CUSTOMS - GOOD EATING

Until the 1950’s no doctor visited Sayalonga. The means of treating illnesses was generally for villagers to use whatever was available in the countryside.

Some people made the trip to the doctors surgery at Vélez-Málaga, but it meant that they lost a days wages, had to walk there and back and needed money to pay for any medicine prescribed.

Household remedies which were passed down through the generations were therefore more commonly used.

Some of these remedies have been collected and documented, not so much for their medicinal value, but more for their curiosity value and to ensure that they are not lost to posterity.

Are they effective? Well in times past they undoubtedly would have had their successes, and although today they would surely give rise to a certain hilarity, one thing is for sure, they wouldn’t have produced the side effects or caused damage, like the chemical substances we put into our bodies today.

Below are some of the remedies that are simple, but are known to have produced results.

GASTRONOMY - GOOD EATING

Sayalonga, in common with all the localities of the Axarquia region has a great deal of Arab influence in its meals. For example, “Las Migas” (deliciously flavoured breadcrumbs) comes from the Arabs of Alcuzcuz and is a very popular dish in Morocco. “Migas” is one of the most important dishes in Sayalonga, together with other Arab dishes such as, for example “Calabaza Frita con Oregano” (pumpkin fried with oregano), an excellent dish which continues to be prepared in the traditional way.

The “Potaje de Hinojos” (fennel stew) is also one of the more important dishes of the area, using fennel grown in the autumn and winter. This dish is also very good when mixed with rice.

The “Cachorreñas” (green pepper soup) is a dish typical of Sayalonga. It is a tasty soup which, because of its natural locally grown ingredients will always have its praises sung.

Arabic cakes are also very important, many of which include locally produced honey, as in the making of “borrachuellos” for example. The “Roscos de Vino” are also delicious cakes although they tend to be made generally at Christmas-time.

The local climate enables the production of many types of subtropical fruits such as avocados and nisperos (a type of loquat).

From the nisperos, nispero jam is produced using traditional methods.

Raisins are another dessert which, although delicious to eat in their own right, at the same time were said by the Arabs to aid recovery of memory loss.

Anyone who tries any of the previously mentioned dishes, washed down with a good red wine, or as an appetiser the muscotel wine of Sayalonga, will undoubtedly return for more.

A book entitled “Recetas & Remedios para aquellos tiempos dificiles” (Recipies and remedies from times of difficulty), produced by the Adult Schoool of Education in Sayalonga, was published. This book brought together a series of recipies of dishes of the area, aswell as household remedies for ailments which have been used over the centuries. Such remedies offered a substitute to conventional medicines which only a fortunate few had access to. In the Tourist Office it is possible to arrange for samples of the recipies for anyone who may be interested in obtaining this lovely book. Below are details of a few recipies and household remedies taken from the book.

RECIPIES

LAS CACHORREÑAS

This is undoubtedly one of the most interesting dishes in the cuisine of the area. It is said that this dish had its origins in Sayalonga and was popularised thereafter throughout Axarquia.

INGREDIENTS:

2 or 3 cloves of garlic

1 desert spoonful of olive oil

1 green pepper

Small pieces of bread

Water, vinegar and salt (to taste)

1 egg per person

METHOD:

Put water on to boil and when boiling, add the green pepper, crushed garlic, pinch of salt and spoonful of oil. When this is cooked, add an egg per person and when set, serve on plates with small pieces of bread and vinegar to taste.

CALABAZA FRITA

This recipe cannot be found in many recipe books, which is testament to its popularity and importance in times gone by, when the dish was so well known, it did not need to be written down as everyone knew how to prepare it! Today in Sayalonga, it continues to be prepared virtually in the same way as it has been by Arabs over the last 900 years, with a taste unique to this special dish which has its own small place in history.

INGREDIENTS:

1kg pumpkin

¼kg salt pork

1 small black pudding

1 clove garlic

Splash of vinegar

Pinch of oregano

Salt and pepper

METHOD:

Peel, wash and cut the pumpkin into small pieces. Gently fry the salt pork and black pudding, removing the black pudding when cooked but before it starts to break up. Add the pumpkin to the salt pork and continue frying. When cooked, add the crushed garlic with some bread and a pinch of pepper, and vinegar, oregano and salt to taste.