Where it comes from
Olula de Castro (Sierra de los Filabres) · almond turrón also in Cantoria
This turrón is cooked without haste, over olive and almond wood from the Sierra de los Filabres. The recipe is few things and plenty of time: a kilo of honey, a kilo and a half of almonds, half a kilo of sugar and six egg whites, with cinnamon, lemon zest and wafers to shape it. It comes out hard, all honey and almond, with a crunch industrial bars don't have.
It is said that only six families in Olula make it and only one sells it. That is Turrones Olula de Castro, the Martínez Mesas family's house, which joined the Sabores Almería brand in December 2022: it revives century-old recipes that had stopped being made, with hard honey-and-almond turrón, potato turrón and stone-ground almond turrón.
The custom has relatives in the Almanzora — in Cantoria almond turrón was made at Christmas, with an hour's cooking — but Olula is where to look for it: a sweet of the sierra and of winter, cut with a knife and carried home for the holidays.
What it is made with
Underlined ingredients link to Local produce.
How it is made at home
- Heat the honey with the sugar over a low flame until it thickens.
- Whip the egg whites and add them to the hot honey, stirring constantly.
- Keep cooking slowly, stirring, until the mixture firms up.
- Fold in the almonds, cinnamon and lemon zest.
- Pour onto wafers in moulds and cover with another wafer.
- Press and let it cool until hard before cutting into bars.
- Turrones Olula de Castro
- Turrones Olula de Castro (Martínez Mesas family), Olula de Castro