Fire threatens snow pits belonging to ice cream pioneers in Alicante

Flames that melt ice cream, nothing faster. Although it's not exactly the quintessential summer treat, but rather the "technology" of its origins, the snow pits or "neveros." One of this summer's fires , although minor, has threatened some of these vestiges of industrial archaeology in the Font Roja Natural Park , between Ibi and Alcoy (Alicante).

That fire aroused a natural concern for the botanical richness of the mountain range, a dense and varied forest of trees beyond the typical Mediterranean pine forest in this area of ​​prolonged drought. Fortunately, it remained largely within its limits and ultimately affected the sunny slope of Ibi , without destroying holm oaks, ash trees, or yew trees, among other species found in the humid, shady side of Alcoy.

But the flames literally licked three snow pits and a rural house or mountain farmhouse in one of them, Mas del Canyo . "The Canyo pit was barely affected, only slightly to the wood of the fence that surrounds it. Further up in La Noguera it destroyed them, and in El Simarro you can even see the burnt stones," says Emilio , a hiker familiar with the area, who hiked it with other walkers a month after the fire and captured the images that accompany this report. "The fire reached the cabin, where you can see an observatory and an antenna, next to the El Menejador forest track, where the firefighters were able to stop it," he describes.

Fortunately, there are more of these stone buildings that house inside tanks once used to store raw material for making ice cream: snow .

Although this technique spread to other areas of the Iberian Peninsula before the availability of cold storage, the pioneers of the ice cream tradition emerged in Ibi and Jijona —a neighboring town more famous for its turrón. In fact, some ice cream makers from both municipalities have always had a notable presence in the National Association of Artisan Ice Cream Makers ( ANHCEA ), which has its headquarters here.

And eloquent proof of its prestige within the industry is the fact that Heladería La Ibense and Heladería La Jijonenca are brands all over the world. This is no exaggeration: establishments bearing the Ibi name have been documented opening on the American continent and even in the Philippines , due to the Spanish influence and the Spanish-speaking population.

This summer, fire threatened a significant piece of this historic legacy when it ravaged 185 hectares , from the Sant Pascual-Torretes Municipal Natural Park—the source of the fire—to the Font Roja Natural Park (both part of the Natura 2000 Network ), as well as Special Protection Areas for Birds (SPAs). The Civil Guard is investigating a 43-year-old man , a member of a religious community that cares for those affected by addiction, as the man who threw ashes and still-burning embers from a barbecue, possibly causing the catastrophe.

To provide raw materials for ice cream, snow was stored in these "neveros" (iceboxes) in winter, insulated with straw , and on the peaks, where before climate change this solid precipitation fell annually in abundance. In recent decades, it has only remained at higher altitudes, above a thousand meters, especially on the peak of Aitana, which is the highest in the province of Alicante at 1,558 meters.

When the weather was good, they would transport the snow in wooden buckets and travel by cart along the unpaved road to the port of Alicante to mix it with fruit flavors and sell those rudimentary ice creams, which could now be considered sorbets. They soon became popular under the name " chambi ," which some associate with the English word "sandwich," and which incorporated cookies, wafers, or wafers along with the ice cream.