La Pumarada
The growing of fruit, particularly apples, is an inseparable part of the casería, both in actuality and in the popular imagination.[1] One expression of the primacy of apples in fruit cultivation in Asturias is the existence of the word pumarada. No other orchard gets its own name, but apple orchards do.
As early as 793 the forerunner to the modern Asturian pumarada, the word pomifera is found in the Ego Fakilo.[2] By the early part of the 13th century, pumarada was the common term for an enclosed apple orchard.[3]
The Traditional Pumarada
The traditional Asturian apple orchard was an integrated agricultural space, as we like to call them these days.[4] Full-size apple trees, often each tree being a different cultivar, were planted based on available space. Cows (and later sheep) were grazed beneath, both to control grass and to fertilize the trees. Colemenas, traditional beehives made from tree trunks, were dotted around the orchards.
The Modern Pumarada
While it is possible to find traditional orchards in the small villages and caserías of Asturias these days, the most common pumarada now is a large industrial-scale affair. Like most orchards, apple orchards benefit from economies of scale, and have been growing steadily larger since the 18th century.[5]
- ↑ Gómez Pellón, Elloy. “La Casería Asturiana: Estructura de la unidad de expltación agraria.” Enciclopedia de la Asturias Popular, 1st ed., vol. 3, La Voz de Asturias, 1994, pp. 1–16. Eating Asturias.
- ↑ Fuentes, María Josefa Sanz. “El Documento de Fakilo (803): estudio y edición.” Estudos em homenagem ao professor doutor José Marques: IV volume, 2006, ISBN 972-8932-07-3, pages 31-40, 2006, pp. 31–40. dialnet.unirioja.es, https://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/articulo?codigo=3265971.
- ↑ Fernández, Perfecto Rodríguez. “El léxico de la sidra y el vino en la diplomacia medieval asturiana en latín (Siglos VIII-XIII).” Boletín del Instituto de Estudios Asturianos, vol. 37, no. 109, 1983, pp. 681–714 (696).
- ↑ Rodriguez Gutierrez, Fermin. “El Espacio Rural Asturiano: La Organización Agraria Tradicional.” Geographia de Asturias, 1st ed., vol. 1, Editorial Prensa Asturiana, 1992, pp. 145–60.
- ↑ Rivas, David M. La sidra asturiana: bebida, ritual y símbolo. pp 67. 2nd ed., Picu Urriellu, 2004.
