ENSAIMADA DE CARNAVAL

When the ‘Darrers Dies’ (last few days) arrive, as Carnival is also known in Mallorca, we find in our traditions some of the recipes typical of this time of year, in which pork is the main protagonist, such as greixonera, made with the feet and face of the animal, which had been preserved since the slaughter, or one of the most emblematic sweets of the island’s gastronomy: the ensaimada de tajadas, also called ensaimada lardera or ensaimada de Carnaval. This is a plain ensaimada which, once kneaded, fermented for between 12 and 14 hours and rolled up, is topped with sobrassada and calabazate, a candied fruit extracted from pumpkin, usually yellow pumpkin, which is sweetened with sugar in syrup at a certain temperature. It is then glazed with sugar and baked.

It is now, with the arrival of Carnival, that the bakeries of Mallorca fill with delicious and colourful ensaimadas de tajadas, which will be the protagonists of our tables, mainly on Fat Thursday. This day, also known as Shrove Thursday, is celebrated on the Thursday before Ash Wednesday and, in the past, marked the start of a week dedicated to gorging oneself on foods forbidden during Lent.

‘Lardero’, meanwhile, comes from the word “manteca”, which means nothing other than pork fat, referring to the high consumption of meat on this day and the following days, until Ash Wednesday.

In the past, and coinciding with these dates, cocas de tajadas (flatbreads) were made to make use of the sobrasada and butifarrones (large sausages) left over from the slaughter of the previous months and which had to be eaten before the arrival of the heat.

Once Lent had begun, the forty-day period before Easter, which the Christian liturgical calendar marks with fasting and abstinence and during which people prepare for the arrival of Easter, it was no longer possible to eat any meat, nor any kind of ensaimada, since lard had to be used in its preparation.“Llarder”, per la seva banda, prové de la paraula “llard”, que no vol dir una altra cosa que greix o saïm de porc fent referència al consum elevat de carn que es feia aquest dia i els següents, fins al Dimecres de Cendra.

For days now, our bakers have been making and dispatching ensaimadas de tajadas, made in different sizes, in which the sobrasada, together with the yellow, red and green calabacate squash, add a touch of colour, as if it were a fun costume. Some say that these ensaimadas are also a tribute to the siurells of our island, red and green calabazates that remind us of the colours of these figures so characteristic of our culture.

It is our duty to keep the gastronomic tradition alive, supporting the artisan production of bakers who, with effort and courage, continue to offer our most appreciated and loved products.

Montse Ramírez is editor of Xalest, a platform that promotes the heritage, traditions and gastronomy of Mallorca.

Ensaimada made by Rafel Solivellas of the Can Rafel Bakery in Búger.