GASTRONOMY

Delicious and isolated, accustomed to the self-sufficiency of the rural world, La Vall de Gallinera still retains its autonomous ways of eating. The seasons of the year bring the various harvests and products: cherries, vegetables, almonds, walnuts, mushrooms, game and olives (with which local olive oil is made in the Benialí mill).

Traditions are also maintained alive through the production of honey, pastry-making, some artisanal products derived from the cherry (cherries in brandy, cherry jam, etc.) and deeply rooted recipes such as minxos, above all, but also chopped wheat and beans and cabbage.

In the past, the basis of traditional food in La Vall de Gallinera were olive oil, wheat, corn, pork —all the households raised a pig so as to be able to slaughter it in the traditional way, and then eat it fresh, salted or fried—, sausages and other cold cuts, fruits and vegetables.
The most traditional cold cuts (embotits) are the botifarra, the bufa, the lean pork llonganissa sausage (white or red) and the sobrassada… the heritage of the Mallorcan population that repopulated this land.

The cracked olives that are prepared in almost every household in the countryside are also present on the tables in La Vall de Gallinera, accompanying the salads made with products from the vegetable patches.

Wild vegetables are gathered during walks in the countryside (sow thistles, chicory, poppies, scaly hawkbit, golden thistles, ox tongue, redstem filaree, bladder campion, white rocket, common sorrel, etc.) which are then eaten boiled or fried with garlic, but also asparagus is gathered, which can be eaten grilled or in an omelette.

And up in the mountains red pine mushrooms (esclata-sangs) can be found, so prized by the people of La Vall de Gallinera that they grill them in the fireplace of their homes. The same fire is also used to make grilled onions and grilled potatoes.

Also worth mentioning is the dish called espencat: a mix of grilled aubergines, tomatoes and peppers.

Among the most frequently made rice dishes are broth rice (arròs caldós), with beans and stalks, oven-baked rice and paella with meatballs, with broad beans or with cod and cauliflower.

But the most typical dishes are the minxos with vegetables or with tuna and egg; the putxero amb pilotes, a vegetable stew with meatballs; blat picat, crushed wheat with pork, chard, stalks, chickpeas, potatoes and snails, and fried coquetes full of vegetables.
As for pastries, the following should definitely be mentioned: the Christmas cakes made of almonds and full of sweet potatoes, the coca de llanda or tin cake, pumpkin fritters, anise rolls, dried figs, and toasted pumpkin.

And it is not possible to finish this section without talking about the fruit of La Vall de Gallinera, one of the area’s great treasures with the most magnificent being the cherry, which is also the most prized and expensive type of fruit.