Flan de la casa con natas en texturas - Foods From Spain

ORGANIC AGRICULTURE
A tale of two organic
producers
1. BIOCAMPO
This is the cutting edge, the serious face
of Spanish organic vegetable production
on a high-powered scale. Biocampo is a
producer in San Pedro del Pinatar,
Murcia, and a family business run by the
three Sapor brothers. The family began
growing organically 15 years ago and
have seen business grow exponentially,
with year-on-year increases of up to 30%.
Biocampo now has 300 ha (741 acres) of
open-air cultivation and 28 ha (69 acres)
of greenhouses, of which 150 ha (370
acres) belong to the company (the rest is
rented land). The vast majority of its huge
production of onions, peppers, zucchini,
cucumbers, melons, pumpkins, cabbage,
maize, celery, leeks, artichokes, broad
beans, broccoli and citrus fruit go to
France, Holland, Switzerland, the United
Kingdom and, most importantly,
Germany, which represents a full 60% of
its exports, and whose demand for
organic products is unwavering. In
Germany, says Héctor López of
Biocampo, organic food is a serious
issue, and certainly isn’t based on whims
or fashions. “You eat organically, or you
don’t eat at all,” he jokes.
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2. TARONGES EBRE
The Giné family farm in Tarragona, for
generations an important local producer of
oranges, know through experience that
organic farming is no bed of roses. The
family switched over to the organic system
in 2006 partly out of conviction and partly
as a way of adding value to an undervalued
product. The obligatory four-year period of
conversion to the organic system has been
hard. The Ginés saw output plummet as
the trees, suddenly deprived of artificial
fertilizers and herbicides, gave as much as
50% less fruit. Disheartened, the family
was on the point of going back to
conventional methods, but persisted, and
now have 70 ha (172 acres) under organic
(out of a total of 77 ha / 190 acres). The
2010 edition of Biocultura was one of their
first public appearances since going
organic (this is the first year in which their
citrus fruit officially bear the organic label)
and, says Octavi Garcia, son-in-law of
owner Joaquim Giné, the reaction to their
superb mandarin oranges, unwaxed and
untreated with an impressive depth of
flavor, has been gratifying: “People like to
buy directly from the producer, and that
makes us feel good.”
Spanish cuisine,
enhanced by
organic products
The world of Spanish cuisine has
been quick to recognize the value of
organic ingredients, seeing these
items as an extension or refinement
of the existing range of gourmet
Spanish products. In October 2009,
seven-Michelin-star chef Santi
Santamaria organized a workshop on
organic products at his restaurant
Can Fabes. Juan Mari Arzak, Carme
Ruscalleda, Rodrigo de la Calle and
Andoni Luis Aduriz are other
important Spanish chefs known to
be committed to the eco cause. The
era of the “eco-restaurant” is still in
its infancy. The SEAE estimates that
there are around 20 offering
exclusively organic menus in the
whole of Spain, a pioneer being
the eco-vegetarian restaurant
Sarasate in Pamplona; however,
the range is increasing.
Initiatives bringing together Spanish
chefs interested in organic
ingredients are beginning to make