Home made

Jams!

by Felix A.Hohmann  REPORT TENERIFE (Edicion 2/2002 )  

TENERIFE

REPORT

As the sayings goes, “the way to a man‘s heart is through his stomach“, but Angelika Linde and Wolfgang Creter went further than the heart five years ago. Each one off his own bat decided to leave Germany to come and live in La Gomera where they met. Love, cooking and good food  a natural setting were the fundamental elements: the common denominator that is now called: Gomerasana.

    Gomera, after the island and sana (health in Spanish), after the common characteristic of their new culinary creations. The combination of figs with mustard seeds cannot be described with words, but the taste is addictive. Boiled pepper skins give their spice to the floral aroma of the fine island honey finely ground almonds and garlic are added to a “mojo“ sauce you would marry, or divorce for. Products are seasonal, which I find specially charming. Instead of throwing away the smallest and sweetest tomatoes, or giving them to the goats, for instance, just because they have not reached the required size, their arrival signals the high season for tomato creation for Gomerasana. The papayas are ripe, then it is their turn. For our parents and grand parents, all this was perfectly normal.

    Now, apart from me, these „souvenirs for sybarites“ have made many friends so, if you ever decide to go on an excursion around the island, it would be a crime to miss something so special.

    Altough Angelika, chemist by profession, is in charge of production in her well-kept kitchen, Wolfgang a photographic salesman by trade, looks after „tasting“ and sales, and the culinary creations are the work of both of them. In this small testing laboratory set in Chio, they make jams, chutneys and other culinary delights, taking special care of every last details. On the edge of the volcano, they create such unusual products as figs with liqueur or grapefruits jam with vodka, and mango-chili-chutney. The list is long, the ingredients are all grown on the island and no preservatives are used in their making of course. These products can only be bought from their small shop, and in the weekly market in Playa San Juan.

    Apart from all kinds of delicious products, the have achieved something else, something many people dream of: they get up every morning an flee from the normal routine on an island where the sun always shines: they just spend their time making jam. Angelika and Wolfgang have made it, but it was not that easy. The fact is they have been patient and now see the light at the end of the tunnel every morning encourages others to take the leap.

.......... Many artists and craftsmen have put their roots down here, as have musicians and even Chefs. Wolfgang and Angelika for example, started here, in Valle, with their particular concept of gourmet cuisine creating chutneys and jams. Their products are marketed on the „Delicias del Sol“ label, and they now have an international clientele.