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!

45 ~ Dia De Canarias

Girl in Canary costume slicing gofio
(click to enlarge photos)

Today is the day when Canary Islanders celebrate their heritage. Dia de Canarias, Canary Islands Day, is celebrated every 30th of May in each of the seven islands that make up this archipelago. Local people decorate their towns and plazas, display Canary products in shops and markets and put on their traditional colourful costumes, their trajes de mago for dancing and folkloric events throughout the day and evening. Firework displays will surely put a noisy end to the night.

Three girls in their Canary costumes

As I'd heard that a nearby supermarket would be offering free samples of local products today, I went there this morning to find a group of young ladies in their trajes de mago behind a makeshift food counter in the shopping centre. They were busy slicing crispy baguettes and spreading on a soft chorizo as well as passing out small cups of red wine and soft drinks. Other foods laid out on paper plates included rosquetes de vino, a type of round small doughnut, crispy with sugar, several types of cakes, pickled fish, tuna croquettes, frangollo...a cornmeal and raisin pudding, and other typical Canary foods.

As I hadn't yet had breakfast I didn't hesitate to try what they offered.

Here are more photos I took there:



Pouring a wine sample

Rosquetes de Vino (Wine Rusks)

Preparing bread & chorizo

Bread and soft chorizo

A hand reaches for a tuna croquette

Gofio as never before

I have tried gofio on several occasions since living in the Canary Islands but never have I see it in this fudge-like form and never has it tasted so good! Gofio is a nutritious food made from toasted maize or other flours which has been a staple of the Canary diet for centuries, being put even into a bottle of baby's milk or served in a restaurant mixed with broth as a type of porridge. Many Canary people have powdered gofio spooned into a glass of milk for breakfast.

More about gofio and how it is made is
on an earlier post of this blog. But this was so good I think I took three pieces. It tasted toasty, nutty and fudgy all at once. It would make a perfect snack food, because it tastes like a rich treat and yet it's healthy!
I must find out where it is sold in this form.

Serving gofio

Serving frangollo

Frangollo was a treat today since it had been well made and was full of raisins, which I love. Frangollo is a custard type of dessert made from yellow corn meal, flavoured with cinnamon and lemon and topped with raisins, cinnamon and sometimes syrup. Simple to make, it is however a tasty dessert. And so popular here that the corn meal is sold ready for preparing this dish.

My serving of frangollo

Frangollo

FRANGOLLO - Canary Maize Pudding Dessert
Frangollo is a typical dessert from the Canary Islands which has many variations, sometimes made with milk, other times with water. Here is one recipe:

1 quart milk or water
1/2 lb coarse sweet corn (maize) flour -- (approx 225 grams)
grated lemon rind
piece of lemon peel
a few almonds -- peeled & ground or chopped finely
1 handful raisins
2 Tablespoons sugar -- more or less to taste
1 teasp cinnamon & more for sprinkling over top

Put the milk (or water) in a pot together with the piece of lemon peel and a pinch of salt.
Put on the stove.
When it boils, remove the lemon peel and add the corn flour, sugar, raisins, cinnamon, ground almond and grated lemon rind.
Stir constantly and cook until the mix separates from the sides of the pot.
This can take around 20 - 30 minutes of constant stirring.

Pour into a deep glass dish and allow to cool.
Sprinkle with ground cinnamon, raisins and if desired, a little syrup or honey.
Serve cold or at room temperature.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

14 ~ The Gofio Mill

(click to enlarge photos)
One day my friend Anne and I went to visit a gofio mill in La Orotava.

Gofio is a flour made from toasted cereals which has been a staple food of the Canary people for centuries.

The aboriginal people of the islands, the Guanches, used to grind toasted barley and other grains as well as the rhizomes of ferns into a flour which was then mixed with water to form a nutritious paste.

Later it was made from cereals such as maize (called millo), wheat and barley either toasted and mixed together or ground separately. It has been used mixed with water, milk or broth, and served either as a thin gruel or as a thick mixture shaped into small croquettes and eaten out of hand, in place of bread.


As a food rich in vitamins and minerals it has been a basic sustenance of the Canary people, especially in times of food scarcity, as after the Spanish civil war when many people went hungry. A friend of mine from the island of Hierro says she added gofio to the milk in her baby's bottles. Gofio added to a glass of milk is a common breakfast for many people, as it is considered to be a very healthy food, free of preservatives and artificial colourings.


Here on the islands, one can see gofio served as well in restaurants, either as a small starter for the uninitiated to this food, or as a bowlful with a porridge-like consistency, placed in the centre of a table for members of a family to serve themselves by dipping in their spoon.

The most prized is the gofio which has been hand ground in a stone mill, as the flavour and consistency is deemed the best but there are many electric mills used nowadays. Here is the one we visited, where the miller is overseeing the grinding of the toasted maize.


Here is a bag of toasted maize waiting to be ground:


And another sample of the toasted maiz for visitors to see:


After being ground, the gofio flour looks like this. The miller shows us by taking out a scoop:


Here in the patio outside the mill is an older machine, looking as though it has been retired from service, as is evident from the fern growing out of the top.


La Orotava is such a lovely old town where one can find so many interesting things.
There is always something new to explore around the next corner!

NEXT: My bees and flowers.