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Spain

Food and wine, recipes and cooking methods from Spain.

Garlic shrimp

Gambas al ajillo are very popular as tapas. The shrimp used for this recipe should not be excessively large. The kind of chili used for this in Spain is known as guindilla, a Spanish hot red chili of the thin and long varieties, usually dried.

The wine region of Jerez

Wine is produced in many areas of Spain. The hot sun and Mediterranean breezes make for some stellar Palomino grapes. But the capital of one type - sherry - has to be assigned to Jerez de la Frontera, a city in the Cadiz section of Andalucia. The very name means 'sherry', a derivative of the Arabic word for this sweet nectar.

Wine in Spain, the south

These robust, strong very sweet wines evolved into the three main varieties, sherry, Montilla and Malaga wines, that are still made in the region. The scorching Andalucian heat makes most grapes to over-ripen, but not in the cooler areas at higher altitudes. Some states are growing grapes and producing some impressive non fortified wines, both reds and whites, in the Andalucian heights.