If you have gone through my blog before you will know that I have been to the Balearic Islands a few times before. What you may not know is that Menorca, the second biggest island of the archipelago was my first destination ever. Ok, yes, I was one year and a half. But it counts. Anyway, today I am telling you about two amazing gastronomic pleasures that are typical from Menorca: the Sobrasada and cheese from Mahón.
Credit to www.masmallorca.com
Read about my sailboat trip to Menorca here — A Sailboat trip, not for everyone
Where is Mahón
Well, Mallorca is the biggest Balearic Island. And Menorca is the second. Now, the capital of Menorca is actually Mahón (or Mahó in Catalan-Balearic). This small city is beautiful, cute and the center seems to come straight from the 15th century. Its is so nice that it deserves a post itself. The island itself is not too big, but a big chunk of the population lives on the city.
Credit to www.iberianwinesandfood.com
Now to the important: What is the Sobrasada?
Ok, let me introduce you to a spread from heaven. This beautiful meal is basically made like a chorizo. It is mostly meat and fat with garlic and plenty of spices and pepper that is matured over months and some times smoked. I am sure that you know about it, but we have plenty of varieties of pork in Spain. There is one specific type that makes the best sobrasada: the black pork. This breed is only raised in the islands and their taste is beyond fantastic. The texture of the sobrasadas can variate from pretty solid to very easy to spread, in general, they are always eaten along with bread. You can even toast the bread with the sobrasada on top and let it slowly melt. It is simply amazing.
Even though the Sobrasada is typical from Mallorca, it can also be found almost anywhere in the Balearic islands. Believe me, if you ever go there you MUST try it.
Credit to www.serradetramuntana.net
Now about the cheese
After leaving outside of Spain for a few years I have come to accept that our concept of cheese differs a lot from the one in the rest of the world. Our cheese are almost always dry, salty and strong. At least the good ones. And that is quite a difference in comparison what the standard of great french cheese for example.
Credit to Manuel Martin Vicente (you can find him in Flickr)
The first curious thing about this amazing cheese is that it is usually a square. Even though most of our dry cheeses are round, no, this one is square. They are a few different types of this Mahon Cheese, all of them the same but with different times of maturation. My favorites are the oldest ones, usually the ones with more flavor. This is a cheese prepared with fresh cow milk that has a delicious buttery and salty flavor. And the outside is normally orange, ranging from clear to dark color, depending on how ripe the cheese is.
Other typical products from the Balearic Islands
To be honest, these two products will not be the first thing that someone would say are the most typical from the Balearic Islands. That may be true, but let me tell you, they are the best ones!
The most typical product from these islands, specifically from Mallorca are the Ensaimadas. These things are basically a sweet dought prepared with plenty of pork fat that is prepared in the shape of a spiral. And then it is covered in confectioners sugar. It is extremely sweet and often great, but because it is so popular, extremely cheap and bad versions have proliferated enough that now it’s very hard to find a good ensaimada anywhere.
Credit to www.lovelystreets.com
Have you been to the Balearic Islands? And have you tried these things? If yes, tell me about it in the comment section, and if not, what are you waiting for?
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I’m so hungry right now! You can’t beat some delicious Spanish jamon y queso, so this post is for me! I love ensaimada too; my heritage is Philippine/Spanish, and they have the same sugary round bread called Ensaymada. Simply delicious 😀
Oh yes! It is delicious. I am an expat myself and I have quite some Spanish friends over here too. We all miss the same thing above it all: food!
I love those Spanish cheese as it is dry, salty and strong. As I am vegetarian, so I cannot try those Sobrasada. But great to know all these unique things because before this post I was not knowing about these delicacies.
You could always try the sweet ensaimada! It is delicious, but yes, Spanish cheese is one of the best meals we have. And there are so many different types!
Being a veggie, I’m gonna give the Sobrasada a skip. But I love Cheese. Any day I’m open to trying out different varieties of cheese (my guy hates it though, lolz). Yes, I too prefer the older cheese. The display of cheese is very tempting… Ensamidas look yummm as well.
I cannot have milk, but Spanish cheeses are all so dry that I can eat them all! Unlike french cheese that gives me the chills. Anyway, I cannot recommend enough the ensaimada =)
Believe it or not, but just by looking at your photos I immediately had this incredibly nice scent in my nose… yummi!
I truly love these amazing Spanish sausages but I must admit I never tries them on Menorca. Simply due to the fact that I didn’t manage to travel there. But what can I say – this black pork version made me really curious to try out. In combination with this nice looking Mahon Cheese I think I could be in food heaven for a while! It sounds super tasty so thank you a lot for this great tip, I will keep this in mind.
I really know what you mean hahaha! There is something amazing about discovering a country through their food. And yes, you should really go to Menorca, it is not only an amazing place to find local delicatessens, but they also have some of the best beaches in the country. Beyond beautiful! It is the perfect summer destination!
So many different kinds of cheeses! Each one of them makes my mouth water. I’ve never heard of Mahon before reading your post – I’ve heard beautiful things of Mallorca and Menorca though. What I’ve learned over my time traveling around Spain, is that no matter where you go in this country you’ll stroll upon somewhere beautiful. Each corner of this country is to die for. Great post – Mariella
The Sobrasada looks like a delicious dish, I know what to order when I visit now. It would be interesting to try the cheese too although I’ve not been a fan of Spanish cheeses in the past. Being a sugar fan I’d love to try the Ensaimadas.
I’m a huge foodie so this is fantastic to know about since I was unaware of even after having visited Mallorca. Sobrasada really sounds delicious and will definitely try it the next time I am in the region. I have also never tried cheese from the region and would love to now considering I adore the strong salty types.
I am a foodie at heart so this post has got me curious. I am a huge ensaimada fan and it is interesting to learn about where it started from. Those blocks of cheese are so tempting. I love cooking with cheese and these look so good, especially knowing that it has a buttery taste to it!
Cheese is something that I can still have given that I am a vegetarian and your description pretty much tells me that this is something that I really need to try. Lovely pictures you have captured here. Trying local delicacies is one important aspect of every travel.