food from central spain

Also known as the Meseta region, food in Central Spain is a blend of Jewish, Muslim and Christian traditions producing a rustic style of cooking full of woodland flavours. Dishes range from simple broths such as warm garlic soup (sopas de ajo) to more complex winter dishes like meat and chickpea stew (cocido madrileno). Also, there are fine hams, cheeses and some of the best sausages in Spain.

Well known for its roasts, lamb, veal, sucking pig, young goat and other meats are slowly roasted in wood ovens to give them an especially delicious texture and taste. The Manchegos have created interesting ways of roasting their succulent meats, producing numerous recipes for cooking game such as the delicious gazpacho manchego (a stew of partridge, hare, rabbit and pheasant).

The extremadura region produces some of the finest iberico pork and cheese products in Spain (Translated literally extremadura means ‘extremely hard'. Located in central Spain and named due to its extremely hard weather conditions). The foods are reminiscent of that described in "Don Quixote", produced with the use of safron, honey, and manchego cheese

The Castile-La Mancha region produces a range of fine foods and drink including arguably Spain's best sheeps cheese (Manchego), excellent table wines (Valdepenas), honey, asparagus, strawberries and saffron. Toledo is renowned for its yemas (egg yolk sweets) and marzipans, Madrid for its chocolate con churros, orejuelas (honey fritters), and Ciudad Real for its bizcochos, borrachos or wine-soaked cakes

The cool Mediterranean climate, semi-arid conditions and high altitude of central Spain provide the perfect environment for growing olive trees. In the slopes of the Sierras (Montes de Toledo, Sierra de Alcaraz, La Alcarria) the trees are protected from the bite of frost. The olive oils of this region have been appreciated for their quality and wonderful taste for centuries with the cultivation of the first olive trees dating back to the 12th Century.

We must again thanks our Moorish ancestors when considering central Spain, as this is where one of Spain's most precious products is produced. The Moors brought with them the spice az-zafaran over a thousand years ago. Today over 70% of the world's production of saffron is grown on the high Castilian plateau known as La Mancha. Every October the crocus flowers open at night. The people from Toledo to Albacete drop everything and rush to the fields at dawn, the opening of the crocus creating a breathtaking purple blanket as far as the eye can see. All the saffron crocuses must be gathered before dusk; otherwise they lose their flavour.

Believe it or not, it is said that the best fisherman's wharf in the country is in Madrid, in the dead centre of the Iberian Peninsula: pristine fish and shellfish arriving at Mediterranean and Atlantic ports are whisked overnight to satisfy the Spanish capital's boundless hunger for seafood.

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