10 Tastings of Valencian Specialities

 This was a wonderful tour of Valencia through food.  We had 5 stops where we tried traditional food and drink.  Along the way the guide, Maria, pointed out interesting historical sights.

Will update this with history stories soon.  food Photos for now.

Here we tried a local white wine, the ever present patatas bravas (fried potatoes with aioli) an peppers with cod.

Most of the students are 19 or 20, so ordering a drink is a treat for them. They were thrilled on our first day on campus to learn that for 4 euro you can get nachos and a liter of beer.

At the stop to try sardines, some students said they would not eat them,  so the guide ordered mushrooms and shrimp.  And of course, they liked the sardines, because they are nothing like the ones in the cans.

The sign above with the sardines, says "Try Them"

We ended the night with Agua de Valencia (orange juice, cava and then either vodka, gin, and/or triple sec,  We had stopped at a bakery that had existed for over 100 years.  It still had an original part of the Arab wall inside.  The pastry was puff pastry with a sweet pumpkin filling.  Not like pie, not that sweet.

Mussels are in season in May, June and July.  This is one of the best places to find them.

Plus, they have all these pop up shops to buy fresh mussels in season.  This one is just outside my housing.

According to Maria, this is the Bakery of the Whores and a famous stop after a long night of club hopping.  

Croquettes are all over here.  Small fried savories with ham, seafood, chicken, etc.  all pureed to a paste like mashed potatoes.  It's good but not my favorite.  This was paired with a local red wine.  The bobal grape is what's grown in the Valencian area wineries. 

This is out of order, but we started with Horchata.  It's a very traditional drink, made with tiger nut.  Tiger nut is not a nut but a tuber.  It tastes like almond milk to me.  This is not the same as Mexican horchata which is made with rice and much sweeter.  Horchata is always served with a fortone, which is a doughnut like pastry that's not very sweet.  You should dip it into the horchata.