Jaén in July, hard to believe

Hello, it's me! Brujuelo, the olive home.

I was wondering, why don't you come to Jaén just ... right now?

July is our best month to enjoy. Because we're on holidays and it's time to have fun!

Jaén is great because is plenty of nature, mountains, great landscapes, yummy food, ancient towns, renaissance architecture, but in july something very special happens

In July you can visit Jaén going from town to town and enjoying of their people. Not only Jaén city is interesting to see. I already wrote you about Mágina, Segura, Cazorla and Las Villas Natural Park, but we have other interesting towns that you must see like Úbeda, and Baeza (to those two I strongly recommend to add Sabiote). Linares (to visit ancient roman's archeological site Cástulo), Hornos de Segura and its wonderful sight, and so on... To all those possibilities you can add 5 more, that's the reason:

- Torreperogil and "Un Mar de Canciones Spanish Song Festival"
- Torres and "Imagina Funk Festival (Funky music)"
- Alcalá la Real and "Etnosur Ethnic Music Festival"
- Cazorla and "Blues Cazorla Festival" (and this festival is happening right now!)
- And Martos and "Vértigo Estival Indie Music Festival"

So prepare to have fun, and it's not only about music, it's all about nature, freedom, surprises, laughs, sun and water...

Best whises,

Brujuelo Estate

Jaén traditional dishes: Papajotes

Hola, friends! It's me, Brujuelo, The Olive Home:

Today we're going to fry with olive oil! Why we should do that? In spite of many people could believe, olive oil is the best option to fry any food, as humans in Jaén keep doing since Roman Empire.

Olive oil can resist high temperatures with no lost of properties, unlike others seed oils. Why is it so positive? In high temperatures (like 180ºC-356ºF maximum), olive oil forms a crunchy layer that surround the fried food, which doesn't let bad fats seep through it, maintaining all their properties untouched. In addition, that resistance helps you to employ the used olive oil a few times more before waste it.

Humans from Andalucia know well all that because they've used olive oil for frying during centuries: it's very popular and delicious the "pescaito frito" (fried fish) from Málaga, or the pastries made with fried dough like churros and rosquillas.

I want to show you a traditional recipe from Jaén made with fried dough called papajote
p a p a x o t e

I wonder why recipes from Jaén always have funny names.

The "papajotes" are usually taken by breakfast, specially in festivities, like "Semana Santa" or "Día de Todos los Santos".

You'll see is a very simple recipe with common ingredients, Jaén gastronomy is easy, cheap, simple and plenty of tastes, because of the humble origin of people from Jaén.

250 ml. Extra Virgin Olive Oil Olivefruit Brujuelo
1 egg
1 cup of regular milk
1 cup of flour
1 teaspoonful of leavening
A pinch of salt
Sugar

We beat the egg in a big bowl, then we add the milk and keep whipping until all get well mixed.

Add the flour slowly and keep whipping, I recommend adding the flour in three times. When all the flour is in the bowl add the leavening and the salt.

Time for a bit of creativity: old recipes are oral traditions so, there's no fixed rule, each house makes papajotes in different ways. Some humans add lemon zest, or maybe ground cinnamon, vanilla or aniseeds (this is very andalusian*!). Try something new!

Finally you'll get a thick cream. Now we heat up olive oil in a frying pan. When it's quite hot, we take portions of cream with a spoon and pour it into the frying pan. When the portions are fried, we retire and put them on an absorbent paper.

When the paper has taken up all the excess oil, we put the papajotes on a plate. Now dust with sugar and serve, usually with hot chocolate.

Best whises,

Brujuelo Estate

*Aniseed comes from Asia, why exist so much andalusian recipes which include aniseeds? Andalucia´s capital was once maybe the most important merchant dock in the world. The whole Europe received all kind of products from Asia through this dock. Those Asian products were so fashion in that time that many of them became part of life of andalusian people. The funy thing is Sevilla is an inland city and its dock was placed in Guadalquivir river. Some centuries later and many water constructions later, nowadays, this dock practically doesn't exist.

Spanish Olive Varieties

Hi, friends! It's me, Brujuelo, The Olive Home:

Last week I was writing about Jaén's different appellations of origin and the olive varieties in there, but maybe you'd like to know more about other Spanish varieties, how do they taste and how you should use them in the kitchen. 

First, you must know that there are like 260 olive tree varieties only in Spain, 120 of them are in Jaén. Only a few of them are fortunate enough to be commonly employed in olive oil elaboration. I'll tell you about the most famous of them.

PICUAL

It's our favourite variety because of its stability, its olive oil has got a great resistance to oxidation, becoming the most appreciate to be bottled and exported.
Maybe thanks to this advantage and because of the tree's high efficiency, it became the absolute king of all varieties, leading all rankings in production, and being the olive tree most abundant. As you must already know, Picual commonly grows in south of Spain, in Jaén, Córdoba and Granada.
Picual is a fruity oil, fragrant, with bitter, spicy positive notes, usually slightly stringent. Their aromas and flavours usually contains fig tree, fresh wood, tomato, and even almond, banana and apple among others.
Picual variety is often employed in kitchen in frying, roasts and stews, thanks to its great resistance to high temperatures and its genuine taste.

CORNICABRA

This variety grows in center of Spain, specially Toledo, Madrid and Ciudad Real. It's very old and some people say it was introduced by Hebrews in the old ages. Cornicabra is a wonderful choice due to exclusiveness and traditional production, because of their slow growth, their producers take care of each process momentum, guaranteeing the best quality. 
Cornicabra is spicier than Picual, but not as bitter as it. Very aromatic, standing out their apple, herbs and leaves aromas.
For cooking, Cornicabra is great in crude, specially with meats and fishes, and it's our favourite in Spanish pastries like churros or rosquillas.

ARBEQUINA

Arbequina is maybe our most international variety, it's got its origin in Catalonia (Barcelona, Tarragona, Lérida and Gerona), but due to its little size and fast grow is widely employed in new plantations in many places in the world. Another great advantage is in its taste: very sweet and almost no bitterness or spicy taste. If we should stress some disadvantage is its larger instability compared to Picual or Cornicabra so producers must care the conservation of the product to keep all olive oil properties untouched. Its main aromas are apple, banana and almond. 

Arbequina is perfect in sauces, like mayo or alioli. Terribly good in salads, and Spanish dishes as popular as gazpacho or salmorejo. Very interesting with all kind of carpaccios, and due to its sweet taste is perfect to add crude or cooking pastries and desserts. It's the best choice if you cook an olive oil ice cream.

HOJIBLANCA

After Picual, Hojiblanca is the most popular variety in Andalusia, it represents to Córdoba, Málaga and Sevilla. Maybe is one of the varieties most interesting to realize coupages or early harvest with author aspirations due to the complexity of its taste. A Hojiblanca early harvest olive oil enjoy aromas of fresh cut herb notes, almond, artichoke, and aromatic plants like thyme, or rosemary. Smooth entry into the mouth, but a slightly bitterness and finishing with a spicy taste very located in mouth.

The audacity of its taste implies an intelligent gastronomic use, perfect in haut cuisine, and can be employed in all kind of techniques: emulsions, marinated fishes and meats, dressings, conserved foods...

  

Best whises,

Brujuelo Estate

Appellation of origin in Jaén

Hi, friends! It's me, Brujuelo, The Olive Home:

As you must already know, the olives are the most important thing in Jaén. In Jaén are growing the biggest extension of olive trees in the whole world. That extension is divided in areas and some of them are really famous for the quality and peculiarity of the olive oil are produced on them. I'm talking about the "appellation of origin".

In Jaén we have 3 appellation of origin refereed to olive oil. The three appellations belong to mountains ("sierras") and are protected natural areas, and the most beautiful places.

Sierra de Segura

In North-East of Jaén, the olive trees grow at an height 900 meters above sea level (2952 feet), and share their space with pine trees and holm oaks. The average annual temperature is 11-18º C (52-64º F), and the annual rainfall is the highest in Jaén (around 600 mm, like 23'').

 The olive oil made in Sierra de Segura is only made with the variety Picual, resistant to low temperatures and illnesses, and the healthiest for having more vitamin E and poly-phenols than other varieties.

Yellowy green colour, very aromatic, it sometimes tastes to apple and tomato, with positive bitter, spicy notes.

Sierra de Cazorla

In South-East of Jaén, like Sierra de Segura or Sierra Mágina, those olive trees grow in the mountains.

The main variety is Picual, but also is commonly used the Royal variety, combining in coupage or alone. The result is very fruity (apple, almond, fig tree...) and only lightly bitter.



Sierra Mágina

In Center-South of Jaén, Mágina is the highest mountain in Jaén, and the second in Andalucía. The traditional olive trees which grow in Sierra Mágina are placed in steep slopes. That really complicates their harvesting, but somehow, the result is very appreciated.

The main variety is... yes! you are right! it's Picual, but also is sometimes used a second and rare variety called "Manzanilla de Jaén".
They're very fruity, lightly bitter and spicy. You can taste tomato flavor, fresh herb, and they're celeb for their fig tree aroma.

Best whises,

Brujuelo Estate

Jaén traditional dishes: Rin Ran

Hi! it's me, Brujuelo, the olive home:

As I see the last entry about a traditional dish from Jaén was quite succesfull, I decided to repeat with other special dish, this time we'll cook Rin Ran:

r i n r a n

Rin Ran is an old receipt, with at least 400 years, it's very easy, healthy and humans say it tastes really good.

Ingredients:
- 1/2 Kg Potatoes from Galicia
- 3 Dried Red Peppers from Murcia
- A little cumin
- 1 Purple Garlic Clove from Las Pedroñeras (Castile-La Mancha)
- 250 ml Extra Virgin Olive Oil Olivefruit Brujuelo
- Aloreña olives from Málaga
- 1 Onion from Fuentes de Ebro
- 1 egg
- Salt Cod
- Salt

1. We peel and cut the potatoes, then we cook them in water with the dried peppers and salt.

2. We cook in water the egg too.

3. We crumble the salt cod and peel and cut the onion

3. With the help of a fork we crush the cooked potatoes

4. We place the dried peppers in a mixer, with a peeled garlic glove, Olivefruit Olive Oil, cumin, and some of the water that we used before to cook the potatoes and peppers. We mix.

5. In a salad bowl, add the result of the mix to crushed potatoes and crumbled salt cod, we mix it with a spoon.

7. Add onion to salad bowl, all must be well mixed with a spoon.

8. Add olives and cooked egg to decorate.

9. Must be served cold and with good bread

Best wishes,

Brujuelo Estate

King of Spain Juan Carlos abdicates

Hi! it's me, Brujuelo, the olive home:

As many of you probably know, 39 years ago a human called Juan Carlos was called as a king. He rapidly became King Of Spain.
Yesterday this human decided to abdicate and give his crown to his son Felipe.

This historic event has become the main conversation theme of the week, because Spanish humans are well known for being so diverse in their opinions, that many people think is not a good moment for abdication, some other celebrate it, and some other would like all Spanish humans could decide if they want to keep Spain monarchic or maybe rebuild a republic.

Some humans like monarchy and some others not. Many of them think having a king is something cool, as being in a fairy tale, and some others find really hateful to be in a state system so out of style. I, as a house, haven't decided yet, but I know humans in Spain are excited with the news, and I know somehow, all will be OK because the sun still shines all along, and birds are singing too, and that kind of little things are the most important to us.

Best Wishes

Brujuelo Estate

Jaén traditional dishes: Pipirrana

Hi! it's me, Brujuelo, the olive home:

We houses are not used to eat food. But I really admire human creativity to invent different ways to feed themselves. Today I want to show you what humans from Jaén like to eat,

When springtime and summer get to houses they usually like to eat a kind of traditional salad they call pipirrana.

p i . p i ' r a . n a

Ingredients

- 250 ml Extra Virgin Olive Oil Olivefruit Brujuelo

- 4 or 5 Plum Tomatoes from La Cañada-Níjar (Almería)

- 2 Green peppers from Gernika (Vizcaya)

- 2 Eggs

- 2 tin boxes tuna

- 2 Purple Garlics Cloves from Las Pedroñeras (Castile-La Mancha)

- Salt

1. We peel tomatoes, cut them in thick julienne, and put them in a salad bowl.

2. We wash the peppers, cut them, and add to salad bowl.

3. Cook the eggs in water, when are properly cooked, we move yolk out away from the white. We dice the white and add to salad bowl.

4. In a mortar, we add salt and 2 garlic cloves. We mash.

5. We add a piece of green pepper and mash again.

6. We add the cooked yolks and mash again.

7. We add Olivefruit Brujuelo olive oil, mix it all, and add it to salad bowl with tomatoes, peppers and egg whites.

8. We mix it all very well and keep it in fridge until the moment of be served.

9. One minute before of be served, we add tuna and mix it.

And please! Don't you forget to eat it with a lot of good bread! This dish is usually eaten dipping bread on it.

Buen provecho!!

Best wishes,

Brujuelo Estate