| Located in the heart of
the Mediterranean, it is hardly surprising that the Balearic cuisine should
be firmly based on the Mediterranean diet that is so popular nowadays.
As is logical and normal
in rural communities, one eats what one grows! In Mallorca, the main crops
are fruit, pulses and vegetables. The livestock raised on the Island centres
around pigs and suckling pigs, lambs and milk-fed lambs. Rabbit and partridge
are hunted in season. And, of course, there is the immense harvest from
the sea with its wide variety of fish and shellfish.
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Typical dishes
There are some 1,200 restaurants
in Mallorca with a choice of every cuisine in the world but many of them
serve typical Mallorcan dishes such as tumbet, el trempó, les coques
amb verdura, les panades and els cocarrois, el frit (de matances or de
freixura), l'arròs brut, sopes mallorquines based on vegetables,
l'escudella fresca, la fava parada, rabbit and onions (conill amb ceba),
roast suckling pig (porcella rostida), and milk-fed lamb. Among the fish
dishes, red mullet (molls), poached Red Sea scorpion, dentex in the Mallorcan
style, sea bass in salt crust (llobarro a la sal) are particularly delicious.
And, we cannot forget our
own charcuterie which includes the famous red spicy sobrassada sausage
and the tasty botifarrones, the local version of black puddings, made from
naturally-fed pigs.
Among desserts (with Moorish
and Jewish influences), there are crespells, robiols, panades, el gató
amb gelat, made from almonds, coca d'albercoc, les formatjades and the
queen of Mallorcan pastries, the ensaïmada.
Mallorcan wines enjoyed a
fine reputation during the last century until the vineyards were almost
destroyed by phylloxera. They are gradually recovering and, nowadays, produce
high quality red and white wines. Binissalem, Porreres and Consell have
been awarded denominación de origen status.
Other traditional drinks
include palo which is obtained from carob beans and drunk as an aperitif
with sifón (carbonated water), the herbal liqueur (herbes), brandy
and canya Valls. |
