WINTER LIVING IN GUAJAR ALTO

At this time of year it’s easy to distinguish the visitors to Granada’s Costa Tropical from the residents because the former wear summer clothing while the latter are clad in sweaters and jackets. This is, I think, due to the fact that the hot summers we expereience in this country make us less resistant to cold and, although by English standards the winters here are positively balmy, there are days, nevertheless, when we feel distinctly chilly. One of the reasons for this susceptibility to cold is that houses in this part of Spain, unlike hermetically sealed English ones, are built to be cool in summer; they don’t retain heat very well and so, on a winter’s day, it’s more likely to be warmer outside than it is indoors. We have adopted the sensible habit of wearing several layers of clothing which can be removed as the day warms up.
In the mountain villages of Granada, the pleasant, homely smell of wood smoke is characteristic of the winter months. One of the most attractive features of our cortijo is the traditional fireplace which, typical of this province, is built of Moroccan brick and can accommodate the most substantial logs with ease. In Guájar Alto we have a plentiful supply of pine logs which we augment with slow-burning olive and almond wood. We get a good blaze going as soon as the sun has gone down and, with rugs to cover the floors (which, of course, are tiled) we are able to make ourselves snug.
In Spain, many people still use ‘cosy tables’ as a means of keeping warm in winter. These are two-tiered, round tables with circular holes cut out of the bottom tiers into which braziers are fitted. Families sit around their cosy tables, which are covered with heavy, baize cloths, toasting their feet. Not surprisingly, this isn’t a very safe way of keeping warm and even though the traditional, charcoal braziers have largely been replaced by electric ones, resulting domestic fires are not infrequent. In former times, the demand for charcoal was great and in Guájar Alto the production of this commodity was one of its most important industries. Roaming the mountain paths, I’ve often come upon the remains of the stone-built ovens which were used in its manufacture. The charcoal burners themselves (they were calledtiznaos) were easily recognizable because of their permanently blackened hands and faces.

There is a plentiful supply of citrus fruit in the village now that the oranges, lemons, grapefruits and mandarines have ripened and people have been busy harvesting the olives. In our vegetable garden the broad beans are flowering nicely, the peas are doing well and very soon we shall have cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower and beetroot. Curiously, salad vegetables, such as lettuces, seem to do better in winter than in summer and I have been making delicious salads using home-grown rocket, lambs’ lettuce, baby spinach and five different varieties of lettuce. To this assortment of leaves I add avocado, toasted walnuts, fresh dates and small, crunchy pieces of bacon. I make a dressing of olive oil, balsamic vinegar, lemon juice and sugar cane syrup.
Two years ago, I was given a large bag of tamarinds (the tamarind is a tropical, evergreen tree which does well in sheltered parts of Guájar Alto) and, because the fruit has a sharp, bittersweet flavour, I thought the best thing to do with it would be to make chutney and, indeed, the experiment was successful. However, the other day, while clearing out a cupboard, I discovered in its recesses some jars of the same chutney (about which I’d quite forgotten) and was pleasantly surprised to find that time had improved and intensified the spicy aroma and the richness of the contents. I’m so pleased those tamarinds didn’t go to waste!
We are already halfway through the hunting season and, although I don’t like the idea of killing for sport, there is no doubt that a cull of wild boar was needed this year. Some hunters shot two large male boars near our land and I actually had my photograph taken with the carcasses! Seen from such close quarters, it’s not difficult to understand just how potentially dangerous these beasts can be. The hunters had quite a large team of dogs, some of which were Andalucian podencos, long-legged, slender dogs with pointed noses, in many ways not unlike a typical, English lurcher. As a sport, hunting is immensely popular in this country but, according to the Spanish press, it has been a ‘tragic year’ as far as this activity is concerned. So far in 2007, there have been 20 deaths and 860 reported injuries as a result of hunting accidents. It will be a relief, I think, when the season is over!
In a book of traditional recipes of Granada province I found one for cooking wild boar. The meat is marinated for three days in red wine and herbs then cooked slowly until it is tender, at which stage whole, peeled chestnuts are added.