Mallorcan Turrón

Like all the significant festivities of the annual calendar, Christmas in Mallorca has its own important gastronomic traditions. Christmas has been developing and changing in Mallorca over the years, but when it comes to food some very strong customs are still prevalent and are passed on from parents to children.

Christmas Eve is a very significant evening in Mallorca, just as in the rest of Spain. The custom is to go to Church at midnight for what is known as the ‘Cockerel’s Mass’ to bring in the day of the birth of Christ. On the way home from the service it is traditional to have a hot chocolate and some Mallorcan ensaimadas.

Lunch on Christmas Day is a gastronomic feast; the meal starts with a ‘Sopa de Navidad’ or ‘Christmas Soup’, which consists of turkey broth with pasta, liver and boiled eggs in it; next is boiled turkey with vegetables and then a roast pork with crackling and ‘patató’ or roast new potatoes. For dessert, a tray of different ‘turrón’ is prepared. Turrón is a sweet traditionally based on almonds and comes in many different varieties, but the typical Mallorcan turrón is a thin version with almond paste in between sheets of rice paper or ‘neulas’. The turrón can be accompanied by a ‘Coca de Nadal’ or Christmas cake which is similar to the coca de patata which is so typical of the village of Valldemossa, but is bigger and has aniseed in it. Almonds, and indeed all dried fruits have a very prominent role throughout all the Christmas season, both in the form of ‘turrón’ and marzipan as on their own. Mallorca Fruits is a local producer of turrón made using only locally grown almonds. The meal is usually accompanied by a good wine and a glass of cava.

As they say in Mallorca,
Bon Profit y Bones Festes!