The guests of honour at the ninth edition of the Gran Canaria Me Gusta Fair held this weekend at Infecar, national chefs Ricard Camarena, Carlos Maldonado and Teresa Gutiérrez, and food journalists Carlos Doncel, Javier Cirujeda and Daniela Aravena of La Picaeta Podcast and Michal Kordos, enjoyed a tour of the island to learn first-hand how some of the cheeses and wines produced in Gran Canaria are made. They were able to discover the undeniable flavour of the legacy and tradition of Gran Canarian foodstuffs, given the importance of family inheritance in the processes followed by our producers and livestock farmers.

“It has been a revealing trip”, said chef Ricard Camarena (two Michelin Stars, one Green Star for Sustainability and three Repsol Suns) after the tour of the island. “I was delighted to learn about the products made and used by the people who live on this land,” he added.

The La Caldera Cheese Factory, located in the midlands of northwest Gran Canaria, specifically in the municipality of Gáldar, was the first stop for the chefs and food journalists on their route to taste Gran Canaria. This cheese factory managed by Tania Rivero and Francisco Javier González has the Protected Designation of Origin seal of Queso Flor de Guía, Queso de Media Flor de Guía and Queso de Guía, the only Designation of Origin cheese on the island. There, in an incredible landscape typical of a pastoral area, this couple gave a tour of their small cheese factory, but also reminded the guests how the feeding and care of the livestock are key in the artisan production of their renowned cheeses.

Tania and Francisco inherited this tradition from Francisco’s family; from them, they learned a totally artisanal way of making cheese, for, as Tania explained, the cheese they produce is made “all by hand, with a lot of love and patience”. “The warmth of the hands is very important”, she pointed out, showing the guests the old wooden cheese makers that they still use today to make their products, which they also received from the family.

The Quesería La Caldera products that the renowned chefs and journalists tasted were Queso de Flor de Guía and Queso de Media Flor made from raw Canarian sheep’s milk. However, other cheeses were also part of the tasting, so that the guests could enjoy a sample of the different flavours offered by cheeses produced in other areas of Gran Canaria. Specifically, the group also tasted the winner of the ‘Best Cheese of the Canary Islands 2021’ award, the raw goat’s cheese from Quesos La Gloria, and the cheese made with raw milk from Canary Island breed cows produced by Quesería Los Castañeros de Moya. The latter is a solid commitment to maintaining the breed of the cows that produce it.

“I found the cheeses authentic and marvellous for their creaminess, flavour and curing point,” said chef Carlos Maldonado after his visit to the cheese factory. “We have learned that they work and fight for it every day. We are eating part of their history and their day to day and that is the most beautiful thing that can be behind a great product”, said the renowned chef of ‘Raíces’ awarded with a Michelin Star and a Sustainable Sun.

The tour continued with a visit to the Bodega San Juan, a family winery located in the municipality of Santa Brígida with more than a hundred years of history. It is managed by Cristina Millán, who gets up and goes to bed every day with the firm objective of keeping alive a tradition started by her great-great-grandfather, Juan Rodríguez Quegles, in 1912. After years inoperative, Millán started up his family’s legacy again at Finca El Mocanal in 2017.

In this second and last stop, the delegation was able to taste a sample of the wines produced on the island: the organic red wine of volcanic character Mocanal vintage 2020 from Bodega San Juan, the semi-sweet white wine Eidan, produced by Bodega Ventura with Muscat of Alexandria, volcanic malvasia and listan blanco grapes; and the red wine Desentidos 100 % tintilla from Vinos Viña La Vica, made with the 100 % tintilla variety.

“This bodega has been able to give tradition a new face,” Camarena said of Millán’s recovery of the family legacy, which she now tries to maintain with such care and affection. In fact, although the owner of the bodega has converted the product obtained into organic wine, she maintains every corner and piece of machinery used to produce wine for more than a century on her estate like a museum.

For her part, ‘The Queen of Saffron’, the chef Teresa Gutiérrez (Michelin Guide Recommended), said she was “delighted” with the wines tasted during her visit to the Bodega. “I love the produce of Gran Canaria, they are marvellous and the people of the island should be much more proud of the products they have”, concluded the chef.

The renowned chefs and journalists thus concluded their tour of some of the artisanal processes that Gran Canarian farmers and livestock breeders have inherited from generation to generation and try to maintain every day with great effort.