Waterwheels

[Marta Elena Díaz García]

Hi, friends:

Upon was a time that Asturias was plenty of waterwheels. Some of them were private while others were communal. In the private ones, the miller charged for milling an amount, known as “maquila” that ranged between 500 and 600 g of the grinding. Here I am enclosing a picture of a “maquila”:



There are now a very few waterwheels in Asturias. As an example, in Molleda, where I live, there were 17 in 1850, they were reduced to 12 in 1925 and nowdays there aren’t waterwheels left. The last one I remember was destroyed by the gypsies after the owners passed over.

Waterwheels were the gathering point of the neighbors. To attend that gathering was obligatory as every 15 days, the bread was to be baked. However, the “meeting” was of much interest: it was the place where they exchanged juicy and interesting pieces of gossips and news. The waterwheels were so popular that the miller and his wife are the main characters of many traditional asturian songs, most of them, naughty.

The waterwheels are lovely. It is really a pity they are dissapearing.

Marta.
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TRANSLATION

Hola a todos,

Erase una vez que Asturias tenía muchos molinos. Algunos de ellos eran de propiedad privada y otros comunales. En los privados, el molinero cobraba por la molienda una cantidad, llamada maquila, que oscilaba entre 500 y 600 g de lo molido. Aquí adjunto la foto de una maquila que todavía hay por casa.

Hay muy pocos molinos en Asturias. Por ejemplo, en Molleda que es donde vivo, en 1850 había 17 molinos, en 1925 eran 12 y hoy día ya no queda ninguno. El último que recuerdo lo destruyeron unos gitanos, cuando la propiedad quedó vacía tras la muerte de los dueños.

El molino era el punto de reunión de los vecinos. Asistir era obligatorio, ya que cada 15 días más o menos había que hacer el pan. Sin embargo, esa reunión tenía su atractivo pues allí era el lugar de cotilleo y de enterarse de noticias y chismes variopintos. Los molinos eran tan populares que el molinero y su mujer son los protagonistas de muchas canciones tradicionales asturianas, muchas con un barniz pícaro.

Me encantan los molinos. Es una lástima que estén desapareciendo.
Marta.

[Art]

¡Marta, este es un mensaje interesante! No veo la foto.

No estoy seguro que entiendo porque fueron al molino cada quince días, más o menos. ¿Era que los clientes tenían que ir al molino cada dos semanas para obtener más harina del molinero?

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Marta, that's an interesting message! I didn't see the photo.

I'm not sure I understand why they went to the mill about every fifteen days. Did the clients go every two weeks because the clients had to have the miller grind more flour?

[Marta Elena Díaz García]

Hello Art:

The flour was not buy to the miller, instead people took the corn (or wheat) they grew to be milled. A particular kind of wheat that was/is farmed in Asturias is known as "escanda" and the bread made of escanda is very nice. Also, the bread made of rye is common in Asturias. I love it.

Differents breads:
"boroña" (made of corn),
pan de escanda (made of a type of wheat, triticum spelta),
pan de centeno (made of rye),
pan de centeno y trigo (made of a mixture of wheat and rye)....

Bread was not baked every day. A lot of work in the "casería" was the reason: farming, looking after the cattle, a lot of children to take care of, carrying water to the house, washing in the river, etc, etc, etc. Women worked not only in the house (cooking, sewing, ironing, cleaning, washing, looking after the kids, carrying water, carrying wood for cooking, going to the market to sell milk, eggs, fruits and other products.....) but also outside, helping in the farm. They had a very hard life......

Bread was made once a week more or less (the asturian term for baking is "arroxar"). The bread was then kept in the "masera" (I wrote about it in this forum) until it was finished. Once the flour was about to be finished, you had to go take your corn/wheat to the waterwheel and get more flour.

It is funny you can not see the picture.....please, check again.

Marta

[Art]

Thanks, Marta, now I can see it. That was odd that it wasn't visible.

I'm baking a loaf of spelt bread now! It's one of my favorites. I'm grateful to Conchita of the forum for introducing me to it.

There's a bakery in El Atrio in Avilés (perhaps it's Panadería las Vegas?) that makes a very tasty loaf of escanda. It seems to have a higher percentage of spelt flour than the spelt loaves of the other bakeries in Avilés. They have it for sale three days of the week, I think.

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Gracias, Marta, ahora lo veo. Qué raro que no estaba visible.

¡Tengo una barra de pan de escanda en el horno ahora! Escanda es uno de mis favoritos. Agradezco mucho a Conchita del foro por presentarme a este pan.

Hay una panadería en El Atrio en Avilés (¿quizás Panadería las Vegas?) que hace un pan muy sabroso de escanda. Parece que usan un mayor porcentaje de harina de escanda en su pan de escanda que las otras panaderías de Avilés. Está en venta tres días del semana, creo.