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SHOPPING AND CRAFT
Crafts are of great importance in Cordoba. Proof of this is the title awarded to the historic quarter of Cordoba in July 2014 as an Area of Artisan Interest (ZIA) by the Andalusian Regional Government.
Thus, in the historic quarter of Cordoba there are workshops for ceramics, the production of papier-mâché and similar objects, luthiery, Cordobanes, Caliphal silverware, textile printing, leather goods, Caliphal ceramics, costume jewellery and imagery.
LEATHER
Leather is the raw material for Cordobanes and guadamecíes, embossed, modelled and polychromed leather with classical and modern designs. Nowadays, only a few family workshops preserve this great tradition.
THE GOLD AND SILVER WORK
Gold and silver work is one of the main economic resources of the city. The filigree of Cordoba, which consists of soldering gold or silver threads to a metallic structure to form a figure, stands out.
JEWELLERY
A large number of jewellery shops display exclusive, classic and avant-garde designs in their shop windows. The design of gold and silver pieces is internationally renowned, with Cordoba being one of the main centres of production.
THE CERAMICS
Of great tradition throughout the southern part of the province and made with high quality clay, after being baked, they are decorated with designs and motifs allegorical to Muslim Cordoba.
THE GASTRONOMY OF CORDOBA
The gastronomy of Cordoba is in itself one of the city's great tourist attractions. Cordoba's recipes are impregnated with the essence of the different civilisations that have passed through these lands and have known how to make the most of the products of the mountains and the countryside. Cordoba enjoys great gastronomic prestige thanks to the wide range and quality offered by the taverns and restaurants based on the Mediterranean diet, recognised by UNESCO as Intangible Heritage of Humanity since 2013.
Olive oil is a hallmark of Cordoban cuisine and a fundamental ingredient in most of its dishes. Introduced by the Romans, the use of oil mixed with bread, water and vinegar was the primitive version of salmorejo before the conquest of America. The addition of tomato in the 18th century, when tomatoes became popular in Spain, made salmorejo the standard-bearer of the Cordovan recipe book. It is a cold cream made with tomato, olive oil, garlic and bread. The marriage of sweet and savoury flavours is an Andalusian heritage that survives in the popular orange and cod salad. This influence can also be seen in the use of vegetables such as artichokes and aubergines, which are used in a thousand and one ways in Cordovan cuisine, such as the famous aubergines with honey or artichokes ‘a la montillana’. In the meat section, the most outstanding dish is oxtail, another of the most characteristic dishes of Cordoban cuisine, whose origins are linked to the city's rich bullfighting history. Not forgetting the essential flamenquín, a pork fillet rolled up and stuffed with cured ham, battered and fried. Also typical of Cordoba is lamb with honey, a Mozarabic recipe revived years ago by some of the city's restaurants, as well as game dishes, with venison, wild boar, partridge or rabbit. As for desserts, popular recipes continue to include delicacies from the Andalusian past such as alfajores, with honey and almonds; sweets made with dough fried in olive oil, such as pestiños; or the Cordoban cake, of Jewish heritage, made with puff pastry and angel hair, which is usually accompanied by a glass of sweet Pedro Ximénez wine.
All these dishes are nourished by the magnificent products of the province of Cordoba, protected by seven designations of origin. Four designations of origin protect the excellent quality of the olive oil produced in Cordoba, the second largest producer in the world after Jaén: PDO Baena, PDO Priego de Córdoba, PDO Lucena and PDO Montoro-Adamuz. The famous Iberian hams produced in the north of the province of Cordoba are obtained from pigs reared on acorns and are protected by the PDO Los Pedroches. And, to drink, the wines of the PDO Montilla-Moriles offer a wide range of wines that can be tasted in the city's taverns: young wine, white wine with or without ageing, fortified wines (fino, amontillado, oloroso and palo cortado), sweet liqueur wines (Pedro Ximénez and muscatel) and fortified liqueur wines (fortified liqueur wine, pale cream wine and cream wine). The vinegars made from these wines are also protected, in this case by the DOP Vinagre de Montilla-Moriles.
TYPICAL PRODUCTS
Due to its geographical characteristics, Cordoba's cuisine is nourished by products from both the Sierra and the countryside. From the Sierra come products derived from large and small game and livestock. From the countryside and the Guadalquivir Valley come olive oil, vegetables and Montilla-Moriles wine, fundamental elements in the local cuisine. Fresh fish also arrives in Cordoba from the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, which satisfies the Cordobans' well-known predilection for fried fish.
OLIVE OIL
In the southeast of the province, between the Campiña and the Sierra Subbética, olive oil is produced under the Baena Designations of Origin, whose virgin oil is famous for its freshness and fruity aroma, and Priego de Córdoba, where a golden oil with a sweet, dense flavour is produced. In the south of the province, the Aceite de Lucena PDO , offers oils with a balanced bitterness and pungency and a hint of almond from the Hojiblanca variety. And to the north of the Guadalquivir river, in the Sierra Morena of Cordoba, we find the oils of the D.O. Montoro-Adamuz, characterised by their high level of polyphenols, which give their oil a peculiar bitter and spicy flavour.
All the designations are the names of two olive-growing regions whose production is currently protected and protected, and which are considered to produce some of the best oils in the world. In all cases it is ‘Extra Virgin’ olive oil (maximum category), which means that after its maturation in the cellar it does not exceed 0.4º of acidity (percentage of oleic acid) in type A oils and 1º in type B oils.
Olive oil is a fundamental ingredient in most typical Cordovan dishes.
WINES AND LIQUEURS
In the south of the province of Cordoba, in the countryside, the prestigious wines of the D.O. Montilla-Moriles are produced. The different types are Fino, Amontillado, Oloroso, Cream, Pedro Ximénez, Blanco Joven and organic wines, the predominant variety being the white Pedro Ximénez, which occupies more than 80% of the surface area dedicated to vine cultivation. These wines are aged in American oak casks or barrels, using the ‘criaderas’ or ‘soleras’ system and under the so-called ‘velo de flor’, a dense layer of yeast that floats on the surface of the cask and gives Montilla-Moriles wines their characteristic touch.
Among the liqueurs, particularly noteworthy are the aniseed-flavoured, sweet or dry liqueurs from Rute, a village in the Subbética region of Córdoba that has been dedicated to the distillation of this liquor since the 17th century.
THE VINEGARS
The reputation of Montilla-Moriles vinegar goes back to the origins of winemaking in the area, where the transformation of wine into vinegar is carried out through the acetification process. The ageing of the vinegars of the Vinagre de Montilla-Moriles PDO consists of an oxidation process in oak casks. Ageing is carried out using the traditional static system of vintages or the traditional dynamic system of criaderas and solera, similar to that used for Montilla-Moriles PDO wines.
MEATS AND SAUSAGES
The north of the province, specifically the area known as Valle de los Pedroches, provides the local gastronomy with excellent beef, high quality lamb and pigs, reared in the countryside on acorn-fed diets, from which excellent quality ham is obtained.
Apart from sausages such as ham with the PDO Los Pedroches, chorizo and black pudding, these meats are used to make typical dishes such as oxtail, flamenquín and cochifrito. In Cordoba there are also many big and small game reserves, so in the local taverns, bars and restaurants it is possible to find unusual meats such as venison, wild boar, mouflon, roe deer, rabbit, partridge and others.
You can find a list of the best restaurants in Cordoba HERE