Blog Oficial de Turismo de Gran Canaria

They say a recipe itself doesn’t have a soul, rather it is the chef that provides it. Nevertheless, nobody doubts that crockery is a fundamental part of a recipe today: it enhances the dish, while each piece adds a dash of beauty to the end product.

This opinion is shared among critics and gastronomic experts all around the world, so much so that neuroscience has taken it on to study just how the shape of crockery, along with its colour, material and density all influence how, what and how much we eat.

Although Sancocho is not regularly made on a daily basis nowadays, it continues to be the most typical dish for Good Friday, and a highly regarded “plate-filler” any time of the year.

Up until the end of the 19th century, fish in Gran Canaria had to be sold daily, and was only consumed at coastal towns, as there were no ways of keeping it fresh. However, around the turn of the 20th century, changes began to creep in to our cuisine: our range of foods began to increase thanks to the technique of salting. Around this time sancocho made its presence felt.

Many are the events, landmarks and relations that link Gran Canaria to the Caribbean island of Cuba. Yet, one of the sweetest of all these comes in the form of a recipe that has lasted the test of time and has gone beyond frontiers: the bizcocho sponge-cake of Moya.

Here at this northern Gran Canaria municipality, suspiros are not the only famous delicacy. Bizcochos are a highly popular sweet, the recipe for which came here from Cuba by the hand of Chá Manuela, who came to live in the town and passed the recipe on to two local neighbours, Seña Jacinta and Candelarita Rivero. Amelia Ojeda learnt the recipe from them, and proceeded to open her artisan factory with a hundred-year-old oven, and with the help of her brother started production.

Market day on the first Saturday of every month, and the visitors’ centre at the  micro área marina ‘El Roque’ are among the top attractions in La Aldea.

There is a place in Gran Canaria tucked away in the mountains, where a whole life seems to slot in. Its seabeds are home to gigantic sea anemones and it is the site of one of the most beautiful gorgonia coral fields in Europe. Back on dry land, and right in the historic town centre every first Saturday of the month, visitors are able to purchase local avocados, bananas and oranges, products that carry the seal of the island’s rich soil and warming sun, which boast a wholesome flavour only authentic products are able to.

The real secret behind the marzipan recipe is its fruit.

The sprouting flowers of the almond trees hail the arrival of spring in Gran Canaria, early on in the month of February. The hilly regions of the island are decked out in a pink carpet, and the beautiful trees provide the sought after fruit which for several centuries was the main driving force behind the local economy of the village of Tejeda.

The spirit of the Carnival possesses a thousand different faces in Gran Canaria and reflects hundreds of years of tradition.

Ana lives in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. Ever year she improvises with a couple of different fancy dress costumes, while there is one fancy dress that she uses year after year for carnival. She goes outdoors in the middle of the fiestas in her pyjamas, a pair of slippers, a worn-out but adorable blue-coloured teddy bear, and a mug with a camomile tea bag hanging on a thread. And this, ladies and gentlemen, is what shapes the unbreakable spirit of the carnival, which, on the island of Gran Canaria, is a particularly lively and rowdy affair.