Gofio With Almonds

Gofio with almonds

Since early times gofio has been a healthy food of Canary Islanders.

I have written about it before (here's a link to a previous post with details about gofio)  but I have tasted it myself on only a  few occasions. It's made of toasted grains ground into a flour which is then eaten by mixing the flour with milk or broth.  Canary Island mothers often mixed gofio with milk in their babies' bottles and today gofio is still eaten as a breakfast food with milk or as a thick paste served on the center of the dinner table, eaten with spoons by family members. 

I had a chance to buy some gofio amasado con almendras the other day when I visited a food and craft fair here on the island. It's a fudge-like mixture of gofio and almonds, probably together with some sugar, formed into a fat sausage shape and as I have tried it before I know that I like it.

Here's some gofio amasado that I saw at a food market tasting table last year.  

It was soft, nutty, fudgy and delicious with a wholesome taste that reminded me a little of peanut butter!

For the past week there has been an artesanal craft fair in town, and apart from the displays of handicrafts, there are also local homemade Canary cakes and sweets.  When I saw this sign on one stall I could imagine that what was being produced by this bakery in Vilaflor, (one of the highest villages in Spain, and here on the island of Tenerife) was going to be interesting.

Dulces Artesanales Chasneros means handmade sweets from that area, made by the lady whose name is underneath....Doña Isidra Dorta Fumero.

Here is the net-covered display of baked goods, some familiar to me and others not:

At one side I noticed the log-shaped roll of gofio with almonds set in a tray with an interesting looking pumpkin cake topped with walnuts. 

These are in the tray at the right side.I had to take home some of that gofio.

I also bought a piece of that pumpkin cake - tarta de calabaza ....it was good!

Well that's a little about the local food and next time I'll be showing what else I saw at the craft fair.

There were hundreds of stalls from Africa, South America, Mexico and Tenerife.

For now, have a safe Halloween evening.  Thanks for your visit and hasta la vista!

46 ~ Driving up the Volcano

(click photos to enlarge)

I recently went on a drive with friends up the Teide volcano to the caldera and lava fields where at this time of the year the red biennial Echium Wildpretii, or Tajinaste Rojo as it is called in Spanish, is now blooming. It's a plant endemic to the island of Tenerife and to this high part of the mountain. They bloom during May and June, enticing nature lovers and photographers to come and see them.

Along the way as we drove higher, we came to fields of pink bushes of rock rose (cistus incanus), giant buttercups, white and yellow broom.

Overlooking Tenerife's Northwest Coast

Pink Bushes of Rock Rose

My friend Eve holds a flower

Rock Rose closeup

Giant buttercups

Closeup buttercup

We arrived at the village of Vilaflor, which is the highest municipality of all Spain, at an altitude of 1,400 meters, where the tajinaste plant grows quite easily in the village streets.

Tajinaste in Vilaflor

Banks of bright pelargoniums hang over walls.



Closer view of tajinaste

On the summit of the caldera, we encounter a film crew from Warner Bros. using one lane of the road as a parking lot for their dozens of trucks and vans. They are filming a remake of 'Clash of the Titans' with Liam Neeson and Ralph Fiennes, using the sand and lava fields as a backdrop for the movie.

Teide volcano and road crew

Here they appear to be setting up a scene for filming.


The strange landscape of the caldera as seen through the car window.



White broom on the Teide

Coming next: Lunch in Spain's highest village.