CALCOTS - KNOW ONE'S ONIONS

The Calcots Question

¨Calçots, what is zis? ¨ came the voice our one of our French interns across the office the other day.

¨they are a bit like small leeks¨ I replied, knowing full well what the next question would be.

¨Leeks, what is zis? ¨

So fine friends, let us talk about vegetables, special sauce and wearing bibs.

Catalan Tradition?

The allium cepa to give it its proper name is in fact a type of onion and the Catalans are mad for them!

Whilst most Catalan traditions such as Pa amb Tomaquet, Castellers and the like, are quickly pointed out to the visitor to be either ancient. Better than Spanish traditions. Or somehow connected to the birth of civilisation. The humble Calcot and associated Calcotada, is a modern phenomena. It sprouted, quite literally, from a little town called Valls near Tarragona at the turn of the twentieth century. Quite possibly a genius answer to the question, “how am I gonna shift all these onions?”

How it works

Every year as winter draws to close and the spring sunshine bathes this part of North East Spain the locals dash outside, set up a barbeque and get grilling.

The Calçotada

A Calçotada can be in the street, at the beach or at one of the many fine ‘Masias’ that litter the Catalan countryside, but the format is pretty much the same; long tables, everyone wearing bibs, a special sauce called Salvitxada (usually a secret recipe created by a Grandmother), hundreds of calçots and lots of alcohol and noise.

Bung on a bib

As traditions go, this one is great fun, so if you happen to be in our neck of the woods this month and you fancy putting on a bib, eating thin onions, grilled on a barbeque, served on a roof tile and dunked in a ‘secret sauce’ then you’re in luck,

¨it is zee perfect time of year!¨