The Price Of Cauliflower & A Full English!

Had a couple of conversations this week about the price of cauliflower. I know sad eh? I remember not to long ago that the topic of conversation amongst the guys in the bar was football, golf, cricket, woman and what strength of curry you ate! Well before you think that old age has finally caught up with me, let me explain …… we also discussed the price of brocolli, the difficulty of getting good cucumbers and aubergine, and don’t get me started on the price of RAF (Resistant to Fusarium*) tomatoes at the moment! Although it must be said that regular tomatoes are really cheap at the moment, as you can read in this article .

You see what happens with the vegetables in El Ejido, Almería etc effects so many of the businesses around Almerimar and surrounding towns, that knowing what is going on is a good indicator of how the economy is going to do. And at the moment it isn’t looking good at all!

Longer term the region is under new competition from Italy, Morocco and even the UK where technological advances mean that they can more easily replicate the consistent year round climates that the crops require.

This means less pickers, less transporters, less auction houses etc etc.

In the much more immediate term though it is pretty depressing. The price of cucumbers and aubergines is so low that many growers just can’t afford to pick them, so good crops are going to waste, and supermarkets are going short. This is then driving up the price of other produce that needs to be imported, hence the discussion about the price of cauliflower, and don’t even get started on the poor quality of the caulifowers that are around at the moment!

So the general consensus was that the Spanish are in for a tough couple of months, and it was very hard to find signs of any Christmas cheer amongst them this week. With more and more British people heading home for Christmas (with the exchange rate who can blame them) I have a feeling it is going to be an extremely quiet Christmas in Almerimar this year.

On a positive note I got the Full English that I set out to get a week ago! After a relatively late night for a school night and a very early morning as Sands was sorting out 6 more cats to go to Germany, we both fancied a spot of breakfast in the marina. With the sun shining, and quite a few people having the same idea, we had a very pleasant hour or so enjoying an excellent breakfast!

It may have taken a week to get it, but it was well worth the wait, and one of the reasons for living in Spain here in Almerimar is that there really isn’t any need to rush anything!!

* Resistant to Fusarium means they come from the group of fungi called Fusarium.

The favoured way of eating them is to slice them, sprinkle some oregano over them and them cover them in a high quality olive oil and add salt. They are a favoured starter dish in most restaurants, and are often eaten with chorizo, jamon, queso as a mixed plata.

You can easily pay 9€+ for a plate of them in a restaurant BUT they are really healthy as they are rich in antioxidants and vitamins.

Sometimes known as pata negra these tomatoes are highly prized in and around Nijar where they form one of the oldest agricultural produce in the province of Almería – basically they are a signature dish locally.

They are the creme de la creme of tomatoes!

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