The south of Spain’s Valencia area is the birthplace of the well-known turrón — a sort of nougat — and the world that boasts the Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) Jijona and Turrón de Alicante. Right here, the Moors planted almond bushes from way back to the eighth century.
The substances of those two forms of turrón are the identical. However the distinction lies in how they’re handled, as Ana Picó Filliol, Business Director of Turrones Picó advised Euronews.
“The one from Alicante is a combination of sugars made into white caramel with toasted almonds, its texture is crunchy and onerous and the almonds are complete.”
“The one from Jijona is comfortable, fairly than onerous”, she added. “Its look could be very completely different as a result of it’s brown, and all of the almonds are floor and homogenised with their fats and caramel sugars. For instance that it is an evolution. It has the identical substances because the one from Alicante, however there’s yet another step within the course of. That is the key of the turrón de Jijona and of the individuals of Jijona since you want a really sharp hand and a few years of information to know when a turrón de Jijona is completely cooked”.
Good high quality substances and new inventive recipes
Spanish almond varieties are of outstanding high quality: moreover their excessive quantity of oligo-elements, minerals and nutritional vitamins, they’ve a excessive oil content material, which makes them comfortable and juicy and provides them a extra intense flavour.
The queen of Spain’s almonds is the native Marcona. With its onerous shell and flattened form, it is thought of the most effective on this planet.
“The Marcona almond is distinguished from the remaining primarily by its form, which is spherical and a bit heart-shaped”, Picó Filliol proudly advised Euronews. “It’s our selection, from right here in Jijona”.
Honey is one other key ingredient. Spain is Europe’s predominant producer of honey, with 320 varieties together with rosemary, thyme and orange blossom.
Turrrón is a transparent instance of the affect of Arabic delicacies on Spain’s gastronomy, and it has been made in Jijona utilizing the identical recipe and the identical high quality standards for 5 centuries. And it’s on this small city on the hills behind Alicante you could style it, in each kind.
When you concentrate on turrón, the primary issues that spring to thoughts are often sweets. However these days, cooks are selecting to take dangers and check out new recipes.
That’s simply what Amelia and her sister Ema are doing of their restaurant in Jijona. These siblings are taking part in with the flexibility of turron’s flavours. And it’s proving successful with the shoppers!
“Individuals who come from out of city are significantly shocked to search out turrón in savoury dishes. In order that’s what makes us stand out from the remaining … having turrón all 12 months spherical and in savoury meals”, stated Ema, the proprietor of L’Entrepà.
The 2 sisters revealed that the turrón de Jijona is straightforward to work with when it’s sizzling, and this makes it a pleasure for them to continuously search for new and modern creations.
“Other than the creamy rice made with beef cheeks and turrón from Jijona, we’ve got the ‘sphere’, which is a croquette of turrón, the ‘pastisset’, which is a cod fritter with a bit piece of egg yolk turrón within the center. Turrón is a product that can be utilized in desserts, salads, and stews.”, Amelia added.
Toledo and its centuries-old marzipan
Simply south of Madrid, the area of Castilla-La Mancha is dwelling to a different conventional confectionery: the beautiful marzipan, assured below the PGI Mazapanes de Toledo.
Almonds, as soon as once more, are the primary ingredient, alongside honey and sugar. However this marzipan is completely different from all of the others, as Ana de Mesa Gárate, Manufacturing Director at Santo Tomé defined to Euronews.
“Marzipan from Toledo is made with 100% candy almonds. That is the primary distinction: in Germany, Italy, and France, they combine candy almonds with bitter almonds. The second distinction is that it’s baked within the oven at very excessive temperatures, however for little or no time. What we additionally do is bake it on picket boards, in order that the higher half heats up, however the decrease half stays cool and uncooked. From the second the bag of almonds is opened till the cooked marzipan may be eaten takes three days.
This marzipan is totally pure and consists of 57% almond, 40% sugar and three% honey. “That is used to make the marzipan paste, the normal product”, explains de Mesa Gárate. “As soon as we’ve got the marzipan paste, we are able to have some additions that may be egg, chocolate, cabellos de angel (pumpkin jam) and candied yolk.”
Marzipan’s substances — that are rooted within the Mediterranean food regimen — imply it’s a wholesome and energy-boosting addition to an energetic life, in addition to a scrumptious deal with at Christmas or every other time of the 12 months.
