Gastronomic tourism

The gastronomy of Granada is amazingly diverse, with contributions from settlers throughout the ages, like the Moriscos and the Jews. One example is habas con jamón, a tasty dish of broad beans and ham from Trevelez, the mountain town renowned for its salted hams.

Olla de San Antón is another traditional dish from Granada and its province. The most popular dishes, however, are broad beans with saladillas (salted flat bread), eaten as an aperitif on San Cecilio Day; the famed Sacromonte omelette, served on May Cross Day; and the remojón granadino, made with salted cod and oranges. Another interesting suggestion is papas a lo pobre (poor man’s potatoes), or migas served with a fried egg and sausages from the Alpujarra region of Granada.

Desserts include cuajada de carnaval (a custard cake), soplillos (meringues) from the Alpujarra and the torta real (an almond cake) from Motril. The convents make an extensive variety of sweets and pastries, such as huevos moles (a meringue custard) from San Antón, bizcochada de Zafra (an almond cake), pestiños de la Encarnación (honey-coated fritters) and hojaldre de San Jerónimo (puff pastry). The emblematic fruit of Granada is, of course, the pomegranate, which is a granada in Spanish. The tree grows everywhere in the city, in carmens and gardens. During the festival in honour of Granada’s Patroness, the markets are full of persimmons, acerolas, quince, prickly pears, the fruit of the European nettle tree, locally known as almecinas, and serbas, from the service tree. To these traditional fruits we can add tropical products from the coast: avocados, custard apples, kiwis and so forth.