‘Grelos’ are turnip shoots or tops and a staple food in Galician cuisine. A delicacy when they are tender, these leaves should be harvested just before flowering, when they present a smooth, shiny and spotless appearance. In Galicia, this activity is called 'grelar' and the best times to do it are in winter and early spring; although thanks to greenhouse techniques they can be found throughout the year. The origin of this plant is not very clear. Some place it in Asia, others in Europe, but the truth is that in Spain they were only consumed and cultivated for many years in Galicia. What I have discovered is that turnip greens can help prevent cancer. In the stud

The Roscón de Reyes is a donut-shaped bun which is never missing from the Spanish tables on January 6, the Epiphany. It is started in the morning with a cup of hot chocolate or coffee, and continues throughout the day. This bun with milk, flour, sugar, eggs and orange blossom water can be served filled with whipped cream, vanilla cream, truffles, marzipan and chocolate, and usually has sugar, candied fruits and nuts on top. The special thing about this dessert is that hidden inside there is a figurine and a dry bean: he who finds the figurine in his piece of roulade will be lucky for the whole year, he who finds the bean, however, will have to pay for the roulade. Th

  Borja is a small town in the province of Zaragoza with a huge wine tradition. The difference with other areas of vineyards lies in the peculiarity of its first winery, built centuries ago in the rock of the hills. 19th-century Borjan traders served from within the mountain and their offices were converted over time into family residences and holiday homes. In any case, wine remains a benchmark in the Campo de Borja region and the Moncayo, its neighbour. It is true that a few months ago the region’s, and the world’s, attention was drawn to the controversial restoration of the church’s Ecce Homo by a lady with the priest’s agreement. However, the world

‘Patatas bravas’ are one of the most traditional and popular tapas outside of Spain. The reason for such success lies in the potatoes, cut into small irregular pieces and then fried in olive oil until they are crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, but above all in the sauce that accompanies them: salsa brava, with as many versions as there are cooks. With onion, flour, sauce and red pepper, but without tomato; with tomato sauce and chilli, or; even in its less orthodox version, with mayonnaise, ketchup and Tabasco, the fact is that salsa brava is, first of all, a hot sauce. Hence its name and also its origin: the spicier the potatoes, the more beer was needed to

  It takes energy to go for a stroll in the country, and a lot more so if it is in the mountains of the Picos de Europa. If there is one right dish to load us up with energy for trotting off into the mountains it is stew, which consists of a saucepan with water in which meat, delicatessen, vegetables and other additions are cooked together. Present in the indifferent Spanish culinary traditions, the variety from Cantabria is the only one in Spain that does not use chickpeas.  Mountain stew, a very appropriate name for the region, is an inland dish, rich and very sturdy. According to the organisers of the seventh edition of the Cantabria Week of Gastronomic Products, the

Spanish cuisine cannot be understood without the culinary heritage of the Sephardic Jews, namely Jews from Spain and Portugal (Sepharad, in Hebrew) and their descendants. The vigil soup, marzipan and tuna patties, to name but a few, have a clear Sephardic origin. On the other hand, prasa keftés, leek dumplings, are an example of adaptation of local preparations to the religious customs, habits and tastes of the Sephardim. Many believe that there is no single Sephardic cuisine, but as many as geographical areas, especially after the expulsion edict of 1492, which forced the Sephardim to leave Spain for the Balkans and North Africa, where its cuisine absorbed the influences of t

The Galician company Coren, known for its chickens, had an idea for his pigs. Seeking to recover the traditions more deeply rooted 'no terruño', Coren thought he could make a product half way between the whitest pig and the most refined Iberian. This meat, nicknamed Selecta, has already made the leap and is being marketed in Japan. This new line has three basic premises: a selected breed, a natural diet based on chestnuts and a traditional farming method. These ideas combined result in a juicy meat that recovers its flavour 'da terra'. This Galician pig raising takes about five months. During the first three, they are fed a lot of grain and feed, rich in v

  That sherry is one of the best wines in the world is clear even to the Japanese. This is the defence of the prestigious journalist Yoshiko Akehi, a specialist in Spanish wines, who has given in to the charms of this particular wine from Jerez. Its taste and its aged aroma, universally appreciated, are the fruit of gifted lands in the Andalusian provinces of Cadiz and Seville. The climate of the area is the great ally in making this liquid miracle behind which there is exhaustive work in a millenary legacy. The well-known Marco de Jerez (frame of Jerez) is a privileged geographical Triangle where excellent wines and brandies have their origin. From these, a whole tourist r

"Que no te la den con queso" (Don’t be given it with cheese) is a very popular Spanish expression that warns us against lying. It roughly translates to "not be fooled" and comes from a trick that winemakers formerly used when they wanted to sell a poor quality wine to merchants. The trick was to serve them a slice of cheese before they tried the wine to hide its defects. In fact, finding harmony between wine and cheese is difficult but not impossible, and what before had a negative connotation, has now become compulsory for all gourmets. Today, many books and specialized courses teach us how to correctly combine cheeses and wines. This is pairing, th

The Basque Culinary Centre is the first university of Spanish cuisine. Located in the Miramon Technology Park, just a few minutes’ bus ride from the centre of San Sebastian, it was opened in September 2011 and is currently the main training centre for the future talents of haute cuisine, hospitality and the Spanish food industry. Some of the best chefs in the world, such as Alex Atala, Gastón Acurio, Heston Blumenthal, René Redzepi, Massimo Bottura, Michel Bras, Dan Barber, Yukio Hattori and Ferran Adrià, are on its International Advisory Board and are, in fact, its 'ambassadors' in and out of Spain. The five-storey and 15,000 square metre buildi

Dinner among friends. A sharp movement and a little of the deep red Barrantes wine stains the white tablecloth. One of the diners, the ‘galaicocostumbrist’ painter Abel Barandela, has an idea. Using a rolled up serviette as a brush, he starts to draw with the dark wine. Fascinated by the discovery, Barandela decides to replace his habitual palette in one of his series of paintings with a little orthodox traditional ceramic pot of wine. Barrantes is known as ‘Manchamorros’ [the mouth stainer] for the dark colour it leaves on your lips when you drink it. With a low alcohol graduation thanks to its sugar level and its uncommon fruity flavour, it is unusual to see