| Rural Tourism |
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The Municipality of Castrelo do Val has unique potentialities in which tourism concerns al. Evidently, the tourism that attracts our Municipality and with which it coexists in perfect harmony is a tourism of rest, nature and even of gastronomical specialities. Beyond those of the architectonic wealth of our towns and of the cultural supply and of leisure of our region, any person can enjoy excellent inland products at the time of eating. For that, we propose a trip in which who will enjoy more it will be its sense of the pleasure. _GASTRONOMICAL SUPPLY The traditional gastronomy of our rural community always was related to products related to the agriculture and cattle ranch and the cinegetic wealth of the region, together with the rational advantage that the towns had done (and it continues doing it) of its resources. For our own idiosyncrasy, the Municipality of Castrelo do Val is a land traditionally agriculturist and cattle dealer, an aspect reflected on a cross-sectional way in the products that support our gastronomical supply.
MEAT As it happens in almost all Galicia, to speak of meats sends almost obligatorily to the domestic cattle. The pig, that in times will be a fundamental pillar of the economy of the families of this area, continues being the animal of deeper cattle tradition and the one that a good part feeds on the culture of the our rural one. Around the act of the slaughter, that often served like a socialization factor, neighbors joined themselves to elaborate inserted cares ecological of a superior quality. Although the pig "everything takes advantage of from the cap to the tail", as or it says the popular saying, are remarkable all the varieties of garlic sausages, "androias" (inserted strongly become related with botillo), jamones cured or the head of the cured pig. The cattle and wool also is abundant and of a very good quality: the meats of Galician calf and the flavorful cabritos of the zone are some of the plates that can be tasted in the menus of our local houses of food. Due to the cinegetic value of our mounts, it is necessary to emphasize in this point the excellent meats fruit of the hunting, practice very common in our Municipality, that it counts on several rocks of hunters. Between the more remarkable meats of hunting they are, like no, the one of the wild boar, corzo, the hare or the perdiz and the quail, to mention some birds of hunting.
FISH Like municipality of distant interior and to the sea, the fish eaten in the zone are those of our rivers - where which it emphasizes the Támega, one of the main affluents of the Duero river-: good trouts and eels, burglaries, salmons and until lamprea... It is not difficult to find in the houses of meals the codfish, typical Portuguese plate that transferred our borders, and the squid, that at the most gains many points to the interior of Galicia we approach.
FRUITS E VEGETABLES The wealth of our grounds allows, in addition to good mount for the hunting, good lands of culture, with a favorable meteorology and a cosy climate that allow to cultivate many classes of fruits that are not native, like kiwi. They emphasize in the valley the fruits of season like apples, ace pears, the cherries, the clams or the hazelnuts. Our orchard supplies of good potatoes and good vegetables to us like the tomatos, beans, the onions, the carrots, the peppers and the grelos, ingredient, this last, indispensable one in a as typical plate as the broth.
OTHER IMPORTANT PRODUCTS They emphasize by his importance several products of quality than more than excelletn in our zone Honey: at the present time, we can find honey with the recent denomination of origin of three different types as they are the chestnut tree honey (this honey is dark, of intense flavor and forts aromas to the flower, in our municipality occurs mainly in the Invernadeiro), honey of brezo (that characterizes by its dark coloration with red tones and their lasting and slightly bitter flavor. One occurs in the Eastern regions of the province of Ourense) and the honey of bramble (honey with dark colors, strong and sweet flavors, and fruit aromas. One occurs in the center-south of the province of Ourense).
DRINKS All the region of Monterrei emphasizes by his water (the region contributes three of the great Galician water marks: Cabreiroá, Sousas and Fontenova), as much in terms of quality as in amount terms. All the nuclei of the municipality have a great variety of sources, fruit of the water-bearing wealth of the abundant zone that supplies regularly and to all the population centres.
In addition to waters, the most important drinks strongly are related to the culture of the grapevine. Our wines, fitted in their great part within the D.O. Monterrey (from 1996) have every day more importance in the vitícola world. In the denomination of native origin they predominate the variety, such as It donates White (Young Fresh), Godello, Treixadura, Mencía and Merenzao (Maria Ardoña the Bastard). Also there is tempranillo (arauxa). The red ones are afrutados and strong, Earth fruit of which the grape and of the climatology of the zone is nourished, and leave a noticeable flavor in paladar.. The minimum alcoholic gradation is of 11 degrees for the targets of superior quality and 10.5 for the red ones of the same type. In the rest of the cases the minimum gradation is of 10 degrees.
Fruit of advantage of orujo (the rind of the grapes that retires once fermented the wine), we have a typical product and strongly rooted in the rural one, the augardente or caña :una drunk of strong alcoholic gradation that blows one's nose to use to accompany the coffee, although also can be consumed single.
From the augardente also another drink is elaborated that enjoys great popularity: the licor of coffee.
The augardente also is the base for the accomplishment of one of more emblematic espirituosas drinks of Galicia: the queimada. |
The most common varieties of augardente are: white, totally crystalline augardente, and augardente de herbas, with a crystalline character but of yellow, smoother color and with a afrutado flavor and very perfumed. This augardente follows the same process of elaboration, with the difference of which in the distillation process an aromatic grass includes itself that confers that so characteristic flavor and color to him.