Alfajor
Encyclopedia
An alfajor or alajú is a traditional Arabic confection found in some regions of Spain
and then made with variations in countries of Latin America
including Argentina
, Chile
, Uruguay
, Peru
, and Mexico
, after being taken there by the colonists. The archetypal alfajor entered Iberia during the period of al-Andalus
. It is produced in the form of a small cylinder and is sold either individually or in boxes containing several pieces.
In Spain, there are completely different recipes, but the most traditional contain flour
, honey
, almond
s and several spice
s, such as cinnamon
. It is most commonly sold around Christmas
but in Medina Sidonia they are sold the whole year round. The real alfajor was made in this town since ancient times and their development, called "alajú", passed from father to son.
Today they are still made by craftsmen and developed by the same procedure. They are natural, with honey, almonds, hazelnuts, sugar, flour, breadcrumbs and mixed with natural spices. The manufacturing process has been respected following a recipe found by Mariano Pardo de Figueroa in 1786. In Medina Sidonia there's an annual production of approximately 45,000 kilograms, mostly consumed in the province of Cadiz
, but they are also famous in Sevilla, Malaga
and Huelva
.
On September 15, 2004, it became ratified with geographical indication by the Consejo de agricultura y pesca de la junta de Andalucia and published in the Official Journal of the European Union as Alfajor de Medina Sidonia on March 6, 2007.
In the province of Cuenca, Spain, its still called alajú and its made with almond, honey and figs, all wrapped in a wafer.
Medina Sidonia was the capital of the Arabic world confection in where the alfajor has centuries of history with a recipe that has been transmitted from generation to generation. In this town, there is an account of Mariano Pardo de Figueroa a gastronomist that documented the history of this sweet, better known for his pseudonym Doctor Thebussem, in where he wrote that 2 July 1487, Enrique de Guzmán, second count of Medina Sidonia, ordered the council and majors of the region to send to Malaga
50 cows, 50 oxen, 200 calves and provision of alajú from his city.
The recipe documented by the accounts of Thebussem in the 19th century is defined as the following:
In South America, due to the lack of ingredients and habits, alfajores were made totally different. Nowadays, they are found most notably in Argentina
, Uruguay
, Ecuador
, Paraguay
, Chile
, Perú
and the South of Brazil. Though the food has been popular in Argentina and Uruguay since the mid-19th century, it has its roots in the Arab world
.
word الفاخر, [al- fakhur], which is not known, neither found in América, where andalusians introduced it as alfajor, from the arabic word alfahua that means honeycomb. Both words had been introduced in the greatests Spanish dictionaries in the 14th century.
The publication of the historical dictionary of the Spanish language allows us to document both, alajur very broadly written as alajú and alfajor. Alajur and multiple geographic variations is a sweet made of a paste of almonds, nuts, breadcrumbs and honey. It is effectively possible that alfajor and alajú were arabisms introduced in the Spanish language in different places and time, and, supposing that both came from the same etymon, from the phonetic point of view, alajú is an arabism of the castillian and so it is still alive in Cuenca, Toledo
, Guadalajara and in la Sierra de la peña (France); meanwhile the variation alfajor is Andalusian and Murcia
n. In the Americas, the meaning of the word alfajor was not known until the 19th century.
general Musa ibn Nusair arrived in Algeciras
with an army of 18,000 soldiers undertaking the conquest of Medina Sidonia, Alcalá de Guadaira
and Carmona
. A similar sweet called alajú is found in the Arabic-Hispanic cookbook of anonymous author tabīkh Kitāb. The Spanish grammarian Nebrija appointed the word for the first time in his Latin Dictionary Nebrija-Spanish (1492) as: 'alfaxor' or 'alaxur'. In the 12th century, Raimundo Martin describes in his book 'vocabulista' another possible etymology of the Hispano-Arabic 'fasur' meaning ' nectar '. The presence of this sweet is evident in the area of southern Spain
during the 12th and 13th centuries, being developed in Andalusia since the days of Al-Andalus until today. Due to the popularity of this food they already were in the warehouses of the first ships of the Spaniards on their way to America. The earliest references to its presence in Latin America referred to Venezuela and Peru, where they were given as ration to the Spanish troops. The popularity of this sweet in the 16th century is reflected in literary works such as Guzman Alfarache.
In Argentina, its basic form consists of two round sweet biscuit
s joined together with mousse
, dulce de leche
or jam and coated with black or white chocolate
(many alfajores are sold in "black" and "white" flavours) or simply covered with powdered sugar
. There is also one variation, called "Alfajor de nieve", that instead of having a white or black chocolate coating, it has a "snow" coating. The "snow" coating consists of a mixture of egg white
s and sugar. Peruvian alfajores are usually coated in powdered sugar, as seen in the picture, and are filled with manjar blanco
. Most alfajores come packaged in aluminium foil
. In Mexico, they are made with just coconut, and are normally a tri-color coconut confection. In Nicaragua, they follow more in the lines of the Canary island type of alfajores and are made with molasses and different type of grains including corn, and cacao similarly to most chocolate bars, though hand-made are just as accessible and generally packaged in plastic
wrap or wax paper
.
Other varieties of alfajor include different elements in the preparation of the biscuits, such as peanut
s; they also vary the filling and coating and even add a third biscuit (alfajor triple).
, Lavalleja Department
, Uruguay
.
More than 25 people participated in the preparation of the record breaking alfajor, along with hundreds of people gathered in the center of Minas during the National Day of Alfajor. (Fiesta nacional del alfajor)
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
and then made with variations in countries of Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
including Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
, Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
, Uruguay
Uruguay
Uruguay ,officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; ) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area...
, Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
, and Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, after being taken there by the colonists. The archetypal alfajor entered Iberia during the period of al-Andalus
Al-Andalus
Al-Andalus was the Arabic name given to a nation and territorial region also commonly referred to as Moorish Iberia. The name describes parts of the Iberian Peninsula and Septimania governed by Muslims , at various times in the period between 711 and 1492, although the territorial boundaries...
. It is produced in the form of a small cylinder and is sold either individually or in boxes containing several pieces.
In Spain, there are completely different recipes, but the most traditional contain flour
Flour
Flour is a powder which is made by grinding cereal grains, other seeds or roots . It is the main ingredient of bread, which is a staple food for many cultures, making the availability of adequate supplies of flour a major economic and political issue at various times throughout history...
, honey
Honey
Honey is a sweet food made by bees using nectar from flowers. The variety produced by honey bees is the one most commonly referred to and is the type of honey collected by beekeepers and consumed by humans...
, almond
Almond
The almond , is a species of tree native to the Middle East and South Asia. Almond is also the name of the edible and widely cultivated seed of this tree...
s and several spice
Spice
A spice is a dried seed, fruit, root, bark, or vegetative substance used in nutritionally insignificant quantities as a food additive for flavor, color, or as a preservative that kills harmful bacteria or prevents their growth. It may be used to flavour a dish or to hide other flavours...
s, such as cinnamon
Cinnamon
Cinnamon is a spice obtained from the inner bark of several trees from the genus Cinnamomum that is used in both sweet and savoury foods...
. It is most commonly sold around Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
but in Medina Sidonia they are sold the whole year round. The real alfajor was made in this town since ancient times and their development, called "alajú", passed from father to son.
Today they are still made by craftsmen and developed by the same procedure. They are natural, with honey, almonds, hazelnuts, sugar, flour, breadcrumbs and mixed with natural spices. The manufacturing process has been respected following a recipe found by Mariano Pardo de Figueroa in 1786. In Medina Sidonia there's an annual production of approximately 45,000 kilograms, mostly consumed in the province of Cadiz
Cádiz
Cadiz is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the homonymous province, one of eight which make up the autonomous community of Andalusia....
, but they are also famous in Sevilla, Malaga
Málaga
Málaga is a city and a municipality in the Autonomous Community of Andalusia, Spain. With a population of 568,507 in 2010, it is the second most populous city of Andalusia and the sixth largest in Spain. This is the southernmost large city in Europe...
and Huelva
Huelva
Huelva is a city in southwestern Spain, the capital of the province of Huelva in the autonomous region of Andalusia. It is located along the Gulf of Cadiz coast, at the confluence of the Odiel and Tinto rivers. According to the 2010 census, the city has a population of 149,410 inhabitants. The...
.
On September 15, 2004, it became ratified with geographical indication by the Consejo de agricultura y pesca de la junta de Andalucia and published in the Official Journal of the European Union as Alfajor de Medina Sidonia on March 6, 2007.
In the province of Cuenca, Spain, its still called alajú and its made with almond, honey and figs, all wrapped in a wafer.
Medina Sidonia was the capital of the Arabic world confection in where the alfajor has centuries of history with a recipe that has been transmitted from generation to generation. In this town, there is an account of Mariano Pardo de Figueroa a gastronomist that documented the history of this sweet, better known for his pseudonym Doctor Thebussem, in where he wrote that 2 July 1487, Enrique de Guzmán, second count of Medina Sidonia, ordered the council and majors of the region to send to Malaga
Málaga
Málaga is a city and a municipality in the Autonomous Community of Andalusia, Spain. With a population of 568,507 in 2010, it is the second most populous city of Andalusia and the sixth largest in Spain. This is the southernmost large city in Europe...
50 cows, 50 oxen, 200 calves and provision of alajú from his city.
The recipe documented by the accounts of Thebussem in the 19th century is defined as the following:
In South America, due to the lack of ingredients and habits, alfajores were made totally different. Nowadays, they are found most notably in Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
, Uruguay
Uruguay
Uruguay ,officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; ) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area...
, Ecuador
Ecuador
Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...
, Paraguay
Paraguay
Paraguay , officially the Republic of Paraguay , is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to the east and northeast, and Bolivia to the northwest. Paraguay lies on both banks of the Paraguay River, which runs through the center of the...
, Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
, Perú
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
and the South of Brazil. Though the food has been popular in Argentina and Uruguay since the mid-19th century, it has its roots in the Arab world
Arab world
The Arab world refers to Arabic-speaking states, territories and populations in North Africa, Western Asia and elsewhere.The standard definition of the Arab world comprises the 22 states and territories of the Arab League stretching from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Arabian Sea in the...
.
Etymology
As the Spanish philologist and dialectologist Manuel Alvar López writes in his intense work, alfajor, would be an andalusism for the castellanism alajú, derived from the ArabicArabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
word الفاخر, [al- fakhur], which is not known, neither found in América, where andalusians introduced it as alfajor, from the arabic word alfahua that means honeycomb. Both words had been introduced in the greatests Spanish dictionaries in the 14th century.
The publication of the historical dictionary of the Spanish language allows us to document both, alajur very broadly written as alajú and alfajor. Alajur and multiple geographic variations is a sweet made of a paste of almonds, nuts, breadcrumbs and honey. It is effectively possible that alfajor and alajú were arabisms introduced in the Spanish language in different places and time, and, supposing that both came from the same etymon, from the phonetic point of view, alajú is an arabism of the castillian and so it is still alive in Cuenca, Toledo
Toledo, Spain
Toledo's Alcázar became renowned in the 19th and 20th centuries as a military academy. At the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936 its garrison was famously besieged by Republican forces.-Economy:...
, Guadalajara and in la Sierra de la peña (France); meanwhile the variation alfajor is Andalusian and Murcia
Murcia
-History:It is widely believed that Murcia's name is derived from the Latin words of Myrtea or Murtea, meaning land of Myrtle , although it may also be a derivation of the word Murtia, which would mean Murtius Village...
n. In the Americas, the meaning of the word alfajor was not known until the 19th century.
History
In 712, the ArabArab
Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...
general Musa ibn Nusair arrived in Algeciras
Algeciras
Algeciras is a port city in the south of Spain, and is the largest city on the Bay of Gibraltar . Port of Algeciras is one of the largest ports in Europe and in the world in three categories: container,...
with an army of 18,000 soldiers undertaking the conquest of Medina Sidonia, Alcalá de Guadaira
Alcalá de Guadaira
Alcalá de Guadaíra is a town located approximately 10 km southeast of Seville, Spain; in recent years the expansion of Seville has meant that Alcalá has become a suburb of that city. Alcalá used to be known as Alcalá de los Panaderos because it provided most of Seville's bread...
and Carmona
Carmona, Spain
Carmona is a town of south-western Spain, in the province of Seville; 33 km north-east of Seville.Carmona is built on a ridge overlooking the central plain of Andalusia, to the north is the Sierra Morena, to the south is the of peak of San Cristobal. The city is known for its thriving trade...
. A similar sweet called alajú is found in the Arabic-Hispanic cookbook of anonymous author tabīkh Kitāb. The Spanish grammarian Nebrija appointed the word for the first time in his Latin Dictionary Nebrija-Spanish (1492) as: 'alfaxor' or 'alaxur'. In the 12th century, Raimundo Martin describes in his book 'vocabulista' another possible etymology of the Hispano-Arabic 'fasur' meaning ' nectar '. The presence of this sweet is evident in the area of southern Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
during the 12th and 13th centuries, being developed in Andalusia since the days of Al-Andalus until today. Due to the popularity of this food they already were in the warehouses of the first ships of the Spaniards on their way to America. The earliest references to its presence in Latin America referred to Venezuela and Peru, where they were given as ration to the Spanish troops. The popularity of this sweet in the 16th century is reflected in literary works such as Guzman Alfarache.
Preparation and presentation
The regulation regards the use of only pure honey, almonds, nuts, breadcrumbs, sugar, flour and spices such as aniseed, sesame, coriander, cloves and cinnamon. The Protected Geographical Indication alfajores are meant to be presented in a cylindrical shape, with a minimum weight of 30 grams each and with a minimum size of seven inches in length and a diameter of 1,5 cm. Each of them will be protected with a wrapping paper and the ends made an ornament in a spiral shape with a ribbon out of the same paper. Once individually wrapped may be packaged in wood or cardboard boxes, but never in plastic.Variations in the Americas
Biscuit
A biscuit is a baked, edible, and commonly flour-based product. The term is used to apply to two distinctly different products in North America and the Commonwealth Nations....
s joined together with mousse
Mousse
Mousse is derived from the French word mousse which means "lather" or "foam". A mousse is a prepared food that incorporates air bubbles to give it a light and airy texture...
, dulce de leche
Dulce de leche
Dulce de leche is a thick,creamy, caramel-like milk-based sauce or spread.Literally translated, dulce de leche means "sweet from milk". It is prepared by slowly heating sweetened milk to create a product that derives its taste from caramelised sugar. It is a popular sweet in Latin America, where...
or jam and coated with black or white chocolate
Chocolate
Chocolate is a raw or processed food produced from the seed of the tropical Theobroma cacao tree. Cacao has been cultivated for at least three millennia in Mexico, Central and South America. Its earliest documented use is around 1100 BC...
(many alfajores are sold in "black" and "white" flavours) or simply covered with powdered sugar
Powdered sugar
Powdered sugar, also known as confectioners' sugar or icing sugar, is very fine sugar. When intended for home use, it typically contains a small amount of anti-caking agent....
. There is also one variation, called "Alfajor de nieve", that instead of having a white or black chocolate coating, it has a "snow" coating. The "snow" coating consists of a mixture of egg white
Egg white
Egg white is the common name for the clear liquid contained within an egg. In chickens it is formed from the layers of secretions of the anterior section of the hen's oviduct during the passage of the egg. It forms around either fertilized or unfertilized egg yolks...
s and sugar. Peruvian alfajores are usually coated in powdered sugar, as seen in the picture, and are filled with manjar blanco
Manjar Blanco
Manjar blanco is a term used to refer to a variety of delicacies in the Spanish-speaking world. In Spain the term refers to blancmange, a European delicacy found in various parts of the continent as well as the United Kingdom. In the Americas it refers to a sweet, white spread or pastry filling...
. Most alfajores come packaged in aluminium foil
Aluminium foil
Aluminium foil is aluminium prepared in thin metal leaves, with a thickness less than , thinner gauges down to are also commonly used. In the USA, foils are commonly gauged in mils. Standard household foil is typically thick and heavy duty household foil is typically .The foil is pliable, and...
. In Mexico, they are made with just coconut, and are normally a tri-color coconut confection. In Nicaragua, they follow more in the lines of the Canary island type of alfajores and are made with molasses and different type of grains including corn, and cacao similarly to most chocolate bars, though hand-made are just as accessible and generally packaged in plastic
Plastic
A plastic material is any of a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic organic solids used in the manufacture of industrial products. Plastics are typically polymers of high molecular mass, and may contain other substances to improve performance and/or reduce production costs...
wrap or wax paper
Wax paper
Wax paper is a kind of paper that is made moisture proof through the application of wax....
.
Other varieties of alfajor include different elements in the preparation of the biscuits, such as peanut
Peanut
The peanut, or groundnut , is a species in the legume or "bean" family , so it is not a nut. The peanut was probably first cultivated in the valleys of Peru. It is an annual herbaceous plant growing tall...
s; they also vary the filling and coating and even add a third biscuit (alfajor triple).
Uruguay: the biggest South American alfajor
According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the biggest alfajor in the world was made on December 11, 2010 in MinasMinas, Uruguay
Minas is the capital of the Lavalleja Department in Uruguay. It is located in the south of the department, on the intersection of Route 8 with Route 12. The city is situated between hill ranges and the basins of the streams Arroyo San Francisco and Arroyo Campanero. Its status was elevated to...
, Lavalleja Department
Lavalleja Department
The Department of Lavalleja is a department of Uruguay. The capital is Minas. It is located in the southeast of the country, bordered to the north by the department of Treinta y Tres to the east with Rocha, to the south with Canelones and Maldonado, and to the west to Florida.The department is...
, Uruguay
Uruguay
Uruguay ,officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; ) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area...
.
More than 25 people participated in the preparation of the record breaking alfajor, along with hundreds of people gathered in the center of Minas during the National Day of Alfajor. (Fiesta nacional del alfajor)
See also
- MacaronMacaronA macaron is a sweet confectionery made with egg whites, icing sugar, granulated sugar, almond powder or ground almond, and food coloring. The macaron is commonly filled with buttercream or jam filling sandwiched between two cookies. Its name is derived from an Italian word "maccarone" or...
, a similar French confection - Moon pieMoon pieA moon pie or MoonPie is a pastry which consists of two round graham cracker cookies, with marshmallow filling in the center, dipped in chocolate or other flavors. The traditional pie is about three inches in diameter...
, a similar North American confection - Casadinho, a similar Brazilian confection