nerpio is a municipality in the Sierra del Segura, in Albacete: the southernmost town in all of Castilla-La Mancha, close to Murcia and Jaén.
In its municipal area of 435 km2 there are 11 population centers: Nerpio itself and ten districts, in which they live in total only 1,191 people. We are talking about a population density of less than 3 inhabitants per km2: less than that of Australia.
“We are in the entire center of emptied Spain,” he jokes Peter Martinez Jacobe, president of the Association for the Promotion of the Nerpio Walnut, a group that is trying to value what was once the main economic engine of the town. Thanks to his efforts, the walnut has just obtained a Protected Designation of Origin, the highest agri-food protection granted by the European Union. But a stamp is not enough to recover such an exceptional crop, unknown.
“For two centuries there were people dedicating themselves to walnuts professionally,” Martinez explains to DAP. But since the 80’s many people abandoned the nogales because they were not profitable. The last plantations are from the beginning of the 20th century. When we started, about 1,000 new walnut trees were planted, but We need a generational change. The producers are very old”.
In Nerpio there is more than 30,000 trees, most of them centenarians, up to 400 years old. The walnut trees were introduced from the 17th century, originating, as in the entire peninsula, from Turkey. Today they are gigantic trees with five meters of rope and up to 20 in height.
In Nerpio one finds, in fact, the tallest walnut tree in Spainthe famous Plantón de Covacho that, unfortunately, contracted a disease and remains almost like a monument, without leaves or, of course, nuts.
Some walnuts that are already mentioned in a trade yearbook from 1882, the first official written reference to the product that has served, among many other documents, to declare Nerpio walnuts Differentiated Quality Mark and it is expected, in the near future, product with Denomination of Origin.
What is special about Nerpio nuts?
As Martínez explains, the Nerpio nut, because it is quite isolated, has not been crossed with other species, is native. Its flavor is slightly more bitter than that of other varieties, due to its higher tannin content. And this also means that its polyphenol content –substances known for their healthy properties– is up to ten times higher than in other nuts.
But the most characteristic of the dried fruit, explains Martínez, is the way in which it is worked: “The differential part with walnuts is the treatment that is given to them. They are collected by hand and are not forced to dry.. Hand dried for 20 days. The walnut is split by hand. Because the most important part of the nut is in the skin of the segment and if you wash it or dry it by machine it loses its properties and goes bad sooner”.
In Nerpio, of course, there are a great culture around the walnut. Walnut wine is even made, which is made on these dates with fermented green walnuts. And its gastronomy is full of dishes with walnuts, which are used in savory preparations, as a garnish or in the form of a sauce, and in all kinds of desserts: there is walnut bread, walnut cake, walnut flan… “Walnut is added to everything”, summarizes Martínez.
The walnut, explains the president, It is even used as a cosmetic: “If the crush between the fingers is created as an oil, this does not happen with other nuts. And it was used for babies, as a cream, and for wounds.”
in search of a future
The association, in which the vast majority of walnut producers in the area are involved, seeks to pay a fair price for the dry fruit. Although at the moment they simply have to settle for not having to throw production away.
“The price at origin is a disaster,” explains the president. “In two or three years the price has dropped by 40%. When there was the trade war with China, the US invaded Europe with California walnuts at a very low price. It was entering €1.20 per kilo in Valencia. We can’t compete against that.”
Nerpio nuts are of higher quality, but they are not easy to collect. “The type of walnut that we make is very laborious, it has a lot of work,” explains Martínez. “They are very old plantations, very large trees. Pruning one of those trees costs a lot of money if we don’t give it added value.”
The association is receiving the determined support of the town hall and the board to publicize the product, also through tourism. “In the last year we have done two routes through the hundred-year-old walnut trees, that run next to the river”, explains Martínez. “People are going to walk among walnut trees.”
The association has also promoted the initiative “sponsor a walnut tree” for which the owners of walnut trees that are not worked give them to the association, which is in charge of pruning and collecting the walnuts. Every year, at the end of November, the Walnut Fair is also held, whose high point is the popular nut cracking contest
Various initiatives with the same objective: recover the Nerpio nut as an economic asset. “If we don’t recover the nut, trees that are 200 or 300 years old will begin to be cut down,” concludes Martínez. And this beautiful town of Albacete will continue to lose population irretrievably.
This is a new version of an article originally published on July 22, 2020.
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