Gastronomy
The most agricultural and seafaring image on the Arucas coast is found in the Bañaderos quarter. There is fish and seafood in plenty in restaurants and open air cafés with a varied supply of limpets and mussels, red mullet and fried combers, grilled slices of grouper, open grilled comb grouper with garlic, and many more. In 1883, the sugar cane grown on the Plains and elsewhere in the municipality gave rise to the "Destilerías Arehucas" rum factory, which continues to process the cane, transforming it into rum, an important part of life all over the island.
The factory opened in 1884 under the name of "Destilería de San Pedro", becoming "Destilerías Arehucas" in 1965. It now has a much more varied production, and no longer only makes classical white and golden rum, with high profile products such as seven, twelve and twenty-year old rum, and other liqueurs such as banana, cocoa and bienmesabe (made from ground almonds and honey). The raw material is practically not grown on the island any longer, but the factory owns an estate which continues to produce a three-month crop, in March, April and May. Although the distilled sugar cane used by Arehucas to make its rum now comes from South Africa, they do grow their own cane in Las Vegas, between the town itself and Visvique, with an annual production of 300,000 kilos (with optimal yield, this produces 30,000 litres of liqueur), with a bouquet that adds personality to their high profile products, in particular their seven and twelve-year old rum.
Throughout the year, company staff cares for the estate until the high cane is cut during the harvest period. The leaves are removed first, in a process known as “descogollar”. Then the fibre is cut, and ground to yield bagazo, a by-product which is discarded, and guarapo, or cane juice, which is fermented until it has around six degrees of alcohol, when it is distilled. The product of this process is stored in oak casks until it is transformed into rum.
