Traditional Agriculture

Agriculture gets to Vallehermoso with the first European colonizers. It starts with the export crops in the fifteenth century and since then it has spread along our Municipality with a wide range of productions as varied as the micro weathers or the natural surroundings. It is utilization from the sea to the summit, where every crop has its optimal production level.
From Mediterranean vegetables to tubers, tropical fruits or cereals and European vines, Vallehermoso and La Gomera have nowadays an agriculture considered an active heritage as regards the production techniques used and because it is an activity that has drawn our most valuable landscapes historically.

Apart from the export agriculture such as the sugar cane, the tomato, the vine or the banana, we find a self consumption and familiar agriculture that presents a wide range of products which is unique and exclusive. This symbolizes the meeting between the South American products with those ones from Western European.

If you go over some of our ravines of slopes, it is usual to watch numerous crops where the potato or the “millo” (corn) prevail together with vegetables like cabbage, pumpkin, “bubangos”(marrow), tomatoes, onions, lettuce, pepper and cucumber as well as tropical fruits like “guayabos” (guava tree), mango, papayas, avocado or bananas. Besides, it is also agriculture rich in cereals and legumes or fruits from warm weather like apples, pears, quinces (“membrillo”), peaches, figs, oranges and dried fruits like chestnuts and almonds. Nowadays many aromatic and seasoning herbs are also grown. These ones are related to home care remedies or dressings for meat and fish.

Stockbreeding and Fishing

Certain familiar livestock productions are still working thanks to the broad tradition (dating back to the pre-Hispanic period) and the substantial source of food that our natural surrounding provides for the cattle. The goat is the main cattle in the island and its cheese and meat are considered as one of the best at European level thanks to the taste that our natural grass provides as well as the traditional recipes for preparing it. Besides, locally or at familiar level we also find little productions of pigs, sheep, hens and rabbits as well as a great amount of beekeepers in the island.

Fishing in Vallehermoso is nowadays limited to the utilization of the nearest coast and it has been historically practiced from land for the most part. It can be stated that certain areas of the municipal coast are the richest and most plentiful in species of all the Canary Archipelago, thanks to the depth and the great amount of nutrients that the cold waters from the Atlantic Ocean provide. At present, the creation of a Marine Reserve is being designed in the island and Vallehermoso will have nearly a 50%.