[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n
Eating well in Mallorca is easy. Eating from here<\/em> is another thing entirely: it is a way of life.<\/strong> And it is probably what turns you from newcomer into neighbour faster than anything else. Because the Mallorcan pantry is not discovered on a restaurant menu, but at the Thursday market stall, at the village bakery, and in the conversation with the person who sells you the tomatoes and tells you, without being asked, which ones are at their best today.<\/p>\n We have lived and worked in the southeast since 2010 \u2014 Ses Salines, Santany\u00ed, Campos, the Col\u00f2nia de Sant Jordi, Felanitx \u2014 and this guide is not a list of fashionable spots. It is what people really eat here, where it comes from, when it is good and how you buy it. The area where we work is, moreover, one of the island’s pantries: this is where the market gardens, the salt and the wine are.<\/p>\n [\/vc_column_text][g5plus_space desktop=”35″ tablet=”30″ tablet_portrait=”25″ mobile_landscape=”20″ mobile=”20″][g5plus_heading sub_title=”The pantry” title=”Sobrasada, black pork and oil: the three pillars” text_align=”text-left”][g5plus_space desktop=”20″ tablet=”18″ tablet_portrait=”15″ mobile_landscape=”12″ mobile=”12″][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n If Mallorca had to defend itself with a single product, it would be sobrasada<\/strong>. A raw, cured sausage of minced pork, paprika and salt that is spread rather than sliced, and which here is not an appetiser but a staple: it keeps, it feeds, it solves the problem of dinner. It carries a Protected Geographical Indication (IGP Sobrasada de Mallorca)<\/strong>, with two recognised categories: plain sobrasada de Mallorca, and Sobrasada de Mallorca de Cerdo Negro<\/strong>, made exclusively from the meat of the Mallorcan black pig (porc negre)<\/strong>.<\/p>\n And that black pig deserves a paragraph of its own, because it explains half the island. It is a native Balearic breed<\/strong>, raised free-range, that feeds on what this land gives: figs and carob<\/strong>, supplemented with cereals and pulses. The result is a dark meat, richly marbled, with a fat profile closer to olive oil than to an industrial pig. Taste a porc negre sobrasada next to an ordinary one and you understand at once why this is not up for negotiation here.<\/p>\n The second pillar is oil<\/strong>. The DO Oli de Mallorca<\/strong> has existed since 2002<\/strong> and covers extra virgin olive oils from varieties such as the mallorquina<\/strong>, the arbequina<\/strong> and the picual<\/strong>. The olive trees of the Tramuntana \u2014 those twisted trunks that look like sculptures \u2014 are part of the UNESCO World Heritage landscape, but the oil is made all over the island. A good oli de Mallorca on pa amb oli, with a rubbed ramallet tomato, is the afternoon snack, the quick supper and the acid test of any household.<\/p>\n [\/vc_column_text][g5plus_space desktop=”35″ tablet=”30″ tablet_portrait=”25″ mobile_landscape=”20″ mobile=”20″][g5plus_heading sub_title=”Our home” title=”Flor de sal: the product that gives the village its name” text_align=”text-left”][g5plus_space desktop=”20″ tablet=”18″ tablet_portrait=”15″ mobile_landscape=”12″ mobile=”12″][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n Here we speak for our own patch, and with good reason. Ses Salines<\/strong> is named after its salt pans, worked since Punic and Roman times<\/strong> \u2014 they are among the oldest in the Mediterranean \u2014 and still producing today. From them comes flor de sal<\/strong>: the fine, fragile crust that crystallises on the surface of the pans and is gathered by hand, with gentle sweeps of the paddle, when the sun and the wind agree.<\/p>\n It is not a cooking salt: it is a finishing salt. You add it raw, at the end, over meat fresh off the fire, over a tomato, over a fried egg. It crunches. And that texture is literally the landscape of the southeast turned into a product: sea water, sun and wind from right here. If you live in the area, you have it ten minutes from home; if you come from elsewhere, it is the finest souvenir there is, because you cannot fake the place where it was made.<\/p>\n [\/vc_column_text][g5plus_space desktop=”35″ tablet=”30″ tablet_portrait=”25″ mobile_landscape=”20″ mobile=”20″][g5plus_heading sub_title=”Garden and sea” title=”Campos, the fish market and what the land gives” text_align=”text-left”][g5plus_space desktop=”20″ tablet=”18″ tablet_portrait=”15″ mobile_landscape=”12″ mobile=”12″][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n Campos<\/strong> is farming Mallorca at its finest, and you taste it across the whole area. From here come vegetables, milk and country produce that fill the market stalls in summer: tomatoes, peppers, artichokes, broad beans. The ramallet tomato<\/strong> \u2014 the one hung in strings that keeps for months \u2014 is a household institution: it is the one you rub on bread, all year round.<\/p>\n And then there is the sea, which here is no backdrop. The Col\u00f2nia de Sant Jordi<\/strong> has a harbour and it has boats, and the fish landed at the market sets the week’s menu: picarel, wrasse in its season, squid, octopus, prawn. Living near a fish market changes the way you cook, because you stop deciding what you want to eat and start eating whatever came in that day. It is a small change that people who move here always mention.<\/p>\n Rounding out the pantry are the almond<\/strong> (the same one that fills the fields with white blossom in February and ends up in turr\u00f3n and in the ensaimada), carob<\/strong> \u2014 which here is not a health fad but a traditional food, for the black pig too \u2014 the country cheeses and the fruit of the season. None of this travels well: which is exactly why it tastes different here.<\/p>\n [\/vc_column_text][g5plus_space desktop=”35″ tablet=”30″ tablet_portrait=”25″ mobile_landscape=”20″ mobile=”20″][g5plus_heading sub_title=”The wine” title=”Binissalem, Pla i Llevant and grapes found nowhere else” text_align=”text-left”][g5plus_space desktop=”20″ tablet=”18″ tablet_portrait=”15″ mobile_landscape=”12″ mobile=”12″][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n Mallorca has been making wine for centuries, but the interesting thing for anyone who lives here is that the island has backed its own grapes rather than imitating anyone. There are two denominations of origin<\/strong>: the DO Binissalem<\/strong>, recognised in 1990<\/strong> and the island’s first, in the centre-north; and the DO Pla i Llevant<\/strong>, recognised in 2001<\/strong>, covering the centre and the southeast \u2014 in other words, ours<\/strong>: Felanitx<\/strong> is one of its strongholds. There is also the IGP Vi de la Terra Mallorca<\/strong>, under which many producers across the island work.<\/p>\n What makes this wine special are the native varieties<\/strong>, which you will not find on just any list on the mainland. In reds: manto negro<\/strong>, elegant and soft-tannined, the backbone of the island’s ageing reds; callet<\/strong>, more delicate, spiced, pale in colour and very recognisable in texture; and gorgollassa<\/strong>, rescued from near extinction. In whites: prensal blanc<\/strong> \u2014 also called moll<\/strong> \u2014 versatile, fresh, with citrus and green apple; and gir\u00f3 ros<\/strong>.<\/p>\n For daily life, this translates into something very concrete: you can meet the person who makes your wine. The bodegas here are small, a short drive away, and many open for visits and tastings. Drinking local here is not a pose; it is simply that the winery is on the other side of the field.<\/p>\n [\/vc_column_text][g5plus_space desktop=”22″ tablet=”20″ tablet_portrait=”18″ mobile_landscape=”15″ mobile=”15″][vc_message message_box_style=”solid-icon” message_box_color=”info” icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-shopping-basket”]The markets, your week:<\/strong> Santany\u00ed<\/strong>, Wednesdays and Saturdays \u00b7 Ses Salines<\/strong>, Thursdays \u00b7 Campos<\/strong>, Thursdays and Saturdays. They run in the morning and they are far more than the shopping: it is where you see half the town, catch up on everything and end up with your trusted stall. The Saturday market in Santany\u00ed is the big one in the area.[\/vc_message][g5plus_space desktop=”35″ tablet=”30″ tablet_portrait=”25″ mobile_landscape=”20″ mobile=”20″][g5plus_heading sub_title=”The cooking” title=”What people really eat, and when” text_align=”text-left”][g5plus_space desktop=”20″ tablet=”18″ tablet_portrait=”15″ mobile_landscape=”12″ mobile=”12″][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n Mallorcan cooking is country cooking: it was born of making the most of things, not of showing off. And that is precisely why it is so good. These are the dishes you will genuinely find in a home or in a celler:<\/p>\n That last idea is the key to everything: here you eat by the season, not by the whim<\/strong>. And once you get used to it, there is no going back. We go into it in our guide to the climate of Mallorca month by month<\/a>, because the calendar of the produce and the calendar of the weather are one and the same.<\/p>\n [\/vc_column_text][g5plus_space desktop=”35″ tablet=”30″ tablet_portrait=”25″ mobile_landscape=”20″ mobile=”20″][g5plus_heading sub_title=”The calendar” title=”The year in the pantry: what is good and when” text_align=”text-left”][g5plus_space desktop=”20″ tablet=”18″ tablet_portrait=”15″ mobile_landscape=”12″ mobile=”12″][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n To live here is to learn a new calendar: one set not by your phone but by the market. In broad strokes, this is how the year is ordered on the southeast table:<\/p>\n After a couple of years, you stop looking at the calendar and start knowing which month it is from what is on the market stall. That, more or less, is the moment you become one of us.<\/p>\n [\/vc_column_text][g5plus_space desktop=”35″ tablet=”30″ tablet_portrait=”25″ mobile_landscape=”20″ mobile=”20″][g5plus_heading sub_title=”The places” title=”Where the people who live here eat” text_align=”text-left”][g5plus_space desktop=”20″ tablet=”18″ tablet_portrait=”15″ mobile_landscape=”12″ mobile=”12″][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n In the southeast there are houses that are genuine institutions, the kind that need no introduction and that you return to for years. Casa Manolo<\/strong>, in Ses Salines, is an emblem of the village. And in the area you will also find Cassai<\/strong>, Triple<\/strong> and Estarellas<\/strong>: places with pedigree and judgement, where you eat properly and where the produce of this land is treated as it deserves.<\/p>\n But we do not want to sell you only restaurants, because that is not where life is. It is in the village celler<\/strong>, in the village bakery<\/strong> \u2014 the one that at eight in the morning smells of fresh ensaimada \u2014 and at the market stall where they keep the good things back for you because they know you. None of that appears in any guide, and it is exactly what makes staying here make sense.<\/p>\n [\/vc_column_text][g5plus_space desktop=”22″ tablet=”20″ tablet_portrait=”18″ mobile_landscape=”15″ mobile=”15″][vc_message message_box_style=”solid-icon” message_box_color=”success” icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-cutlery”]The advice of someone who lives here:<\/strong> start with the market, not the restaurant. Buy a loaf, a ramallet tomato, a good oil and a sobrasada, and make a pa amb oli at home. That is real Mallorcan cooking, and there is no restaurant that improves on it.[\/vc_message][g5plus_space desktop=”35″ tablet=”30″ tablet_portrait=”25″ mobile_landscape=”20″ mobile=”20″][g5plus_heading sub_title=”Common questions” title=”Frequently asked questions about the food of Mallorca” text_align=”text-left”][g5plus_space desktop=”20″ tablet=”18″ tablet_portrait=”15″ mobile_landscape=”12″ mobile=”12″][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n It is a raw, cured pork sausage of paprika and salt, with a spreadable texture. It is protected by the IGP Sobrasada de Mallorca, which recognises two categories: sobrasada de Mallorca and the black-pork one, made only from the meat of the Mallorcan porc negre, a native breed raised free-range on figs and carob. It is the island’s most identity-defining product.<\/p>\n There are two denominations of origin: DO Binissalem (recognised in 1990, the island’s first) and DO Pla i Llevant (2001), which covers the centre and the southeast, with Felanitx as one of its strongholds. There is also the IGP Vi de la Terra Mallorca. What sets them apart are the native varieties: manto negro, callet and gorgollassa in reds; prensal blanc (moll) and gir\u00f3 ros in whites.<\/p>\n Santany\u00ed has a market on Wednesdays and Saturdays, Ses Salines on Thursdays, and Campos on Thursdays and Saturdays. All of them in the morning. The Saturday market in Santany\u00ed is the largest in the area and a fixture for many people who live here.<\/p>\n It is the fine crust of crystals that forms on the surface of the salt pans and is gathered by hand. It is used not for cooking but to finish a dish raw, because it adds texture and a crisp bite. In the south of the island it is produced in salt pans worked since Punic and Roman times.<\/p>\n Better, in fact. In winter the cooking turns to the country \u2014 arr\u00f2s brut, frit, sopes mallorquines \u2014 and the places are full of locals, without queues and at a calmer pace. That is when the Mallorcan table is really enjoyed.<\/p>\n Bread (ideally the brown Mallorcan loaf) with a rubbed ramallet tomato, good olive oil and salt, topped with whatever there is: sobrasada, cheese, ham. It is the afternoon snack, the quick supper and the unofficial national dish. Simple and perfect when the ingredients are from here.<\/p>\n [\/vc_column_text][g5plus_space desktop=”35″ tablet=”30″ tablet_portrait=”25″ mobile_landscape=”20″ mobile=”20″][g5plus_heading sub_title=”Let’s talk” title=”The table is the best way to understand this island” text_align=”text-left”][g5plus_space desktop=”20″ tablet=”18″ tablet_portrait=”15″ mobile_landscape=”12″ mobile=”12″][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n You can explain the southeast of Mallorca with figures, but you understand it far better with a market on a Thursday morning and a porc negre sobrasada on bread. Everything we have told you here \u2014 the salt, the garden, the wine, the fish market \u2014 happens within twenty minutes of the villages where we have worked since 2010.<\/p>\n If you are thinking of living here, it is a huge part of what you stand to gain, and one of the parts the brochures tell you least about. We show you the area, the villages and also where to buy good bread. Discover our guide to the most beautiful villages to live in Mallorca<\/a>, and how the island lives through its climate month by month<\/a>.<\/p>\n [\/vc_column_text][g5plus_space desktop=”30″ tablet=”28″ tablet_portrait=”24″ mobile_landscape=”20″ mobile=”20″][vc_btn title=”Let’s talk about your life in Mallorca” style=”flat” shape=”round” color=”success” size=”lg” align=”center” link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Fvillasyfincasmallorca.com%2Fen%2Fcontacto%2F|title:Contact”][g5plus_space desktop=”20″ tablet=”20″ tablet_portrait=”18″ mobile_landscape=”15″ mobile=”15″][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] Eating well in Mallorca is easy. Eating from here is another thing entirely: it is a way of life. And it is probably what turns you from newcomer into neighbour faster than anything else. Because the Mallorcan pantry is not discovered on a restaurant menu, but at the Thursday market stall, at the village […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":67647,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[653],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-67676","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-food-and-wine-in-mallorca"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/villasyfincasmallorca.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67676","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/villasyfincasmallorca.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/villasyfincasmallorca.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/villasyfincasmallorca.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67676"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/villasyfincasmallorca.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67676\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":67678,"href":"https:\/\/villasyfincasmallorca.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67676\/revisions\/67678"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/villasyfincasmallorca.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67647"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/villasyfincasmallorca.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67676"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/villasyfincasmallorca.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67676"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/villasyfincasmallorca.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67676"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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What is sobrasada and why does it matter so much in Mallorca?<\/h3>\n
What wines are made in Mallorca, and where?<\/h3>\n
Which days is there a market in the southeast of Mallorca?<\/h3>\n
What is flor de sal and how does it differ from ordinary salt?<\/h3>\n
Do you eat well in Mallorca outside the high season?<\/h3>\n
What is pa amb oli?<\/h3>\n