5 Popular Spanish olives and meals to go with them.
2022-11-15
The only way to describe olives is Delicious. Despite their diminutive size, these fruits are bursting with sweetness. With many of the most common varieties adding a delicious tingle of salt, adding olives to dishes adds a new flavour dimension.
So today, we will look at some amazingly delicious olives that make our taste buds fall in love with them. We will also tell you some meals that taste 1000 times better when paired with these olives.
Here are 5 Popular Spanish olives and meals to go with them.
1. Arbequina olives:
Originally from Catalonia in northeastern Spain, the Arbequina cultivar is currently widely
grown there (and around the world).
Its oil is fruity, fresh, and somewhat sweet flavour with hints of almond, apple, and banana
produced by arbequina. Very little (often unnoticeable) bitterness and moderate
pepperiness can be found in this highly smooth oil.
If you want to enhance the flavour of these ting flavour bombs, then pair them with figs,
goat cheese or feta cheese, or almonds.
2. Hojiblanca:
Hojiblanca olive trees are prized for their extreme hardiness and productivity, even during
less productive years. They are native to the region surrounding Cordoba, Sevilla, and
Malaga.
Hojiblanca olive oils have gained acclaim in recent years and have won numerous accolades
at contests for olive oils all around Europe.
Compared to Cornicabra and Picual, Hojiblanca oils are milder in their bitterness, but they
are also more fragrant and fresh, with hints of freshly cut grass and green peppercorns.
A terrific all-purpose ingredient that works well for both cooking and dressing—definitely
worth looking for.
The olives themselves have a wonderful flavour that is nice and bittersweet, and they have a
hard firmness.
Hojiblanca pairs great with salad to add some flavour. They also go well with pizza and
Pasta.
3. Picual:
Picual is the foundation of Spanish olives and the most common olive variety in the world,
grown only for oil production.
It has many different names and a vast geographical cultivation area that stretches from
Castile-La Mancha to Andalusia (rather than eat).
Due to the wide range of terroirs in which Picual olives are grown, the flavour of these oils
can vary widely. Still, generally speaking, Picual oils are potent and hearty, frequently with
a hint of astringency and herbaceous notes resembling green tomatoes or green almonds.
Known for withstanding high temperatures better than more delicate oil kinds, olive oils
are renowned for being excellent for cooking.
Picual tastes heavenly in salads. Since they taste tangy, they also go well with tomatoes.
Don't forget to add Picual to your tomato soup next time!
4. Gordal Sevillana olives:
Grown in Spain, this green olive is filled with rich flavour.
Gordal is Spanish for "the fat one." The name fits; these are very substantial, eminently fat
olives with lots of solid, meaty flavour to match their intimidating stature.
These well-liked tapas olives are raised in Andaluca, Spain, where hardy Gordal trees
prosper in the dry climate. Along with a glass of Sherry and some Jamon, serve them.
The Gordal olive has a fleshy texture and, after fermentation, develops a robust flavour that
gives it its name ('gordo' is Spanish for 'fat'). Its long, oval shape and greenish hue make it
an excellent olive for tapas, and its size makes it ideal for stuffing and pitting.
Gordal Sevillana is usually consumed with cheese. So the next time you make a cheese
snack, don't forget to add some gordal sevillana olives!
Gordal Sevillana is a go-to in cocktails as well.
5. Cacereña olives:
The Cacereña olive differs slightly from the others. These olives are permitted to ripen on
the tree until they are black, unlike other Spanish olives. The bitter and vegetal qualities of
the olives disappear when they oxidise, along with their unique green hue.
They are also one of the most prestigious and more affluent tasting olives.
The fuller, richer flavour of these olives complements the brine's saltiness wonderfully.
These olives can be spread on toast as paste, used as a fish crust or topped with eggs.
So there you have it, 5 Popular Spanish olives and meals to go with them.
Do you like olive? If so, then how do you prefer yours? And which is your favourite olive?
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