La Fiesta se va de merienda (Go to Snack)

¡FELIZ NAVIDAD y PRÓSPERO AÑO NUEVO a todos los miembros del grupo!

This time I want to take advantage of this time of the year, Christmas, to take you to taste our Christmas sweets, one of the features that make these dates special in my country, Spain.

The truth is that the Spanish gastronomic universe is incredibly extensive, with particular specialties from each region and, I would even say, from each department. But there are four specialties that, due to internal immigration that began in the 50s of the last century, have become "traditional" throughout the country at this time. I'm talking about polvorones, mantecados, mazapanes (marzipans) and turrones (nougats).

Although the origin of marzipan and nougat is very diffuse and many cultures, both in time and geographically, claim their paternity: from the ancient Mesopotamians to Italians and Arabs, the truth is that the specialties that we currently eat in my country are clearly autochthonous and have a very precise origin in Toledo in the Middle Ages for mazapán and in Alicante occupied by the Muslims for turrón. However, the polvorón and the mantecado are a genuinely Spanish product of which there are indications since the mid-16th century, although the current recipe was prepared in the 19th century by a pastry chef named Micaela Ruíz Téllez in the town of Estepa, province of Seville.

So I invite you all to try these delicacies with me before they run out, along with a good Spanish hot chocolate.

¡QUÉ RICO!