For the fourth year running, Mojácar Council held its tasting of homemade sweets and treats, which has become an integral part of their Christmas programme of events.
Good gastronomy plays a very relevant role in both a person’s well-being and leisure and, over the Christmas holidays, kitchens take centre stage and become the focus of life when family and friends gather and indulge in some of their favourite old-fashioned recipes.
Its a time when diets are thrown out of the window and we all give ourselves free rein to have whatever we fancy, with sweets playing a big part in the irresistible food temptations that represent Christmas.
The menus on offer vary from home to home, often following particular family traditions, but the common thread that runs through them all and the parties is the selection of sweet treats that are often only eaten at this special time of year.
So as to not lose these food flavours that have been enjoyed for generations, Mojácar Council took the initiative four years ago, to ask the townspeople to get to work in their kitchens and show off their skills, so that everyone could enjoy these sweets made in the traditional way, which everyone knows are way superior to those that are mass produced.
This annual event, held at the town’s Centro de Usos Múltiples, has been steadily growing in popularity in the number of eager confectioners taking part as well as the locals who cannot wait to enjoy the 200 kilos of sweet treats made by over 20 local cooks.
Accompanied by 120 litres of hot chocolate and some homemade almond cordials, the typical specialities of the area included; mantecados, anise roscos, tortas, turrones, bombones, tartas, brownies and bizcochos along with a selection of those from other traditions, all perfect for those with a very sweet tooth.
Mojácar’s Mayor, Rosmari Cano, was there with her fellow councillors to join in this now traditional tasting which helps preserve local customs. The Councillor for Culture and Festivities, Raquel Belmonte, expressed her delight at how popular the initiative has become, which this year saw over three hundred people thoroughly enjoying the sugary delights that had been prepared for them, especially with a cup of warming hot chocolate.
