ATRIL 34: REFRESHING!
We are approaching the time to combat the temperatures with preparations that soothe and recharge us… and «gazpacho» is the king. We dedicate our cover of the month to it.
According to the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE), it is a cold soup whose basic ingredients are tomato, pepper, oil, vinegar, garlic and salt, which is mainly typical of Andalusia.
I agree, but only in part. Gazpacho is native to Andalusia, it’s true, but it is made in a thousand different ways depending on each place, each kitchen, each house: it is part of our Spanish gastronomic culture. And it is typical of all places where the heat is intense -at this time of the year in any part of the country-, because it is, after all, a refreshing, comforting and very appetising liquid food.
Its origins are humble and pragmatic, as is the case with almost everything, although we should qualify this: the first gazpachos were already made in the time of al-Andalus, although not exactly as we know them; in fact, they did not have tomatoes or peppers, as we had not yet discovered America, where they originated. Their ingredients were breadcrumbs, garlic, olive oil, vinegar, salt and water.
During the 16th century, with tomato, pepper and cucumber crops, Andalusian and Extremaduran day labourers incorporated it into their diet as we know it, as it was the perfect dish to combat the long days in the sun and, incidentally, it served to make use of the dried bread from the previous days.
Nowadays there are numerous variations of gazpacho, all of them comforting and very healthy: mint, beetroot, melon, celery, watermelon, cherry…
In our region, apart from the classic Extremaduran gazpacho, there are also many others: the deluxe gazpacho from Cáceres (with chicken breasts, cheese, chorizo and ham), the rabbit gazpacho from Mérida and Puebla de Alcocer, one with wild boar jerky in Herrera del Duque or the so-called Mr. gazpacho, which contains a rabbit, two partridges, ham and lean pork, as well as all kinds of herbs and vegetables.
We also have a very peculiar northern variant: gazpacho de poleo (pennyroyal gazpacho), typical of Sierra de Gata region and which some restaurants in Extremadura have on their menus.
I hope you enjoy ATRIL 34 as much as drinking a delicious gazpacho…
Happy and refreshing Thursday!
To enjoy Nº 34 ATRIL and see it directly, click on the cover.
To download the gazette, click on «DOWNLOAD ATRIL Nº34», under the cover.
Nº 34
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