More than three and a half years ago Taste it here already devoted a few lines to an incipient and interesting project Velgadenia, an eco-responsible Valencian company that, with consistent and constant ant work, has been expanding its range of products while promoting the Valencian zero kilometer product.
Established in Valencia, after passing through Dénia, Sedaví and Alaquàs, we're going to visit them this month as they show us three of their latest star products: la SobraMisada (a vegetable pasta with the taste of sobrassada), the Vegummus with Valencian carob of the purple eye and black garlic and the Tiggy, a wonderful carob and chufa pasta made by Vegadénia and designed by the company The Xufa Lab, established in Rocafort, that markets it.
Ferran and Mònica welcome us to their establishment, next to Avinguda del Port, and the first thing we do is congratulate them for the award they just received at this year's Biocultura (which took place in Valencia to celebrate the 25 anniversary of the Valencian Ecological Agriculture Committee). Your hummus (Vegummus, as they call it) of purple-eyed carob and black garlic has received the first prize for the organic food product.
While Mònica and Susana prepare the ingredients to show us how they work with them, Ferran invites us to a café to talk about Vegadénia's trajectory. It's not bad at all to have achieved three own product lines in all this time and also work for other companies that need your know-how and installations. tiredness, work without hours, but a visible satisfaction on the faces of the people of Vegadénia. "We can't be grateful enough to Quique Dacosta for taking us to the DNA of Dénia and taking a picture with us" says Ferran excitedly as he goes to get a jar of carob hummus. "All our garrofón is Valencian, of the black cella. It costs us much more than buying carob from South America, but we have a treasure here and we need to take care of it" ─sentence Ferran─ "Thanks to initiatives like ours, or like that of the cook Ricard Camarena, the Valencian carob is starting to take off. We need to reassess our product.".
Vegadénia moves a lot. They are very few workers, but where they can poke their nose, they try to make themselves known: fires, markets and calls for various awards are part of the history of a company that stands out for its careful selection and quality of a plant-based product 100% with superior organoleptic qualities. "We want all our products to be excellent in terms of taste quality. That's why we sterilize all our products. This means that they retain the pH and all their taste nuances and that they can last more than two years before opening them without any kind of additive. The only products we do not sterilize are jams, our sweet line, since sugar is a preservative in itself.".
Finished the coffee and the profitable conversation, Monica tells us that everything is ready to see how they make two of their products. But before, Ferran makes us put on jackets and hats so that we can enter the kitchen in good hygiene, the Vegadénia production area.
The first thing that stands out from the kitchen, bright and unpolluted, it is the order and the grateful work space. Mónica has prepared the ingredients for us to make the Tiggy, a jufa and carob cream that could compete with Nutella itself, but in the league of healthy and zero kilometer products: chuff paste DO Valencia, Valencian zero kilometer carob and sunflower oil. Everything from organic farming. The cream isn't done yet and we're already drooling. As Ferran tells us, Vegadénia manufactures for its inventors, The Xufa Lab, this cream that has a long way to go and many applications in the kitchen. After a first mixture of ingredients, the amalgam of colors becomes homogenous and acquires a shiny color that invites you to paste dictation (if not outside because we already have a teaspoon ready to taste the final result). The antioxidant qualities of carob and juva make this cream a subtle and sweet bite that, according to themselves, they find better than cocoa creams. And we have been fascinated by two products that sometimes seem forgotten in today's cuisine, like carob and jufa, you can create this lepolia that everyone likes.
The third star product is its SobraMisada, which they have started to sell even in Portugal. A bowl of miso, spices and sunflower seeds that, with your eyes closed, could well look like a tarbanera sobrasada. "Now we have to let him rest." ─ says Mònica─ "you won't want us to tell you all the secrets" ─ she tells us laughing and winking.
We leave the kitchen still with the reddish glow of the SobraMissada. A sparkling red with a deep taste that invites you to repeat. For lovers of contrasts, the SobraMissada has a version with dates. Although Ferran and Mònica decided to look for organic Valencian dates in Camp d'Elx, it has been impossible for them to find any. And less, when they do not yet have a protected geographical indication or anything similar. Urgent work to be done for the Valencian Government (since the action of the red nose further weakened the sector).
After tasting more than half a dozen tastes, discover the range of Vegadénia products first hand. From their assortment of vegetable pâtés (babaganuix, carlotta with walnuts and basil or red paprika, asparagus and anuses), the selection of ten jams (Artesania Comunitat Valenciana award 2017) and their Vegummus with Valencian carob (now awarded).
Their products can be purchased in several ways. Or directly through the different social networks: Facebook, Instagram or to same website, or also in various establishments in Cap i Casal which we will detail below:
The Forever Store (Nazareth)
Anela Herbalist (To AIO)
The Carabasseta (Benimaclet)
Bulk Order (Benimaclet)
A in the Central Market (Old City)
We are Food (La Saïdia)
Earth and Xufa at the Russafa Market (Russafa)
Bulk (Tearing)
If you don't know them yet, choose one of their products and enjoy.
XAVIER BENAVENT / MARTINA MONLLAU
