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This time of calçots and, by extension, calçotades, which have become authentic gastronomic festivals of prelude to spring in Catalonia, when friends and family get together to enjoy this delicacy and have fun giving free rein to an authentic tradition, that has not gone unnoticed in La Vanguardia’s Readers’ Photos.
Calçot is a variety of spring onions. The product originally from Valls is even a product with Protected Geographical Indication.
According to experts, after cooking, the calçots are served hot and eaten as they are, you just have to peel them and remove the outside. But you can’t miss the Romesco sauce, prepared with ingredients such as: tomato, roasted garlic, almonds, hazelnuts, olive oil, vinegar and salt, all crushed until obtaining a creamy texture.
Calçots can also be eaten in batter, made into tempura or used as an ingredient in croquettes and omelettes, thus opening up all their culinary possibilities.
The term “calçot” comes from the fact that in its cultivation soil is piled up on the shoots that grow from the initial onion (“calçar la terra sobre la planta”). This is done to obtain a white stem of about 20 to 25 cm.
The tradition of calçot in Catalonia dates back to the end of the 19th century. There are chroniclers who explain the story of a farmer from Valls, known as Xat de Benaiges, who prepared some onions on the grill that, through carelessness, he overheated.
As a result of this accident, he ended up discovering one of the most deeply rooted seasonal Catalan culinary specialties. It is widely consumed at the end of winter with romesco or salvitxada sauce.
In this way, that farmer saw that those onions were burned on the outside, but, instead of throwing them away, he decided to peel the burned outer layers, discovering that their interior was very tender and tasty.