La Gomera It keeps a treasure: a gofio mill from the beginning of the XNUMXth century that does the grinding as it did then. The gofio, central element of Canarian gastronomy, was the food base morning, afternoon and night for a long time due to its high nutritional power. They already ate it aboriginal, of barley. After the conquest the millet appeared (corn) and with it the mixtures.
The gofio can be only millet, millet and barley, and also wheat and chickpea. Actually, there are as many mixtures as gum trees, who choose them according to the type of land they have, humid for the millet, dry for barley and wheat.
Grinding, the tradition kept by a great passionate
Alcibiades Garcia grew up with the sound of a gofio mill next to his grandparents' house. In the south of the island he found an old mill motor and in 2010 he began to restore it. He did it until he managed, not without difficulties, to recover that sound. Now the neighbors go on Saturdays to this mill, "La Molina Vieja ”, in the municipality of Agulo, to make gofio in a completely handmade way.
«The mill was made around 1906 and began grinding in 1919. Its engine was manufactured in Tarragona by Francisco Vidal. It works with any fuel, with frying oil or with diesel ”, he tells us. A relic that, like the gofio culture, fascinates its restaurateur.
The mill, a place for socializing
“In 1919 it was called the gofio maquilero mill. There were three forms of payment: with benefits (barter of work), money and with the famous maquila. For each bushel of gofio -measure of volume, about 6 kilos- the miller kept a sheet of gofio for his consumption ”, he explains.
In the 20s of the last century a grain union. With this, “a table of equivalences had to be made to resolve a discrepancy that existed between customers and millers. All because of the erroneous belief that if you brought 10 kilos of grain, you would take 10 kilos of gofio, but that's not the case ”. This is due to “the decrease: If you brought 10 kilos of millet, you would take 8,5 kilos of gofio. The reason is because by toasting it you lose weight and moisture. And this is still in effect ”.
At the mill “Taking advantage of the privacy of the motor, political issues, business… The mill was a meeting place. Each one carried their bottle of wine, and they also had parties ”.
Grinding to make the gofio
Alcibiades explains it to us while carrying out the process, starting by turning on the heather wood fire. Then put mutton tallow in a metal container so that the millet does not oxidize once it has finished roasting. To the million the same amount of fine black beach sand, “That acts as a mattress. If we dumped the grain directly, it would burn, ”he says while shaking the container and moving the grain with a stick. "When it starts to heat up, it can't stop moving because it burns," he says. The sizzle indicates that it is already toasted. It is then sieved in a sieve.
“The difference between the gofio that I make and that of the industrial mills is in the wood-fired roasting. The smoke leaves this scent. It's like a grilled chop or a wood-fired chop "
The grain, along with some shawl, is placed in the mill hopper. This works with a stone of 400 kilos of weight moved by the motor. After grinding, the freshly ground gofio is collected by a cloth bag. It is time to sift it for a final tune. The degree to which it has been roasted gives the shade of yellowish. By then the place has already been filled with a very intense smell, "of Maria cookies".
A very special food
With the boom of the Superfoods, gofio, rich especially in carbohydrates, has returned to the present time.
The natives consumed it with water, or they kneaded it with dried fruits and transported it in this way. They took it when they needed a caloric intake, as is still done today.
Today the most common way to take it is also with milk for breakfast. Also in Vegetable soup at meals. Desserts like the gofio mousse or ice cream.
