.

Saffron is the dried stigma of the purple crocus flower. It is not merely a colourant, as some suppose, but gives a very distinctive yet subtle flavour to foods and sauces. Saffron is a luxury spice, by the very nature of its production. It is made from crocus stamen, which need to be picked by hand. It takes 225,000 stigmas to make 1 lb of saffron. There are three stigmas per flower, therefore 75,000 flowers are needed to make this small amount of saffron. It takes around 370 to 470 hours of work to produce 1kg of dried saffron threads.