Artesanía alimentaria
observe nature, elaborate solutions,
work together.
Today we dedicated ourselves to the solution of this problem: how to make a volatile resource, such as blackberries and prickly pears, available for longer times, hopefully for the whole year?
Sometimes we are overfilled with abundant and generous amounts of food, which we cannot consume in time, so a method is needed in order to make available this big amount of energy for longer terms, hopefully for the whole year: it is in these kind of situations that “artesanía alimentaria”, the mastering of culinary skills, can come to our help.
The concept behind artesanía alimentaria is simple: after observing the resources that the environment spontaneously offers you, get into action taking advantage of artisanal-traditional knowledge to make the best out of it, with the minimum effort and the maximum result.
In our specific case, blackberries and prickly pears are wildfruits rich in sugars, perfect to store and preserve under the form of homemade jams. Our day has been thus dedicated to the collect of prickly pears (higochumbos), and, after getting rid of their sharp spines, we went through the whole process of boiling, caramelizing, and packing them: after a long hours of work, our jars were eventually filled with marvellous homemade jams, which will now pay us back storing for the winter the energy of higochumbos and blackberries.
This day proved to us the importance of sharing resources, work and knowledge, showing how associated work can economically and sustainably solve the problems we may encounter in our relationship with nature.
– Arrigo, volunteer of ESC project “Ritmo Natural TEAM II-2023”
