Truly Spanish Food, in America At least
Food has always been a vital part of Spanish culture and tradition. Families bond over food, and special occasions like weddings, birthdays, graduations and holidays is always dominated by food. Spanish heritage would include century-old recipes, created not only to please the appetite but to maintain the health of the body as well. According to [...]
Date: Thursday 12, 2009
Idiazabal Cheese, the Unpasteurized Sheep’s Milk Cheese from the Spanish Pyrenees.
Though it is a non-smoked cheese, some varieties are smoked which is allowed by the DOP only if does not affect the general stipulation for the production of Idiazabal Cheese. The crust is closed and smooth and its color goes from brown in its smoked variety to yellow-beige in its non smoked variety. The cheese texture is tight without air pockets. For Florence Fabricant, “[Idiazabal Cheese] has a pale interior and a firm, supple texture similar to provolone cheese.” The taste is robust and provocative, slightly acidic, and has the characteristic buttery touch of sheep milk cheeses. The smoked versions usually have a more pronounced aroma. Idiazabal is a small-medium size cheese with a weight between 2 and 4 lb.
Date: Sunday 21, 2008
Spain’s Food Revolution
The fact that Spain is the country with more chefs on the 100 -world’s best chefs list is one the main reasons why Spanish food is becoming more familiar to markets where it has traditionally …
Date: Thursday 18, 2008
Spain Makes a Name for itself in the Organic Food Sector
With exports making up more than 80% of the organic food produced each year, farmers are finding it easier to market through experienced exporters rather than battle the less than 1% national …
Date: Wednesday 17, 2008
Olive Oil - The Scince behind it.
The use of objective tests to determine an olive oil´s quality has two purposes. On the one hand, it allows for the comparison of the composition of two apparently similar oils. These tests can also be used to …
Date: Wednesday 17, 2008
Cava, an Exceptional Suitable Alternative to French Champagne.
Cava is a sparkling wine made in closely the same way as Champagne. Cava is an exceptionally suitable alternative to French champagne and …
Date: Saturday 13, 2008
The Rise of Spanish Cheeses: Manchego Cheese
But one of the most popular kinds of Spanish cheese is the Manchego cheese. This cheese is made exclusively in Don Quixote’s land, La Mancha. It is a fertile, elevated plateau located in Central Spain. It is famous not only because of Don Quixote but because of their Manchego cheese. It is made out of the whole milk of Manchega sheep, where it got its name. Manchego cheese is processed in dry, cool caves for a period of two months to one year.
Date: Wednesday 10, 2008
Christmas is here, and Turron - the spanish food candy - is back.
Turron is the name of a type of almond candy that is widely enjoyed around the holidays. Spain and Italy are both large consumers of turron, but with the Internet, it is developing an audience around the globe. Many people of Spanish and Italian decent, who remember enjoying Turron as young children, now purchase it [...]
Date: Sunday 7, 2008
The oldest vinegar in town, Sherry Vinegar.
While Balsamic vinegars from Italy have become a household staple you may not be so familiar with the Spanish counterpart, aged Sherry Vinegar. Similar to Balsamic you’ll find sherry vinegars with different agings including 30 year, 50 year and sometimes up to 75 years. As with fine balsamics the older high quality vinegars are sometimes [...]
Date: Sunday 7, 2008
Spanish Chorizo - The Production of Chorizo, Step by Step.
The period from late fall through early spring is called the montanera, or acorn season, when pigs feed on the acorns of these trees, each eating about 22 to 26 pounds of acorns a day. The Iberian pig, which descends from the wild boar of southern Europe, is not a handsome specimen. It has drooping ears, a long snout, thin legs and dark hair. But its meat has a dense striping of fat and intense flavor, which produces the most sought-after cured hams in Spain.
Date: Monday 17, 2008
Mojama - Spain’s Coastal Treasure
While mojama is still a largely undiscovered delicacy outside of Spain, it has been recognized by specialty stores worldwide for years and is slowly entering more mainstream markets as the demand increases. In Spain, Mojama is most often served in thin, translucent slices, drenched in only the best extra-virgin olive oil, with a glass of your favorite white wine. Elsewhere it has been seen finely grated over a plate of lightly oiled spaghetti, with a chopping of parsley and a glass of red wine.
Date: Thursday 13, 2008
Heating things up with spanish chorizo
If you’ve ever experimented with chorizo, the pork sausage cured with paprika and garlic, you know how persuasive its full aroma and deep clinging heat can be. You might have sliced it up and stirred it into paella, chopped it into little cubes that were swept up into an omelet or infused it in stew [...]
Date: Thursday 13, 2008
Spanish Paprika - What you need to know before you buy.
Spain is the world´s leading paprika producer. The vast majority of the paprika found on supermarket shelves in the USA and Germany is of Spanish origin, but the United Kingdom, The Netherlands, France, and the Czech Republic also look to Spain for an important quantity of their paprika supply. The qualities, however, vary [...]
Date: Thursday 13, 2008
Turron, The Christmas Sweet
Despite the wide variety of tempting candies and cakes that appear in Spanish pastry shops at Christmas time, there is always an ample section dedicated to the most appreciated and traditional sweet of the holiday season: turrón. Although various regions in Spain dispute its time and place of origin, most specialists agree that Alicante was [...]
Date: Wednesday 12, 2008
Ribera del Duero
Among the most prestigious in Spain, the Regulating Council of Denominación de Origen Ribera del Duero has worked towards the success of its wines on both a national and international scope.
Date: Wednesday 12, 2008
Uncorking the Truth about Spanish Wines
While the demand for wine has shown a general decline over the last few years throughout Europe, particularly in table wines, Spanish wines with Denominación de Origen (Designation of Origin) are showing steady growth, both in domestic and foriegn markets. To see why this has occured, we need to understand exactly what D.O. means [...]
Date: Wednesday 12, 2008
Condado de Huelva Vinegar
The Designation of Origin Condado de Huelva (Denominación de Origen) was extended to include its white-wine vinegars, made with wine from the same D.O. This historic move makes Condado vinegars only the third Designation of Origin in all of Europe to receive coverage.
While not new to the market by any means (historical documents [...]
Date: Wednesday 12, 2008
Determining Quality of Spanish Iberian Hams (Serrano Ham).
Dry-cured Iberian ham is one of the most valuable meat products in Spain, with a first-rate consumer acceptance. Visually discernible characteristics of fat and lean, such as marbling, have all effect on the acceptability and palatability of ripened Iberian ham pieces. Important marbling properties include the amount and spatial distribution of intramuscular fat streaks. Chemical [...]
Date: Monday 10, 2008
Cured Iberian Ham (Jamon Iberico). Spain’s not-so-hidden Treasure
With ninety races and more than two-hundred hog varieties, it is important to distinguish the two main races that are used in the production of Spanish hams. The highest quality hams come from the Iberian blood line, which are descendents of the wild boar. They are produced in the southwestern region of Spain
Date: Monday 10, 2008
Spanish Wine, the Future in Wine.
There´s only one word to describe the growth and development within the Spanish wine sector in the last decade: incredible. Dramatic investments both publically and privately have been made, particularly over the last ten years, to improve the quality and reputation of Spanish wines internationally. Spain is now the 3rd largest wine-producing region in the [...]
Date: Monday 10, 2008
Torta del Casar Cheese
One doesn´t need to look far into the wide variety of Spanish cheeses to see all that they have to offer the palate. Torta del Casar, however, has made its own nitch within the cheese world as one of the richest, most unique spreadable cheeses available in the international market.
This aged organic spanish cheese originates [...]
Date: Monday 10, 2008
Cabrales Cheese, a Renowned, Rough-Rinded Blue Cheese from Northern Spain
A renowned, rough-rinded blue cheese from northern Spain (region of Asturias), Cabrales is made from blended cow’s, goat’s and sheep’s milk (not in winter when only cow milk is available) . It is aged in naturally-formed caves and has a creamy texture, a complex flavor and a powerful bouquet. Cabrales is salted, wrapped in foil and aged for 6 months in natural limestone caverns.
Date: Monday 10, 2008
Olive Oil Types
There are four different types of olive oil:
Virgin Olive Oil
Virgin olive oil is obtained only from the olive, the fruit of the olive tree, using solely mechanical or other physical means in conditions, particularly thermal conditions, which do not alter the oil in any way. It has not undergone any treatment other than washing, decanting, [...]
Date: Monday 10, 2008
Spanish Cheese Types
Spain has about 100 different Spanish cheese types. Every region has its own specialty, covering a full range of cheese types, from fresh to cured, to fermented and blue-veined. One essential characteristic is the type of milk used in the production. Depending on the area, time of the year, climate, or tradition, cheeses are made [...]
Date: Monday 10, 2008
Sherry Wine, the Most International Spanish Wine.
According to the Greek geographer, Strabon, the Phoenicians were the ones to introduct the first vine into this region of the Iberian Peninsula. Soon after, consumers and investors alike began to take an interest in Jerez, like the many British families who directed a large part of their business to the region. Today, Jerez is [...]
Date: Monday 10, 2008
Spanish Olive Oil - Your Definitively Guide to Understand the World of Olive Oil
Your supermarket aisles are stocked with olive oil. Every day, it seems, we hear of the most recent disease it helps prevent or health benefit reaped from it. Mediterranean countries have sworn by it for centuries, but if magazines and newspapers are any indication, its popularity currently outshines that of pashminas, Eminem, and Nicole Kidman [...]
Date: Monday 10, 2008
Spanish Chorizo Enters the US Market
No slaughterhouses in Spain have won approval from American authorities. Like other Spanish companies that export pork products to the United States, Palacios must import the pork from approved slaughterhouses in other European countries. Their pork comes from Denmark, and is cured using the Spanish method.
Because of the strict standards, Palacios is just one of [...]
Date: Saturday 1, 2008
Les Garrigues
It protects oils obtained from the varieties Arbequina, Royal and Morrut. The producing area is a strip of the province of Tarragona, perpendicular to the Mediterranean Sea which, starting from Les Garrigues of Lerida, crosses part of the regions of El Priorato, El Bajo Campo, El Alto Campo, El Tarragonés and La Ribera del Ebro [...]
Date: Thursday 14, 2008
Wine Enthusiast´s Best Spanish Wines 2008
Wine Enthusiast´s Best Spanish Wines 2008 - Best Wines from Spain
With 96 points:
# Cirsion 2005 from Bodegas Roda (DOCa Rioja)
With 95 points:
# San roman 2004 from Maurodos (DO Toro)
With 94 points:
# Numanthia 2005 from Numanthia-Termes, S.L (DO Toro)
With 93 points:
# Lui Selection 2004 from Abelis Carthago (DO Toro)
# Vendimia Seleccionada 2004 from Amador Garcia (DOCa [...]
Date: Monday 14, 2008
Wine Spectator´s Best Spanish Wines - 2007
Wine Spectator´s Best Spanish Wines - Best Wines from Spain
WIth 96 points
La Edicion Limitada 2004 from Bodegas LAN (DOCa Rioja)
With 95 points:
# Torre Muga 2004 from Bodegas Muga (DOCa Rioja)
With 93 points:
# Pago de los Capellanes Crianza 2004 from Pago de los Capellanes (DO Ribera del Duero)
With 92 points:
# As Sortes Val do Bibei 2005 [...]