The Almond Harvest And Coffee And Cake At Jávea’s Café Wien

I know summer’s on it’s way out when Pep says the almonds are ready for picking, with the carob beans following closely behind. Time to bring out the “velas” (the big sheets that get laid along the ground to collect almonds, olives, carob beans, etc) along with a couple of long canes (cañas), two or three “capazos” and a few sacks.

This year hasn’t been the best for almonds. The blossom in January/February was nothing like the previous year, a sign that the almonds will be few and far between. But still, whatever the trees provide us with is there for the taking and we’re not ones for waste.

First we tackled the almond trees at our casita which were slightly more advanced than the ones Pep has in Pinos. The “velas” get placed around the bottom of the tree trunks, laying them out as far as poss so you’re not having to pick too many up off the ground afterwards.

Pep then starts gently (sort of) hitting different branches so the almonds fall on to the “velas”. This process looks much easier than it is, as I found out last week when we were collecting the carobs (more on that in my next post). Practice makes perfect so give me a few years and I’ll be knocking ’em down with the best of them.

Once the almonds of one tree are on the “velas” we gather the sheet and tip the contents into a “capazo”. The first year I did this with Pep I was a complete disaster. I couldn’t seem to handle the “velas” properly and the contents would be scattered all over the place. I could sense Pep gradually getting more and more annoyed, finding it increasingly difficult to not moan at me. Luckily for me (and Pep!) I’ve now got the hang of it (most of the time, at least).

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Once we remove the sheets to take them to another tree, any almonds that fell to the ground in the days previous get collected and put in the capazos with the others. We have about 10 trees at our casita and the job was done and dusted in just under 2 hours.

A few days later we were up in Pinos gathering the rest of the almonds. Pep has some land that is in a beautiful, secluded, incredibly tranquil spot. It really is idyllic. Collecting the almonds up there isn’t a chore at all, it’s more a meditative experience (here she goes again!).

There is one problem with his land in Pinos though. The wild boars. Because he has so much land it wouldn’t be viable to fence it all in. The boars are becoming a real problem, increasing in numbers every year. They destroy the land when searching for food and also break large branches off trees. If they take a liking to any young trees you can bid them farewell.

They’re also very good at dismantling the dry stone walls that divide the terraced land. As you can imagine, they add more work to Pep’s already busy schedule. Unfortunately there isn’t much he can do about them except moan and call them all the names under the sun. But enough of this pig talk, back to the almonds!

We took all the almonds back to Pep’s casita where he has the machine that separates the husk from the shell. This is the noisiest piece of equipment I have ever encountered. We always stuff toilet paper in our ears to dampen the sound, and even then it’s still deafening. This year we didn’t have to suffer too long at least, there are some good things about having a lack of almonds.

The almonds go through the machine twice, the first time doesn’t remove all the husks. Once we’ve finished this process the almonds would normally get laid out on “velas”, somewhere where they receive lots of sun. They need about 4 to 5 days of dry, sunny weather before they can be stored in sacks (if you’re lucky enough to have that many) in a dry room.

Because we don’t have too many (understatement of the year), we brought them all down to our casita and put them in crates which we put in the sun during the day and place under cover at night time or when it rains. Last year Pep had around 15 large sacks in total so they stayed in Pinos, drying out nicely on a flat roof. This year we’ve probably got about half a sack, and that’s including the ones from our casita!!

I don’t know about you but after a day’s work harvesting almonds I feel like a treat and a long walk by the sea. To Pep, treat normally means something sweet, whether it be ice cream, cake, waffle, etc, etc. His most used phrase to justify this indulgence is “porque yo lo valgo”, meaning “because I’m worth it”. Ha ha.

A favourite of ours when we’re due a treat is the Austríaco Café Wien (Facebook page here, website here) near the Arenal in Jávea. Established in 1978, it’s incredibly popular, when you walk through the doors you see why. Artisan bread, pastries of all kinds and delicious Austrian cakes fill the glass counters, daring you to choose just one. We went towards the end of the day, there isn’t quite as much selection then but we normally find something we fancy.

I have it easy really, most of the cakes are full of cream and gluten and would make me suffer for days if I finished off one of their large portions. I tend to stick to the apple strudel, the butter in it doesn’t seem to bother me too much and the pastry is quite thin. Anything with apple in it I adore and I’m pretty sure this cake classes as one of your five-a-day. I have on occasions eaten one of the fruit tartlets and, although scrumptious, I have had to pay for my sins in the following hours!

Pep on the other hand finds it more difficult to select just one, often umming and aaahing over the two chocolate cake, the chocolate truffle cake, any other cake with chocolate in, the walnut cake, the mango cake, etc. This time he went for the two chocolate cake, a popular choice for him. It’s massive but it didn’t last long.

They serve ecological coffees and different teas and infusions. Soy milk and almond milk are also available for your coffee and tea if you don’t want or can’t have lactose. The prices are very reasonable too. A large portion of apple strudel costs 2.40€, the two chocolate cake, 3€. During the winter their opening hours are 7:30-18:30 and they close on Wednesdays.

After our pigging-out session it was time to burn off some of those calories. We like to leave the Arenal behind and walk along the coast road to the port. There are a few bars and restaurants along the road as well as some chiringuitos (beach bars) closer to the sea.

Instead of sandy beaches, the coastline is made up of unusual rocky formations that aren’t too comfortable to lay a towel on and sunbathe. This golden rock is called “Tosca” and has been used to build or adorn houses all around Jávea. It originated thousands of years ago from dunes that the sand formed along the coastline. Used since Roman times, it’s extraction was prohibited in 1972 for environment protection reasons.

The town is well known for it’s use. Whether you’re in the port area, the old town or by the beach you’ll notice just how much this rock is part of Jávea’s architecture. I rather like it, especially when used around doors, windows and arches. It adds a touch of style (in my humble opinion, of course.)

On another note, last week I had the pleasure of accompanying Vernon and Celia from Valley FM around our “huerta”. A little interview took place while I was giving them the guided tour. A snippet of said interview was played on Valley FM last Saturday. If you would like to have a listen, here’s the link. It starts around the 8 minute and 30 second mark.

I’m also on a bit later on in the show with my usual little spot, have a listen here if you so desire. I’ll be back this Saturday between 12pm and 2pm. Listen live here or if you live in the Orba and Jalón Valleys you can pick it up on 94.5FM and 102.6FM,

Right, I best get on with some work, can’t sit here all day gassing. Thanks for reading. As always, any suggestions or questions we’d love to hear from you. Take care, love Georgie and Pep xxx