Armchair adventure ASTURIAS
It might be just a humble bean but growers of faba de la granja cherish this oval-shaped legume almost as much as they do their children. Its journey from being cradled by the warm spring soil to being plucked from its wizened pod in the autumn is a precarious one, and qualification for the faba de la granja label is extremely stringent. “Until the beans are in the bag, ready to sell, you can’t relax,” says farmer José Antonio Fernández, as he winnows his precious crop from its papery husks. The white-jacketed beans might look modest but they fetch more per kilo than steak.
I’m in the hamlet of Villademoros, in the west of Asturias, on Spain’s northern coast. Looking around me I can see why they call this region España Verde (Green Spain). Forget the flamenco-stomping south with its sun-scorched squares
