The World Tapas Day took place on 15 June in 2017 to celebrate Spain’s culinary excellence. The organizers in London invited me to attend their event where various Spanish food companies exhibited.
Amongst them were producers of cheese, chocolate, olive oil, sweets and even caviar. My personal favourite was the olive oil from Oro Bailen and the honey by the Granada Provincial Association.
Gazpachos Collados
The gazpachos are special fruit and vegetable drinks, using various ingredients including olive oil and garlic. Collados, a Spanish company makes them and they exhibited some of their best produce.
The fruit-based juices tasty like cold fruit soup whereas the veggie ones are like cold veggie soup. I loved them all! They had shot glasses filled with the juice and in-between two free servings of tapas I had a shot of gazpacho.
Oro Bailen Olive Oil
The Oro Bailen olive oil is the creation of the Artisan Olive Oil Company in Jaen. The company is a super specialist in olive oil making and the result speaks for itself.
They exhibited a few of their best oils and I got a sample bottle (main image). It is hard to describe but the smell is like this: imagine going into a greenhouse full of fresh tomatoes and someone outside has just cut the grass. The mixture of that smell and a pinch of salt and you have the smell and taste of Oro de Bailen!
The oil is also Kosher so worry not if you are an observant Jew! And all it takes is two hours to make it from picking to squeezing and bottling!
Honey by the Province of Granada
I also received a taster pot of honey which is most likely going to be my favourite for some time to come. It is so sweet, rich and creamy – I cannot wait to try it with some fresh bread and butter!
First I will dip the bread roll in my Oro Bailen Olive oil and have some fresh tomato on the side with some salt. Once I’ve finished that I will spread some tasty lactose free butter on another bread roll and dip it in the honey! HMMMM!
I will probably keep some of the honey for Rosh Hashanah and start a sweet new year with it!
If you want a taste of what the night was like, watch the video below!