After two years of hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Pinolere Ethnographic Parkin La Orotava, once again hosts a new edition of the cheese fairwhich will be held on April 9 and 10 of next month.
This was confirmed yesterday by the manager of the Pinolere Cultural Association, Jesús García, who presented the poster for the event and the extensive program of activities, which includes tastings, commented tastings, milking workshops for the little ones and tributes such as the one that will be paid to him the young goatherd Alba Pérez Alonso or the biologist Juan Francisco Capote Álvarez. In total, some 60 stalls will participate, an “important” number for this XI edition, in which in addition to tasting and buying cheeses from all the islands and traditional gastronomic products, you can also enjoy the wines of the Valle de La Orotava and craft beers.
As the main novelty, he highlighted that from March 28 a prior ticket sales point will be installed in the El Puente area, where for the purchase of two or more tickets (their price is two euros), a wedge will be taken of cheese of about 300 grams from one of the three dairies in the municipality.
García was accompanied during the presentation by the island councilor for Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, Francisco Javier Parrilla; the Director of the Canary Islands Institute for Agrifood Quality (ICCA) of the Department of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries of the Government of the Canary Islands, José Basilio Pérez; and the mayor, Francisco Linares. In this context, he thanked both the public and private institutions that collaborate with this exhibition, which will be “safe and responsible” since it has all the anti-COVID measures and protocol in addition to being organized in an open space with capacity control.
Javier Parrilla highlighted the constant support that the Cabildo de Tenerife provides to the island’s farmers and dairies and, in general, to the entire primary sector, attending to their demands and articulating lines of support for the maintenance of their productive activity. In this sense, and given “the terrible moment” that the livestock sector is going through throughout Spain as a result of the war between Russia and Ukraine, the Island Corporation will approve an extraordinary aid of 1.3 million.
For his part, José Basilio Pérez highlighted the quality of the Archipelago’s cheeses and gave as an example of this the numerous awards and distinctions they receive, both nationally and internationally.
Lastly, Francisco Linares underlined the importance of the fair to achieve the objective of betting on the consumption of Canarian products, the circular economy and boosting and invigorating the local economy. That is why he lamented that not all large surfaces know how to value the quality and work behind these products.
The day before the start of the Fair, the IX Insular Cheese Contest of Tenerife will be held at the Casa del Vino, in El Sauzal, in which some 90 samples from the different dairies on the Island will be presented. The winners will be given to meet the day after in Pinolere.
