Cave 2: The Museum of the Zalabí bread
THE HISTORY OF A MIRACLE
From the seed to the grain.
Wheat is the oldest seed that humans have grown and the most demanded seed in the world. 40 to 100 kilos of wheat seeds per hectare will provide a production of 600 to 4000 kilos of grain.
Wheat needs a rich soil,plenty of water, clay and loam. Wheat prefers subtropical climates with not too hot or cold temperatures, the ideal growing conditions will be under temperatures from 10 to 24 degrees with 229-762 mm of rain.
In the past the grain was separated from the straw through threshing. Then, the mixture of seeds and straw was thrown in the air with rakes so that the wind could separate the grain due to its different weight. The grain was winnowed, kept in sacks and stored in silos. Nowadays, most countries have the resources to store their grain and flour makers can buy it from exporting countries throughout the year.
OUR AUTHENTIC TREASURE
The most basic and valued item.
Wheat is the base for making bread and is the basic source of food for many cultures. There are 570 millions of hectares growing wheat every year, which means that somewhere in the world there is always a ready wheat crop every month.
In our workshops visitors will have the opportunity to learn about bread, its history, the relation between the grains and the diferent civilisations, the types of flour and milling seasons, the process of making bread, its stages, shapes, etc.
THE ZALABÍ BREAD
The Valle del Zalabí has preserved its artisan knowledge of making and producing bread. The bread of Guadix and its area is traditionally handmade with natural products, only flour, salt, yeast and water, following a nazarí recipe.
Our bread has an excellent quality as a result of using the water from the Sierra Nevada and being baked in wood-fired ovens. All this along with the "know-how", intuition and patience of our bread experts have made the bread of this area famous.