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The fruit and vegetables grown in Tenerife have a vitamin and mineral salt content that, according to studies that have been carried out, are far higher that those normally found at other latitudes. Every year Tenerife exports more than 120 million kilos of tomatoes, basically to European markets, especially to United Kingdom, along with cucumbers and beans.
The banana is on of the Island’s major agriculture resources, with production figures of 200,000 tons a year. Its origins are from the south east Asia and was introduced into the Canary Islands by Portuguese arrivals from Guinea. It’s an expensive product because the land has to be prepared and also an irrigation system, fertilizers, thick walls of greenhouses that protect from the wind must be built. What’s more the fields of Tenerife also produce a varied range of tropical and sub-tropical fruits: avocado, pears, mangos, papaya, pineapple, custard apple, guava, mamey, carambola, lychee and many other varieties that are often rarely seen in Europe.
One of the fundamental elements of Canarian cuisine is the potato, which was brought to the canaries by the Spanish in the XVI century and was extended from here to the rest of the European continent. The most commons potatoes used in the traditional cooking are papas arrugadas (wrinkled potatoes) cooked with abundant water and salt. They can be eaten with or without skin and accompany fish or meat and regularly soaked in ‘majo’ sauce. They are the base of Canarian food and are used in the majority of the traditional dishes, such as ‘potajes’ (vegetable stew), ‘ropa vieja’ (stew with chickpea and meat).
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