The Spanish have a tradition that sunshine on St Vincent’s Day - the 22nd of January, predicts bumper harvests in the year ahead. They have a rhyme that concludes; “ For ‘tis a token, bright and clear, of prosperous weather all the year.”
Well for sure most of Ireland got some lovely sunshine on St Vincent's Day this year. However if you look over at Spain at the moment - it seems they’re getting all the snow, along with Italy and Greece.
The Spanish winter vegetable harvest has been virtually eradicated by the bad weather this year. Hence the headlines of shortages of courgettes and also aubergines, lettuce and celeriac.
The main share of fresh vegetables the UK and Ireland consumer eats in winter comes southern Spain. This year that region's’ crops have been hit by flooding, frost and now snow. One supplier said lorries transporting vegetables already in short supply to the UK had been stuck in snow. Courgette prices have risen four-fold in the past two weeks.
You’d have to go back to last year’s St Vincent’s day to work out how the proverb fares.
