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Chicken with chestnuts and Arafo wine

'Tis the season for eating chestnuts

Arafo wine made with the listan blanca (Palomino) grape variety is a wine of the Güimar Valley par excellence, therefore, to make the Chicken with Arafo wine we choose another very special product in Tenerife, the chestnut, for a perfect, comforting, seasonal dish. (The Bodega Valle de Güímar has a Tienda (Online Shop) if you can manage Spanish. In English, there is a Listan Blanco from the Bodega Tajinaste in Valle de La Orotava. At a pinch, you could use a Palomino Fino sherry from your favourite local purveyor.)

Ingredients:

8 chicken thighs
½ sweet onion
3-4 cloves of garlic
150-200 grams of mushrooms
300 grams of peeled chestnuts
1/4 of Arafero wine (It can be purchased under the D.O. Valle de Güimar)
100 cl of chicken broth
2 sprigs thyme
1 tbsp freshly ground black pepper
Salt
extra virgin olive oil
Some flour

Method:

Prepare the chestnuts in advance, as peeling them is 'entertaining'. (How to Peel Chestnuts With Ease). Clean the chicken thighs, remove the skin and dry them well. Peel the onion and chop it, and give the garlic cloves a bash to release their flavor, but without peeling them. Clean the mushrooms and cut them in half. 

Heat a pan with a splash of extra virgin olive oil and brown the chicken thighs, seasoned to taste. When they are browned on the outside, remove them, add a little more extra virgin olive oil if necessary to poach the onion, and add it keeping the heat at low temperature so that it is poached and candied slowly, add a pinch of salt, and also the garlic cloves.

When the onion is confit, add the mushrooms and chestnuts, give them a couple of turns then add back the chicken, then the wine and the chicken broth, add the thyme sprigs and a little more freshly ground black pepper and bring to a boil.

Once it begins to boil, lower the heat and let the chicken cook for about 30 minutes, first covered and then letting the steam escape so that the sauce reduces. The cooking time can vary depending on how big the chicken thighs are and the heat during cooking. If, when they are done, there is a lot of liquid, dissolve the flour in a little broth and add it to the pan after removing the meat. When you've achieved a creamy sauce, add back the chicken and let it rest for five minutes. If the sauce is too thick, add a little more chicken broth.

Could some barley seeds rewrite the aboriginal history of the Canaries?

Trigo o cebada (wheat or barley)

The aboriginal peoples of the Canaries all descended from the same Berber ancestors who populated the archipelago some 2,000 years ago and who remained without communication between them until the Conquest, each one locked up on its own island. Although it is inexplicable, it's history, or is it ... 

What if some barley seeds questioned everything?

It is one of the aspects that most surprises those who approach the pre-Hispanic past of the Canary Islands for the first time: How is it possible that some peoples who necessarily came to the islands by sailing from North Africa forgot that ability? Can it be that century after century no one was curious to know who lived on those lands that can be seen from their island?

Not only do the chronicles written by the first European settlers say so, it is also that no archaeological evidence has been found to refute that claim: the ancient Canary Islanders did not sail, there was no movement between islands: a Gomero apparently didn't know of the existence of the Guanches of Tenerife, although Teide can be seen from almost anywhere on La Gomera. And this history suggests that not a single bimbache knew that 70 kilometers north of his land of El Hierro, on La Palma, the Benahoritas lived.

However, a work published this month in the "African Archeological Review" magazine reopens the debate on this question, with a different approach: what the archaeological record does not show, may be revealed (or at least suggested) by the DNA of a capital food in the diet of the Canarian aboriginal, barley.

Specialist in Archeobotany at the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (ULPGC) Jacob Morales published some time ago that the farmers of the Canary Islands of the 21st century sow their fields with a relic: the same barley lineage that was already in the islands before of the Conquest, one that is conserved in several deposits, the same one that the Berber ancestors brought from the African continent. It has been genetically proven that the barley that is harvested in the Canary Islands now, is the same that was planted in the islands for the first time 2,000 years ago, Morales now makes the reverse journey with the help of the expert in Genetics from the University of Linköping (Sweden) Jenny Hagenblad.

The retrospective study of the DNA of Canarian barley today, tells us that it is a variety that separated from its continental African ancestor about 2,400 years ago; that about 1,800 years ago the barley of the rest of the islands were distinguished from that of Lanzarote, the oldest; and that those of Gran Canaria and Tenerife were genetically the same until 1,200 years ago.

The first conclusion almost agrees with the archaeological record, which dates the first human occupation of the Canary Islands between the 1st century BC and the 1st century AD; the second affirms that agriculture reached the archipelago through the islands closest to Africa and the third ... the third is quite a surprise, because it indicates that there was communication between the two central islands of the Canary Islands until only 500 years before the arrival of the Castilian, Portuguese or Norman navigators.

Jacob Morales explains that barley is a cereal that is self-pollinated, so that quickly the variety that is planted in one region ends up distinguishing itself from the one that is grown in another. Almost self-replicating, unless there is an exchange of seeds. "And the seeds do not travel," he points out. In his opinion, the barley DNA opens a tempting hypothesis: that for centuries there was intense communication between islands in pre-Hispanic times, between those peoples that were supposedly always separated.

Morales admits that his study does not disprove the archaeological account accepted to date: no evidence of trade or exchange of goods between islands has been discovered, and there is, for example, neither a remnant of Grancanarian aboriginal ceramics in a site in Tenerife nor not the other way around. But this study on barley suggests that not everything is known, that archaeological evidence of communication between islands has not been found only means that, "that they have not been found" and requires further research.

Pollo al ajillo (Garlic chicken)

Pollo al ajillo (Garlic chicken)

A classic in traditional Spanish cuisine. So much so, it's rare to find a bar or restaurant that does not have this dish on its menu, either as a tapa or main dish. Chicken is the star ingredient, flavoured with herbs and, of course, garlic.

Ingredients:

1 chicken approximately 1.5Kg cut into small pieces (maximum, eighths)
8 cloves of garlic
1 glass of dry white wine
4 tablespoons vinegar or lemon juice
Fresh parsley
Oil and salt

Method:

Peel the garlic cloves, cut or crush and set aside. Wash the parsley, chop finely and reserve. In a shallow pan with a good spray of oil, fry the chicken to seal the meat and then remove and reserve. In the same pan, with the same oil, brown the chopped or crushed garlic. Once well browned, add back the chicken and stir for a minute. Then add the white wine and vinegar or lemon juice, season with salt. Leave over medium heat until the liquid reduces and forms a thick sauce. Add the chopped parsley and it is ready to serve.


Tenerife in November 2020

Santa Lastenia Cemetery in Santa Cruz de Tenerife. Photo Jose Mesa Some Rights Reserved

November usually begins with a National Public Holiday on the 1st November for Todos los Santos (All Saints Day), however, as this already falls on a Sunday in 2020, it was replaced with a date earlier in the year instead. All Saints is the day when families gather to lay flowers on the graves of deceased relatives and there are few religious days that mean quite so much to the people of Spain and the Canary Islands. More flowers are sold for All Saints Day than for Valentines Day. This year will inevitably be difficult with so many people lost to COVID-19, but with a need for restrictions to limit the number of people who gather.

Santa Lastenia Cemetery was one of the first to announce that they will control the capacity on the occasion of the Día de Finados (Day of the Dead). 

As announced in July the Asociación Cultural Pinolere have, this year, fused the 35th Pinolere Crafts Fair with the 10th Canary Islands Cheese Fair to hold a joint event on November 6, 7 and 8, 2020The fair in person has been suspended and will now take place online only.

The 25º Subida Icod La Guancha (Icod-La Guancha Hillclimb), organised by the Escudería Daute-Realejos will take place on Saturday, November 7, and the route, once again, is the TF-342 highway, the road that connects the municipality of Icod de Los Vinos with the urban heart of La Guancha. The event has been given the green light by the health authorities, but organisers are asking for maximum collaboration from fans, including not attending if the island of Tenerife were to continue on red alert for COVID-19 after the 6 November.

The only municipal holiday is 25 November for Santa Catalina in Tacoronte. 

Black Week, a week of discounts in the 250 businesses that have signed up in Santa Cruz, will take place from 23 to 30 November. Councillor for Fiestas, Alfonso Cabello, stressed that “Black Week Santa Cruz is the starting signal for the Christmas campaign, one of the most important dates for the commercial sector" and added that, "according to a recent study by Deloitte, the accessories and gifts sector invoices between November and January between 50% and 60% of all annual sales, so it is the most important campaign of the year”. He also recalled that the sector employs almost 22,000 people.

La Navidad en Santa Cruz arranca el día 23 con la ‘Black Week’ y el encendido de luces el 26

Thursday, 26 November, at 7:00 p.m., is when the Christmas lights, made up of more than three million LED bulbs, are officially turned on. This will be transmitted through social networks to avoid the public gathering to watch.

The Christmas lighting in Tenerife's capital this year will have more than 26 kilometres of garlands, 686 Christmas motifs, 170 light arches and five floor motifs. Perhaps the most striking thing is the tunnel of light in the Plaza del Príncipe, which will be about 90 meters long and a cascade of LED lights. A total of 140 streets will be illuminated throughout the municipality. Also the annual planting of the poinsettias began on Tuesday. 

The month's biggest celebrations are usually on 29 November on the Eve of San Andrés (Saint Andrew's Day), in Icod de los Vinos with their Tablas de San Andrés and in Puerto de la Cruz with the Fiesta del cacharro y la castaña (Fiesta of the pots and chestnuts). At time of writing we have no news on whether either of these events will be celebrated this year in any form.

One of the traditions observed around San Andrés (St Andrew's Day) in November in Tenerife, are the Catas del Vino: the opening of the new wine. In previous years there have been events such as a Semana de San Andrés - a whole week of events such as technical conferences, workshops, tastings and guided routes through Denominations of Origin in addition to the traditional act of uncorking

This year, between 16 and 30 NovemberLa Casa del Vino de Tenerife (Tenerife Wine Museum), is offering Degustación de Vinos de Tenerife (Tenerife Wines Tasting) - along with other local products, such as cheeses, dried fruits, olive oil, honey and jams. Contact the Casa del Vino.

Tenerife Land of Eternal Christmas

Sunbathing SantaDesert Island ChristmasScuba Diving SantaTropical Santa
Santa's Having a Whale of a TimeSurfing SantaWaterski SantaCamel Rodeo Santa
With a wide range of products in each design, click the pics (above) to see the full selections.