Lemon marmalade, Spain consuming habits and la merienda

January 25, 2024

Natacha Sanz Caballero

Sauces, Desserts and Sweets
breakfast, citrus, consuming habits, jams, meals, preserves, tea time

Citrus marmalades are my favourite ones and since I already featured the recipe for orange marmalade  (one of many weblog’s most visited posts!), in the present day is the flip for lemon marmalade.

Should you like very candy marmalades, I’ve to warn you, this one is probably not the one for you. It’s citrusy, due to this fact, extra tangy, however clearly, additionally candy – in any other case it wouldn’t be a marmalade, proper?

And with this recipe, it’s time to deal with the beloved and most idiosyncratic meal within the Spanish tradition: la merienda.

I might translate la merienda to one thing just like the afternoon snack, the pick-me-up between lunch and dinner. Nevertheless, in Spain, it’s greater than that. It’s a custom, an consuming behavior that turns into not only a meal in itself, however a part of the afternoon routine. To grasp it, let’s speak a bit about Spain’s consuming habits.

Consuming habits

In Spain there are three principal meal occasions: el desayuno, very first thing within the morning, la comida, at noon and la cena, the meal on the finish of the day.

One meal that prevails over all of them is la comida, the noon meal, an important and substantial, each in Spain and within the majority of Mediterranean nations.

Not very way back, possibly till about solely 20 years in the past, la comida, lunch, was essentially the most formal meal, normally that means the presence of the entire household. In more moderen occasions, and with the brand new existence, not solely in Spain’s bigger cities, however even within the smallest cities, this meal has advanced right into a extra casual one, and in addition not one which essentially brings the entire household across the desk. In my faculty years, lessons began at 9 AM and went to 1:30 PM, with a 30 minute break between 11:00 and 11:30, after which restarted again at 3:30 PM and went till 5:30 PM. This gave households a 2-hour window to fulfill across the desk for la comida.

These days, schedules have modified in many of the nation, with a extra concentrated faculty day that leaves little time for lunch, very similar to within the US. Nevertheless, for essentially the most half, one factor that has not modified is the truth that la comida consists of two programs. The primary course is normally extra carbohydrate primarily based and the second course accommodates the primary protein. In a typical comida, the meal ends with fruit for dessert adopted by a Spanish espresso, espresso-like.

With respect to el desayuno, breakfast, the Spaniards are recognized for not putting a lot significance on it. In actual fact, for essentially the most half, it’s a gentle, continental breakfast which incorporates orange juice, café con leche, espresso with milk, or scorching cocoa, and toast with butter and marmalade — in our household it was all the time orange or lemon marmalade made by my mother with the fruit of the timber at our home. The beloved Maria cookies have historically been additionally a part of the Spanish desayuno.

The sunshine breakfast has by no means been an enormous problem, as a result of mid-morning, Spaniards have a small meal, el almuerzo. Almuerzo consists usually of some cured meats, chorizo or jamón serrano, Spanish ham, in a bit of baguette drizzled with olive oil, or with some rubbed recent tomato. That is what most faculty youngsters used to have throughout the mid morning break.

La merienda

It’s well-known that meals occur late in Spain. Dinner is normally round 10 PM and it’s, due to this fact, a lightweight meal. For this very cause, one other in-between-meals meal, very similar to the mid-morning almuerzo, occurs between la comida and la cena. It’s la merienda.

La merienda is the sunshine meal between lunch and dinner, and it applies largely to high school age youngsters. Just like the almuerzo, it normally consists of a bit of baguette full of cured meats (chorizo, salchichón, jamón serrano, lomo embuchado), cheeses (manchego being the most well-liked) and possibly a drizzle of olive oil or some recent tomato. A bit of bollería, baked good, would even be thought of a merienda. In actual fact, in my dwelling area of Valencia, some very talked-about meriendas embrace monjavina (recipe right here) or coca de llanda (recipe right here).

There’s a variant of la merienda, and that’s la merienda-cena, with components from each. Just like la merienda, it’s consumed mid to late afternoon, and consists of a bocadillo, a baguette sandwich just like the one described above, and could also be adopted by fruit and a small candy. It’s, due to this fact a heavier meal and one which replaces dinner, therefore its identify. If something, youngsters may have a glass of milk or chocolate milk earlier than they go to mattress.

As talked about earlier than, Spain’s consuming habits have been evolving with the altering existence, and whereas the habits described above might have modified barely, they’re a part of Spain’s idiosyncrasy and cultural custom.

The identical may very well be stated of lemon marmalade in our household: whereas this isn’t precisely my mother’s recipe (hers is exclusive), orange, lemon and plum marmalade making —all tangy marmalades—are a practice in our household, all the time made with the considerable fruit from the timber within the backyard.

I invite you to make lemon marmalade and let me know what you assume. I’m positive the flavour will tantalize you.