El Villanueva de los Infantes pepper It is one of those typical products that do not leave you indifferent. His greatest feat was composing the largest ratatouille in the world awarded with the Guinness Record. Discover this vegetable of which, possibly, is the town of which Cervantes he didn't want to remember. If you liked our report on the basque piparra You cannot miss this ode to the most famous pepper in Castilla La-Mancha.
This is the pepper of Villanueva de los Infantes
El Villanueva de los Infantes pepper It is indigenous to that town. This is grown in the region of Montiel field, which is located near the border with Albacete. It stands out for its large size and because it has a lot of "meat" consistent and strong. Visually it can be considered less striking than others because of its color. However, its strong point is the taste. It can be green or red. The first is collected earlier and that is why it does not change color in time.
The peppers are germinated in seedbeds. There you wait for them to grow enough. When they reach a certain height, they are planted Manually and one by one, in holes made in a plastic cloth. This is buried and covers them to ensure the humidity of the land and protect the plant until the fruit is harvested. In addition, irrigation is done by dripping to get the most out of the water. The process starts in April and usually ends in September. In one of the farms, between 25 and 30 thousand kilos of peppers can be harvested per day. It is not mucus of turkey if you consider that are collected by hand.
The famous Cervantes pepper fair
This year is the first since 2003 without the S Pepper Days in Villanueva de los Infantes. Unfortunately, the first weekend in September in which these parties were celebrated, canceled due to the coronavirus situation, has already passed. It is organized by the Association for the Tourism Development of Campo de Montiel (turinfa) with the collaboration of the City Council. The festival aims to unite the gastronomic tradition with the folkloric one. In addition, it frames it in the context of the Cervantes tradition that the town, capital of Campo de Montiel, possesses.
In fact, distancing ourselves a bit from the subject, a team from the Complutense University ensures Don Quixote lived in this town in the novel. They were based on the speed that Sancho's donkey was carrying when traveling the distances.
Dozens of stalls commemorate the days of Renacimiento in the Cervantes market. In addition, the local o local of the year in the parties. This is a person who works for the development and knowledge of Campo de Montiel in its different aspects. Not to mention the folklore days in which the streets are filled with regional dances from all over Spain.
A record pepper
But, without a doubt, the most surprising thing is the giant ratatouille. This was awarded the Guinness record in 2016. He did not receive it in vain, since the scale marked 1.254 kilos. So heavy was it that it had to be lifted with a crane. It even surpassed the Ratouille giant of Disney of 563 kilos. It is a dish quite similar to the Manchego pisto. Its ingredients, of first quality and mainly from the local field, are the following:
- 1.700 kilos of crude peppers
- 700 kilos of tomato
- 350 kilos of pork shoulder, lean pork
- 125 liters of extra virgin olive oil
- 21 kilos of shawl.
The truth is that it sounds delicious. It is worth waiting for the queue of thousands of people waiting in the sun waiting for their ration of ratatouille. The last years were distributed until 8 thousand plates. It must be emphasized that the giant ratatouille It is prepared every year, although none have surpassed that of 2016.
Crop threats
Not everything is so wonderful. Lately the climate has not been favorable to the cultivation of Villanueva de los Infantes pepper. The municipality calculated millionaire losses last year for the Hail "balls" that fell in summer. In fact, the last party was a tribute to those affected by it, since they lost their crops. This disaster was much worse than that of 2013 when the company seedbed He supplied some seeds that had nothing to do with this species. It accounted for 20% of losses. Hopefully the pandemic do not pose any obstacle to its commercialization. It is not only a pepper: it is Tradition and culture from town.
