By seven o'clock on Saturday, the covered market in Valencia is already loud with fishmongers, and the most useful guide is any elderly regular with a wheeled bag.
An early start
The day begins before light, as these days generally do, with a thermos and a list of small emergencies. There is a truth about food production that glossy packaging never quite conveys: it is mostly cleaning, a great deal of waiting and an abiding worry about the weather.
If there is no queue, then there is no reason to stop.
How it is made
What sets this apart is a stubbornness about time. Where commercial producers have sped each step, this method takes months longer and gives a far lower yield. It makes little business sense on paper. On the tongue, the reason for all of that trouble becomes immediately clear.
Where to find it
Direct selling has transformed the economics of small producers. Farmers' markets, box schemes and modest online shops allow them to keep a far larger share of each sale, and they also supply the one thing a supermarket never can: a customer telling you, to your face, what they thought.
You can find it at Saturday markets across the region and through a growing number of good independent grocers. Buy more than you think you need. It keeps well, it makes an excellent present, and you will almost certainly not manage to share it.
