eggs

inventing one without potatoes and without eggs

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For weeks, dozens of headlines have paraded the famous chef Jose Andrés on the Internet defending (or reminding) that the “omelet of his childhood” did not contain eggs. In a country deeply divided by the presence of onions in one of its national dishes, this already seems like a joke. And, to a large extent, it is. First, because statements are tricky, of course; We’ll see it right away. And second, because what is behind it is something else: the price of eggs. If the trinxat of Cerdaña or the Swiss Rösti are being sold online as ‘omelettes without eggs’ is because, since 2021, the price has skyrocketed and it already costs practically double what it did then. In these circumstances, the question that many of us ask ourselves, in a world with sky-high eggs, is whether they can really make an omelette. This same question was asked in Spain 90 years ago and we have just recreated it. Let’s start by clarifying what about Jose Andrés. What Jose Andrés claims is not a tortilla, it is a trinxat. A wonder originating from Cerdanya, Alto Urgel and the rest of the Catalan Pyrenees based on cabbage and potatoes. It is a mountain, winter and use dish. Trinxat, as I say, is not a tortilla in the strict sense; but it must be recognized that, when it is well prepared, it resembles it. By compacting the potato starch, the preparation gelatinizes and cakes, allowing it to take the shape of a tortilla. It doesn’t have its characteristic greasiness, but (except in the structure) it packs a punch. Because, in addition to the flavor, that is what the egg provides: a network of proteins that acts as a mortar (unctuous and silky) for the poached potato and onion. Without it, as vegans have discovered, the only way is to use a substitute. The most common thing is to use chickpea flour. It is not the same (it is drier and denser), but when we mix it with water it acquires a consistency, density and binding capacity very similar to that of an egg. And who is interested in all this making omelettes without eggs? Although it is true that the vegan movement has already opted for this type of preparations, the truth is that current events rule: eggs are very expensive. However, throughout history, Spain (and its tortillas) has had more serious problems than this. During the Civil War, for example. In 1941, Ignasi Domènech published a book that he had written in the hungry Barcelona of the final years of the Civil War. In that manual, in addition to nettle salads and bread substitutes, a recipe known as ‘war omelette with simulated potatoes‘. In it, ingenuity and hunger joined hands to use boiled albedo (the white part of the orange peel) instead of potatoes; and a paste based on oil, flour, baking soda and water, instead of egg. Although it may seem ridiculous, Doménech was one of the most prolific gourmets and kitchen editors in Spain. That is to say, he knew what he was doing. How do you make a “war omelet”? A few months ago, our colleague Jaime de las Heras explained how it could be recreated: “for three people use three thick-crusted oranges, one onion, salt, 1 clove of garlic, olive oil, 4 tablespoons of wheat flour, 1 teaspoon of baking soda, white pepper powder and water.” You have to “grate the orange peel until the white part appears”, cut it into fine pieces and soak it in water for two or three hours. Then it is drained, salted and fried in a pan with a little onion. The rest is simple: beat “three or four drops of oil, salt, flour, baking soda, pepper and between eight and ten tablespoons of water.” Then it is mixed with the orange and curdled like a tortilla. Image | Salah Ait Mokhtar | USDA In Xataka | “The potato sector is on the verge of ruin”: Spanish farmers are losing millions. France is winning them

The University of Córdoba has found a pesticide in the eggs of up to 14 different wild birds. The only problem is that it has been banned since the 70s.

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One has the intuitive idea that within each egg lies the promise of a story that is just beginning. But it’s a lie. Nature is amazing and elusive and blind and cruel: many eggs, in fact, never even hatch; They end up lost in the countryside or as food for scavengers. For this reason, one day, a group of researchers from the University of Córdoba They decided to collect them and analyze them as what they are: capsules that summarize the chemical memory of the place where they were placed. They collected eggs from bearded vultures, red kites, gray teals and many other species. And inside found everything: from veterinary drugs to heavy metals to all types of pesticides, pesticides and fungicides. Among them were traces of DDT, the organochlorine that we banned in agriculture in the 70s (and could no longer be used as an insecticide in 1994). Curiously, this is not the most worrying thing. What does an egg hide? An egg, as I said, is a photograph of the environment. What accumulates in each bird’s body turns out to be a fairly accurate reflection of what it eats, what it drinks, and where it spends its day. The entire trophic chain is hidden inside each egg. Therefore, when we approach them as the UCO has donewe are not talking about bird problems… we are looking at the chemistry of an entire territory in which we are also. And what have we seen? The most striking thing is not, in fact, DDT (or DDE, its main derivative). Although it is curious that there is a pesticide banned decades ago floating around the environment, it is almost expected: it is what toxicology predicts and why it was ultimately banned. The most interesting thing about the UCO’s work is that it allows us to see, at a single glance, the reality of the pollution with which our mountain coexists. The AGR-125 Veterinary Toxicology group and the Center for Analysis and Diagnosis of Wildlife of Andalusia they used the eggs as ‘non-invasive matrices’ and their data are a canvas that covers many compounds, many birds and a lot of time. There we have found, along with the remains of DDT, commonly used pesticides and fungicides, persistent exposure to endocrine disruptors, heavy metals (such as lead, mercury and cadmium) and, in two bearded vulture eggs, veterinary drugs. And now what? Little, really. The history of DDT shows how difficult it is to work with these realities. As I said, it was banned in agriculture in the 70s, but it remained as an insecticide until 94 and, in fact, It continued to be manufactured (a derivative) in Monzón until 2008. The world of pesticides is a rabbit hole from which rural society never emerges unscathed. Besides, as the authors point outthe concentrations they have found are low. This means that, although we are concerned about the long-term effects, it is very difficult to take extra measures to control the exposure of these birds to these compounds. Luckily, as I also said, this work opens a new door for us to understand what is happening in the countryside and in the mountains. And that, believe me, is already a lot. Image | Kishan Upadhyay In Xataka | We have a problem with pesticides in agriculture. And a bigger one with the panic they generate

Freezing eggs costs up to 5,000 euros. These scientists propose rejuvenating oocytes so they do not have to freeze them

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Today, many women they postpone motherhood until well past 30. The search for advancement in one’s professional career, work-life balance problems or economic instability tend to be the main causes why the average age of motherhood in Spanish women is now over 32 years old. In reality, in many cases, everything starts from economic instability. It is the reason why many women wait until they are successful in their careers to have children and also the reason why they cannot financially afford to pay people to help them take care of their babies without having to exploit grandparents. In short, having a child is expensive, so it takes many years to save enough. Unfortunately, the longer motherhood is postponed, the more difficult it is to achieve pregnancy and the greater the risk that the baby will be born with certain chromosomal syndromes. Oocyte freezing is often offered as a solution, but this is also expensive. If there is no money to have children, there may not be any to freeze oocytes when they are still young enough. Therefore, the proposal by a team of scientists from the Czech Republic, Germany and the United Kingdom to rejuvenate oocytes with the help of a single protein seems most promising. A protein to rejuvenate them all. One of the main reasons why fertility problems occur as age increases is the appearance of errors in meiosis. The authors of this researchwhich was presented last January at the British Fertility Conference in Edinburgh, they realized that there is a protein called Shugoshin 1, which has the ability to prevent precisely those errors in meiosis. By microinjecting this protein into oocytes donated to a fertility clinic, the effects on meiosis decreased, going from 53% in untreated oocytes to 25% in treated oocytes. For this reason, these scientists are already seeking the necessary permits to carry out clinical trials with patients who are going to undergo an in vitro fertilization (IVF) process. Clarification here: Although colloquially we always talk about eggs, the egg is the final maturation phase of the oocyte, which normally ends if there is fertilization. Therefore, what is donated or extracted for an assisted reproduction cycle is an oocyte. What happens in meiosis. Meiosis is a cellular process by which one cell divides into four others, with half as many chromosomes as the original. It is very important in sexual reproduction, since eggs and sperm are obtained which, when they fuse, add their chromosome ends and give rise to a zygote with the original number of chromosomes that human cells have. That is, if humans normally have 46 chromosomes, the egg produces 23 and the sperm produces the other 23. The two parts of meiosis. This process has two parts, each composed of several phases. Broadly speaking, after an initial crossing over phase to give rise to genetic variability, the pairs of chromosomes are placed in an orderly manner in the center of the cell. Afterwards, each member of the pair moves to one pole of the cell, so that it divides into two equal ones. Each of these cells will have one member of each pair of chromosomes. Those chromosomes that have separated still have two chromatids, with the characteristic X shape with which they are usually represented. Thus they reach the second part of meiosis in which the process is repeated again. All the X-shaped chromosomes go to the center of the cell. Then, a chromatid from each chromosome goes to each pole of the cell, which divides as before. Each of those chromatids will be a chromosome in the new cell. Thus, in the end, there will be four cells with half as many chromosomes as the initial one, although only one thrives to finally become an egg. The problems of age. There are several problems by which age can affect meiosis. However, it has been seen that the Shugoshin 1 protein has an essential role, since it acts as a kind of glue, preventing chromosomes and chromatids from separating prematurely or in an inappropriate way. That is why they wanted to test the experiment that has given these scientists such good results. A limitation. Success rates in IVF They usually begin an increasingly rapid decline after the age of 35. For this reason, these scientists wanted to make a distinction in their study between oocytes from children and adults of that age. Although the average was what we have already mentioned (change from 53% to 25% defects), with oocytes from over 35 years of age it only went from 65% to 44%. It’s not that statistically significant. However, there were only 9 oocytes in that age group, so it was not a sufficient number to draw conclusive results. Be that as it may, with the total it is clear that this protein can be very beneficial. It shouldn’t be frozen. Oocyte freezing It’s a strategy which is used to keep these cells in a more youthful state. If a 25-year-old woman freezes her oocytes, but decides to have children at 30, she can use those oocytes, which will have more or less maintained the qualities of the 25-year-old, and undergo an assisted reproduction process in which it will be easier to achieve pregnancy. The problem is that, at least in Spain, the price of freezing oocytes It can range between 2,000 and 5,000 euros. If a woman is not financially ready to have children at 25 or 30, she may not be ready to pay that sum of money either. In search of the clinical trial. Microinjection into oocytes already exists among assisted reproduction techniques. It is carried out through ICSI, a tool that consists of microinjecting the sperm directly into the oocyte. It is very useful in case there are few sperm and/or they are not very mobile. That makes clinics ready to microinject the Shugoshin 1 protein into oocytes. Even so, logically, the viability of this process must be tested. That is why the authors of the … Read more

They are the tree of golden eggs

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A question: What unites Venus, Steve Jobs’ 78-meter-long superyacht, and a remote forestry farm in León? There were many ways to start this article, but I couldn’t resist doing it because of the most unexpected fact: what unites those two things is the poplar. The story is known: before he died, Jobs designed a spectacular boat that he couldn’t have ready before he died. Well, the wood for the kitchen of that luxurious floating mansion came from León. And this, although it does not explain why Spain is being filled with poplars, does give an idea of ​​why. The poplar boom. In Europe the hectares of poplar have grown at 2% annually during the last few years. But Spain is not Europe as far as poplar fields are concerned. With its epicenter in the province of León, the country has some 81,000 hectares of poplar dedicated to production. And it has been that way for a long time. That is, there have been no substantial changes in the cultivated land. However, genetic improvement and more efficient cultivation practices have done that production does not stop growing. In fact, France and Italy have publicly recognized that “they are being left behind” In that sense, the poplar seemed a calm, safe and powerful sector. But things have changed… for the better. The high industrial demand for its wood (and the environmental benefits associated with its cultivation) have revived interest in this tree. Like Flor Álvarez Taboada, the greatest Spanish expert in the sector, explained in the Voice of Galicia“poplar is paid twice as much as pine and three times more than eucalyptus.” That sums it up. And what is the problem? It is not the profitability of the farms (which, as we see, is skyrocketing), but the capacity of the Spanish forest to produce wood on the scale that the industry needs. Alvarez made it clear that “a plantation where there are only about fifty poplar trees is not viable for companies that work with this wood”, that plantations of “at least two or three hectares in area” are needed. The country needs to “create homeowner associations that coordinate and plant poplar trees simultaneously on their land.” That is to say, it is not just a job for ‘lone wolves’; If we want Spain to take advantage of the populculture boom, a structured effort is needed that integrates the industry, administrations and farmers. Some areas, such as the Granada plain, there are european projects coordinated by the University to recover the traditional poplar groves and convert them into a source of quality structural lumber. It is a key step for an industry (construction) that is rediscovering wood at a forced pace. Against the eucalyptus. This is perhaps its greatest asset. We have been listening for years speak ill of eucalyptus. It is usually unjustified fame, but it opens up a whole world of possibilities. And the poplar is one of them. Because due to its rapid growth, the high profitability of its quality wood, its adaptability to riverine terrain and its important environmental (and social) value, it is an excellent forestry alternative. So the question is twofold: will Spain manage to enter the table of the majors in the timber industry? Are we prepared to see the landscape change — again –? Image | Garnica In Xataka | Converting Portugal to eucalyptus monoculture was a disaster. And the latest fires only remind us of this.

Your refrigerator has a compartment designed for eggs in the door. It’s the worst possible place to keep them.

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Almost all refrigerators on the market, when purchased, come with an accessory designed specifically for this purpose: an egg cup that goes on the shelves of the appliance door. This has become the place that many of us look at at first to catch the eggs, but the truth is that it is the worst refrigerator place to save the eggs. The thermal trap. The reason lies not in the fragility of the food, but in a microscopic enemy that surrounds us and can be potentially dangerous: the Salmonella. Here the main problem with the refrigerator door is that it is the area most exposed to thermal changes, since every time we open the refrigerator to get milk, water or simply to think about what to eat, the temperature on the door shelves fluctuates drastically. Here are the regulatory bodies of the United States They are quite clear pointing out that these constant rises and falls in temperature are the ideal breeding ground for bacterial growth. Furthermore, as pointed out by the South Korean Ministry of Food, the door is prone to generate condensation, creating a humid environment that facilitates the proliferation of pathogens in the shell that end up in the food when we break the eggs in the same bowl where we beat them (something also not recommended). The ideal temperature. To keep salmonella at bay, the temperature must be stable and below 4°C – 10°C, since under these conditions, the growth of the bacteria is suppressed by more than 99%. But this on the refrigerator shelves is something that is not always achieved. What the studies say. Here the science is quite clear with different studies that have pointed to the survival of strains such as Salmonella Typhimurium and the Salmonella Enteritidis in very specific conditions. A 2021 study demonstrated that at room temperature the bacterial load increases alarmingly in both the white and the yolk. On the contrary, keeping them at 5ºC limits their multiplication and reduces virulence. But if we come more to the present, a study launched in 2024 found that, under alternating temperature conditions, that is, in cycles of 25 ºC to 5 ºC, similar to taking food in and out of the refrigerator, salmonella manages to migrate to the yolk in 64% of cases. How to preserve them. Taking all this into account, the big question is: what should we do when we get home from the supermarket? In this case, the health authorities point to two strategies, the first being to put them directly on the interior shelves, preferably on the lower or middle ones. In this way, the temperature remains stable below 4ºC, and especially if it is at the bottom of the refrigerator. Do not throw away the cardboard. Although we usually take eggs out of their boxes to put them in plastic egg cups for convenience, the truth is that it is a mistake. That is why the second conservation strategy is to keep them in the original packaging, since the cardboard not only protects them from possible knocks, but also acts as a crucial barrier against moisture loss, prevents the shell from absorbing odors from other foods and protects the egg’s natural cuticular barrier. Images | Onur Burak Akın Katie Bernotsky In Xataka | The internet has become obsessed with drinking hot water in the morning. Science is clear about what it does (and what it doesn’t)

Parking lots were the goose that laid the golden eggs for bricks in Spain. Until someone created the tomb of Las Teresitas

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The history of the mamotreto The Theresies in Tenerife is not an exception, but one more chapter of a long tradition of shot attempts on the Spanish coastwhere for decades the brick advanced on beaches, marshes and cliffs in the heat of express reclassifications, opaque agreements and the promise of a tourist development that almost never arrived as had been announced. This was his story. Great balls with sea views. From Marbella to The Algarrobicopassing through ghost housing estates, illegal hotels and maritime fronts converted into political currency, the coast has been one of the great scenes of speculation, and each new case reminds us of the extent to which the conflict between public interest and private ambition has marked the transformation (and often the degradation) of the coastal landscape in Spain. A symbol that was born crooked. He mamotreto of Las Teresitas It began to raise suspicions long before it became a court case on the island of Tenerife because it appeared where it shouldn’t and how it shouldn’t, emerging without explanation in full maritime-terrestrial public domain, without visible signs and without anyone clearly knowing what was being built in front of the beach or under what legal protection. It was the persistent gaze of neighbors as Lola Schneider the one that set off the first alarms and turned that concrete skeleton into something more than an ugly work: into physical proof that a project was being carried out on the beach front that seemed to be ahead of the law and urban planning logic. Change the beach. Behind the mamotreto was the ambition to transform Las Teresitas into a large urban beach of European reference, with a plan signed by Dominique Perrault which promised to bury parking lots, create open squares and reorganize access to the sea. On paper, the visible mass was supposed to be buried and become an invisible infrastructure at the service of public space, but the partial execution and the breakdown of the balance between administrations turned that promise into an abandoned, gray and dominant structure that ended up being just the opposite of what the project claimed to pursue. The ball The construction of the parking lot was inserted in the heart of the so-called great ball from Las Teresitasoccupying easements and land in the public domain without the mandatory authorizations from Costas and with substantial modifications to the original project. Subsequent rulings made it clear that this was not a minor defect or a forgotten procedure, but rather a a global breach of the urban planning regulations, with works started without legal support while, in parallel, the City Council had purchased the beach front land for more than 52 million of euros in an operation that was already under judicial scrutiny. Justice arrives. The stoppage of works in 2007 marked the point of no return and paved the way to the investigation of the Environmental Prosecutor’s Office, prompted by environmental and neighborhood complaints. The judicial process ended with sentences for urban prevarication and crimes against territorial planning, confirmed by the Court, which established unambiguously that the mamotreto was built without valid authorization and on protected land, dismantling any subsequent attempt to reduce the problem to a simple question of partial legalization. The political and criminal cost. Not only that. The sentences reached to former councilors, technicians and senior officials, some of whom have already fully served their prison and disqualification sentences, while others remain banned from holding public office until the end of the decade. The case was thus established as another branch of the great Las Teresitas scandal, with clear criminal responsibilities and an express obligation to restitute the damage caused, which included the demolition of the building at the expense of the convicted. The demolition In 2017, a horrible mass that had remained in front of the beach for years was physically put to an end. The arrival of heavy machinery to the beach and the visible start of the demolition They marked the material end of a story that had continued for more than a decade. The destruction of concrete, carried out in compliance with a final sentence and after years of delays, it symbolized the closing of a cycle in which the mamotreto went from urban promise to abandoned ruin and, finally, to rubble, returning to the landscape a beach that had been kidnapped by the failure of a “plotazo.” One more. If you like, even though the mamotreto physically disappeared and the sentences were fulfilled, its history remains as permanent warning (one more) about the limits of uncontrolled urbanism, the fragility of the public domain in the face of political and economic interests and the price that a city can pay when projects are imposed on legality. The Theresies of Tenerife recovered space and horizon, but the mamotreto was placed in that monstrous row that is part of the collective memory of the Canary Islands and Spain: that of the emblems of how one should not build a city or, of course, manage its natural heritage. Image | CARLOS TEIXIDOR CADENAS In Xataka | Añaza’s mamotreto: the megahotel abandoned on the coast of Tenerife for 40 years that was never finished In Xataka | The Canary Islands face the irremediable dilemma of limiting tourism. Starting by charging to climb Teide

“Free-range” eggs are no longer free-range due to the confinement of the hens. But they continue to pay much more

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Eggs have been in the news in recent weeks for the price increase they have been experiencing for the spread of bird flu. But now it returns to the front line of information as a result of a notice that has launched the OCU which would point out that every time we buy eggs we may be being deceived. The types of eggs. When we go to the supermarket to get a tray of eggs, there are several types available depending on the type of care that the hen that laid them has had. The cheapest are from chickens that are locked in the chicken coop, but then there are ‘free-range’ eggs, which in theory are from hens that do go outside and are code 1. And the same thing happens with eggs marked as ‘organic’, which have a very specific diet. The price of freedom. Choosing one type of egg or another means paying an extra price for these special conditions. And it’s not a few cents, as the OCU itself points outsince the ground egg right now has an average price of €3.25 per dozen. But free-range eggs are priced at €4.13 per dozen, which is an extra 88 cents per dozen. All this for the premise of animal welfare: a chicken that has access to the outdoors and pecks in the field without being in an enclosed coop. Something also justified by the increased cost that this entails. The problem. We must remember that for a few weeks we have been immersed in an avian flu epidemic that affects the chickens that produce these eggs. To try to contain it, the Ministry of Agriculture He ordered all chickens to be locked up starting in November.. But… Has this price difference disappeared? The OCU is what is being complained about: in practice, producers are selling a product under the conditions of a chicken, enclosed as if they were truly free-range eggs. On top of that, logically respecting the price increase that this crisis has caused. European regulations. Is it legal to sell something that is not? It is the question we must ask ourselves when we pay for free-range eggs when in fact they are not. To understand it we must go to EU Delegated Regulation 2023/2465. This European regulation contemplates a kind of “grace period” for producers in cases of force majeure, such as this epidemic. The law allows the designation of “free-range egg” to be maintained for a period of up to 16 weeks, even if the hens have to be confined. The objective of the rule is to protect farmers: to prevent them from losing their certification and market overnight due to a health crisis beyond their control. Lack of transparency. For the OCU, the problem in this case is not the certification that accompanies the egg, but rather the little information that a consumer has who does not know what they are buying. And from their study, after analyzing the seven major brands on the market, none of them report on the labeling of the change in breeding conditions. What is requested. The consumer organization is not asking for the confinement to be lifted, which is necessary to maintain the epidemic, but for information. They argue that there are precedents for rapid adaptation such as when the war in Ukraine began when sunflower oil shortage had to force the industry to change the labeling. All this to make changes to the ingredients in the oil. Paying the same. But the most important thing is that a surplus of almost one euro on average per dozen eggs is being paid for being free-range. When in reality they are the same eggs that are cheaper in supermarkets. This makes us raise the possibility that although the denomination is maintained (although with more information about what is happening), the price will be equated with those of the lower category, since in both situations we have chickens locked up. Images | Jakub Kapusnak In Xataka | In the 1970s, scientists realized that large animals should suffer more from cancer. And that wasn’t the case

The nougat promised them happiness in their search for impossible flavors. Until almonds and eggs skyrocketed in price

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If you like to celebrate Christmas with nougat, bad news: this year it will be your turn scratch your pocket more. Quite a bit more, in fact. It doesn’t matter if you prefer soft or hard bars, you love chocolate, you have a favorite manufacturer or you don’t mind trying the white label of your supermarket. You will almost certainly have to pay more. This is concluded by several studies of Facua and the OCUwhich show that Christmas sweets are not immune to the ups and downs of the market. Although it is not the general trend, in their reports they warn of some specific cases in which prices have skyrocketed. above 50%threatening to sour one of the great pleasures of the holidays. The sweet, less sweet. There is no Christmas without nougat, but this year it will be much more expensive to bring it to the table. It reflects it clearly a recent report of the OCU that warns that, on average, the classic almond nougat has become more expensive by 16%. To be more precise, the organization detected an increase of 15.8% in the price of hard tablets and 16.1% in soft tablets. The variants that dispense with added sugars also increased (although to a lesser extent), in which honey or sugar is replaced by sweeteners: in those cases the price has increased, although somewhat less, by 13.6%. One piece of information: €23/kg. The calculations start from an OCU studywhich has dedicated itself to analyzing the prices of more than a hundred nougats. The study focused specifically on the most classic varieties, the almonds, both Alicante (hard) and Jijona (soft). Then their technicians dedicated themselves to purchasing the prices of each tablet with the records they stored from 2024. With the new prices, the average kilo of nougat is in €23/kgalthough if we talk about “brand nougat” that indicator rises to €33/kg. Same photo, different details. Although the report shows a general increase in price, the rise has not been equally intense in all tablets. It influences (a lot) what brand we talk about. The best ones are white label nougat, those sold under the distributor’s labels. In that case the increase has been close to 9.4%. It is a considerable increase, but it pales when compared to the 24.3% increase in the average price of manufacturer brand nougat. Within this category, notable differences are also seen depending on the company and product. Can it go further? Yeah. According to the OCUthe nougats from El Almendro’s “Own Harvest” line cost 37% more than in 2024. The cake, however, goes to El Lobo, which has products in its catalog that cost 57% more today. The organization recognizes in any case that this percentage has an explanation: in its 2024 analysis it appeared as the cheapest, which explains why it has experienced such a pronounced price update. “These increases have turned the price of traditional branded nougat into a luxury item. Manufacturer’s nougat now costs €33/kg on average, compared to €15/kg for supermarket white label nougat,” they explain from the consumer organization. The average value of almond nougat is around €23/kg. Far beyond nougat. The OCU has not been the only one that has taken out the calculator to study how much more we will have to pay for sweets these holidays. FACUA has carried out a similar exercise, which in November I already warned that Christmas desserts had become 15.4% more expensive in large distribution chains. That was at least the average, and the organization was able to detect specific cases with exorbitant “peaks of rise”, of up to 65.3%. The study It analyzed 185 items, including nougat, but also chocolates, mantecados and Polvorones available in several supermarket chains, such as Mercadona, Dia, Hipercor, Alcampo, Eroski and Carrefour. “Only three have gone down”. “Of the total prices analyzed in the months of October 2024 and 2025, only three have decreased compared to last year and eight remain the same. The rest, 174 out of 185, are more expensive,” FACUA warnswhich warns of increases in Hipercor, Alcampo, Carrefour, Eroski, Dia and Mercadona. The clearest case was detected in a Supreme Quality toasted yolk nougat El Corte Inglés Selection from Hipercor: from 2.39 euros in 2024 it went to 3.95 euros, which represents an increase of just over 65%. In general, the organization detected an average increase in the price of sweets of 22.6% since October 2023. Searching for the causes. That nougat is experiencing such a steep price rise is no coincidence. Although there are several factors that come into play, to the OCU and CaixaBank There is one that stands out: the drift in the price of one of its main raw materials, almonds. In fact, the OCU recalls that in higher category tablets it represents more than 60% of the weight, which explains why fluctuations in its price are felt in the rates. Has it risen that much? “Its price has increased significantly: from 90-95 euros per 100 kg of shelled almonds between January and August 2024 to about 120 euros in 2025, with peaks of 138 euros in June,” argues the organizationwhich ensures that varieties such as Marcona, Largueta and Comuna have seen their prices rise from 15 to 25%. It’s not no surprise if we take into account that the almond has reached values ​​not seen since 2019. CaixaBank remember that frosts and droughts have marked the harvest of recent campaigns, affecting prices. If in the 2024-2025 season farmers received an average of 5.6 euros per kilo of communal almonds (the cheapest), in previous seasons that same value hovered around 4.09 or 2.95 euros per kilo. The change in weather conditions has improved the prospects for the campaign that began in September, but this effect has not yet been noticeable in the 2025/26 Christmas nougat campaign. Almonds… and something else. To be fair, almonds are not the only ingredient that has become more expensive in the last year. He has done it too (and not … Read more

Putting four chickens in the yard seemed like a good idea to have cheap eggs. Bird flu just changed the rules of the game

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From November 13, 2025, there is no poultry farm in the country that can be outdoors. With mass confinement, the Government wants to contain the spread of the H5N1 bird flu. And it makes sense: so far this season, 14 outbreaks have already been recorded in poultry, several in captive birds and dozens in wild birds. The problem is everything that falls under the radar. “What do I do with my chickens?” In Spain, at least from 2024, all chickens must be registered. And yes, that includes ‘self-consumption’ chickens; some animals that, according to the data, they represent only 0.77% of the census (but all experts know there are many more). A report from El País from the spring of this year confirmed that “the figures do not reflect reality and that a large part of self-consumers have birds (especially the ISA Brown species) without census.” This has meant that in a context in which self-consumption does not have inspections (and lives unaware of animal health regulation), the doubts and risks have grown exponentially. As Cristina García Casado explained in InfoLibrethe question most frequently asked by veterinarians across the country is “what do I do with my chickens?” And the answer is very simple: confine them. Because the regulations do not understand sizes: a backyard chicken infected by contact with a wild bird can be just as big a problem as any other type of chicken. Or maybe more. After all, the European authorities they continue to qualify the risk to the general population as low; but they raise it to low-moderate for people in direct contact with infected birds or contaminated environments. Having unmonitored poultry increases the risk to the “civilian” population and if we are realistic we will recognize that they cannot be monitored. The problem has names and surnames: at least when it comes to the flu, all those domestic pens have the same sanitary requirements, but much less infrastructure. The ‘boom’ of homemade eggs. We must remember that this does not happen in a vacuum. The truth is that in recent years we have lived a real ‘boom’ in self-consumption chickens. It is the confluence of the “happy chickens” movements with the response of many citizens to a price that does nothing but go up. According to the National Institute of Statistics, have gone up 15.9% so far this year and, according to the OCUthe growth has been 105% compared to 2021. And, be careful, we are not talking about a luxury product. We are talking about what may be one of the proteins cheaper and more accessible of the world. Faced with this ‘ovoflation’, the accounts are clear: “a hen costs about nine euros, it is easy to raise and maintain with fruit, vegetables and feed, and it lays an egg every 25 hours.” How can there not be a problem? What to do if I have a chicken coop for self-consumption? If we are in that situation (or are thinking about setting up our own domestic corral) there are some things to keep in mind: Whether larger or smaller, the corral must be registered in the REGA (General Registry of Livestock Operations). Implement confinement and biosecurity measures: separate chickens from any contact with wild birds; control inputs and outputs; record all changes in a log book. Improve cleaning conditions, more frequent bed renewal and tightening daily management protocols. Introduce wellness programs to contain the problems associated with a sedentary lifestyle. But, above all, be extremely vigilant. There are many warning signs (apathy, drop in production, high mortality or flu symptoms). Therefore, it is best to be alert. Anything can happen. Image | Finn Mund In Xataka | H5N1 bird flu unleashes a massacre in Antarctica: half of the female seals have already disappeared

there is more money in less time and too many eggs in few baskets

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The expectation and unbridled optimism about the AI ​​revolution is giving way to a stage of nervous laughter. The question It is no longer whether there is an AI bubblebut when it will explode and what impact that explosion will have. It is inevitable to compare this situation with the one we experienced with the rise of the internet and the dotcom bubble, but this is even worse. Dog years, mouse years. Vinton Cerf, one of the fathers of the internet, spoke in 1999 how “a year in the internet business was like a dog year, that is, seven years in the life of a normal person.” Everything was going very fast then, but now it is spoken of “mouse year”: each of them would be equivalent to about 35 human years. In AI everything certainly goes much faster, and that is very, very dangerous. Stock market crashes don’t help. Until a month ago, the extraordinary optimism that existed in this market had caused the big technology companies to continue growing on the stock market while the rest of the economy barely did. NVIDIA has been the best example of this, but in the last month a good handful of technology stocks have fallen. NVIDIA itself, (-4%), Microsoft (-10%), Meta (-20%), Amazon (-2%), Broadcom (-4%), Oracle (-30%), AMD (-20%), Intel (-10%). Only Google (+15%) and Apple (+3%) seem to resist this downward trend. The bubble is huge. The last estimates for capital expenditures (capex) added to the investments of venture capital already exceeds 600,000 million dollars by 2025, and the consulting firm Gartner indicated that according to its data in 2025, spending related to AI will amount to 1.5 trillion dollarswhen in 2024 it was 988,000 million. By 2026, it is estimated that it will exceed two trillion dollars. And it has grown much faster. As explains Analyst Fred Vogelstein, that spending “is happening in a fraction of the time. The internet bubble inflated for 4.6 years before bursting. The AI ​​bubble has inflated in two-thirds of that time.” The numbers continue to grow without stopping, they get bigger and they start to make no sense. And when they don’t make sense, they probably don’t really make sense. Too much concentration. There are differences between this bubble and the dotcom bubble. For example, much of the gigantic investment in data centers comes from technology companies themselves, and not so much from venture capital or investment firms. Even so, the concentration is enormous: Microsoft, Alphabet, Meta, Amazon, NVIDIA, Oracle and Apple represent approximately a third of the critical S&P 500 market, which was already aiming for it years ago, even before everyone started talking about AI. We have already seen this year how if technology companies fellthe economy suffered noticeably. This is not an investment, it is a bet. Companies like Microsoft, Alphabet, Meta or Amazon are talking about projected capital expenditures (capex) of $70 billion to $100 billion in data centers. These companies are risking everything on AIwhen at the moment there is no reasonable justification to do so because the uncertainty is total. The best way to understand that philosophy is to remember what Mark Zuckerberg said about his investment in AI: “We’re going to invest aggressively. Even if we lost a couple hundred billion dollars it would be a bummer, but it’s better than being left behind in the race for superintelligence.” Or what is the same: if you don’t risk, you don’t win. OpenAI, bubble paradigm. If there is a company that represents the AI ​​madness, it is OpenAI. This valued at 500 billion dollarsbut the company itself estimates that until 2029 you will not start earning money. It is estimated that its “cash burn” in 2025 will be $8 billion, and that in 2026 that figure will be $17 billion. It’s growing in revenue, yeahbut not at a sustainable pace at the moment. The accounts don’t come out, but the important thing for Sam Altman (and his investors) is that theoretically they will end up coming out. Or so they say. Source: Bloomberg. Circular financing. We are experiencing another warning sign with the recent circular financing agreements between big companies technological. In these alliances OpenAI and NVIDIA (among others) are becoming something like banks and investors that guarantee the demand for their products. This means that these companies will probably emerge stronger, but it also increases the systemic risk of this bubble burst. We are seeing it with Oracle, which issued $18 billion in bonds and has raised its total debt above $100 billion. Others are in a compromising situation also. Crazy reviews. And we have more disturbing warnings, of course. Among them, those that affect the multimillion-dollar investments and valuations that AI startups are receiving. Reflection AI, the company founded by two former Google DeepMind researchers, has raised 2000 million dollars in one round, while Safe SuperIntelligence, the startup created by Ilya Sutskever, is valued at 32 billion dollars without having any public product. It is estimated that there are 498 AI unicornsand it does not seem that the investment fever has stopped, as demonstrated by the interest in Yann LeCun’s imminent startup. Altman, Nadella and Pichai warn. Even the technological leaders They recognize that there are signs of a technological bubblealthough they do it with nuances. Pichai talked about observing “elements of irrationality”, and in that same vein they were Satya Nadella (Microsoft) or Sam Altman (OpenAI). Meanwhile, Robin Li, CEO of Baidu, explained months ago that we are facing a bubble that will make only 1% of companies survive. China. This excessive spending has also been helped by the rise of China in this area. The Asian giant has demonstrated its ability to develop open models extraordinary. The DeepSeek effect It caused companies in the US to add even more fuel (money) to the fire while China takes a position more conservative. Mastering AI is a major national security concern and that ties assessments to political and tariff unpredictability. Source: Financial Review … Read more

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