Almonds are the main dried fruit grown in the province of Malaga, where their cultivation today covers more than 16,000 hectares with productions that are around 4,000 tons each season. In Malaga, the predominant varieties are Marcona, Largueta and Comuna, although in recent years Guara has also been introduced. Of all the almonds produced in the province of Malaga, the most appreciated and demanded is the Marcona. This variety, which is the earliest in this area, is especially characterized by its large size and rounded shape. Especially abundant in the province of Malaga, it is also the most suitable for baking. In fact, it is considered the most delicate, but also the tastiest. Larguetas are smaller and narrower and are usually used directly as snacks or appetizers. The commune, for its part, which is really the result of different varieties, is characterized by its versatility in the kitchen. Finally, the guara is characterized by being later in flowering.

• Recipes

Nowadays, with this dried fruit as a determining element, you can consume typical dishes in Malaga such as ajoblanco, porra blanca (denser than ajoblanco), goat a la pastoril, caldillo de pintarroja or meatballs in almond sauce. This dried fruit is also a fundamental part of the pastries of these towns in the Guadalhorce and Guadalteba valleys or Axarquía, among others. This can be seen in the Cartameña cake (distributed only in Cártama), the Ardales cookies, the cortijo bread (a sweet made in Cuevas de San Marcos based on almonds and sugar), the mantecados, the Polvorones and other homemade sweets that They can be found in the workshops of these regions. It is also traditional to consume them toasted and salted in the city of Malaga. In fact, in its historic center the street sale of these nuts is still a custom today. In various stalls throughout the heart of the city, they are dispensed in paper cartridges as a good snack or an improvised appetizer. As the main company dedicated to almonds, the Almensur cooperative stands out especially, whose farmers harvest hundreds of thousands of kilos of almonds per year. Even, on occasions, this firm from the Guadalhroce Valley transforms almonds into derived products, such as sugared sugar or nougat.

• Counties

For centuries, its trees have populated the slopes of hills and hills in regions such as the Guadalhorce Valley, Los Montes de Málaga or Alta Axarquía. This route includes several regions of Malaga, with very different landscape characteristics, but united by the roots that almond cultivation has in them. Thus, from Periana to Ardales, there is a long itinerary that will serve to discover the unusual images that this tree provides at certain times of the year.

• Origin

The almond was possibly introduced by the Phoenicians, although it was the Arabs who got the most culinary benefit from it. In fact, numerous recipes for sweets and dishes that have almonds as the main ingredient have come down from ancient Al-Andalus to the present day. In fact, traditional Malaga cuisine and, by extension, Andalusian cuisine, cannot be understood today without one of its fundamental ingredients, the almond, which has become, along with olive oil and wine, one of the Mediterranean products with more roots.

• Links

This dried fruit has not only enriched gastronomy in the last millennium but has also provided a spectacular landscape, especially in the flowering months of the tree, between the months of January and February, when it is dyed in striking white and pinkish colors, which are a prologue to spring. The links of this dried fruit with the province are also manifested through traditions, such as those that are part of its calendar of Provincial Tourist Singularity Festivals. Among them are Almond Tree Day, in Guaro; Almond Day, in Almogía; or the Ajoblaco Festival, in Almáchar.