La Vida Alcalaína

One of the biggest attractions of Alcalá for me is the locally produced food (along with the people, the weather, the scenery, etc etc).  I've already written about our cheeses , retinto beef , vegetables and breads , and am conducting ongoing research into the pork-meat products of  Embutidos Gazules (i.e. eating my way through the catalogue) for a future post.  But today it's the turn of the pulses, those protein-packed dried seeds that are a staple of the Mediterranean diet - lentils, chickpeas and beans. In 1969 Pedro Benítez Barroso founded Legumbres Pedro  to package and sell the garbanzos traditionally grown in the area by small farmers. By the 1980s the business had grown to cover growers in the whole of Andalucia, and subsequently expanded into supermarkets, widened its product range to include rice and flour, and started to supply the catering trade via the  HORECA  distribution channel. In 2008 Legumbres Pedro moved into its current premises on the Poligono

Last night we had the first proper rain since May, clearing the dust from the air and sparking off the growth of lush winter grass which our livestock farmers depend on.  We don't get polite little showers here, it comes down by the bucketful ( llueve a cántaros ) and soaks you to the skin in  seconds. Back in May the forecasters were predicting the coldest summer in Spain for 200 years .  Well, if that was a cold summer, bring on some more please.  Daytime temperatures peaked in the low 30s Celsius (90s Fahrenheit) and we didn't get that extended sweaty humid period that usually keeps us awake on August nights. As always, Alcalainos took full advantage of the summer months to celebrate their fairs and festivals.  Here are some pictures recording the summer of 2013 by a young local photographer, Pedro Martín Sánchez, more of whose excellent work can be seen on his blog Alcalá a través de mi objetivo . 9th International Music Festival Candlelit concert in the patio of