瑪格麗塔·高昆·西爾芙 （Margarita Gokun Silver）2017年 1月
13日
博主改正:
西班牙修女牛軋糖 圖片來源:
在西班牙，聖誕季的亮點之一就是牛軋糖的大量上市，這是一種通常由蜂蜜、糖和堅果製成的奶油糖。無論軟硬，有沒有添加蛋黃，牛軋糖始終是西班牙節日禮盒和節日商品展示的最愛。
但最好的牛軋糖在超市裏見不到，至少按照許多西班牙人的說法。如果你想要手工品質的牛軋糖，你得去修女院。
我前往薩爾瓦鐵拉/阿格瑞恩（Salvatierra/Agurain），一座西班牙北部巴斯克（Basque）自治區的小鎮，那裏的修女院因幾種牛軋糖而聞名。聖克萊爾修女院（Convent of Hermanas Clarisas）創建於15世紀，當時鎮裏的一位居民在遺囑中將她的房產贈予願意獻身於修道的女性。將近600年後的今天，有22位修女在此過著隱居生活，並將自己的時間奉獻給祈禱和工作。
"對我們來說，工作就是禮物，"康特茜修女（sister Contxi），她主管修女院裏製作糖果的工坊。牛軋糖是其中最受追捧的產品之一。
Image copyright Margarita Gokun Silver Image caption "對我們來說，工作就是禮物"（圖片來源: Margarita Gokun Silver）
雖然人們普遍認為，牛軋糖的歷史可以追溯到伊比利亞半島大部分地區被摩爾人統治的時期，其實含有杏仁和蜂蜜的糖果——這是牛軋糖的主要成分——自羅馬時期已經在整個地中海地區聞名遐邇。
"牛軋糖是純粹地中海式的，"食品歷史學家兼西班牙皇家美食協會（ Real Academia de Gastronomía, the Spanish Royal Gastronomic Society）成員阿爾穆德納.貝拉加斯（Almudena Villegas）說，"資料中記載了許多使用杏仁與蜂蜜的配方都能追溯到羅馬與希臘文明時期。而今天許多理論則將由這些原料製成的牛軋糖和其他糖果歸到摩爾人名下，這並非總是如此。摩爾人不是唯一，也不是最早開始使用杏仁和蜂蜜製造糖果的人。"
雖然歷史學家可能無法確定是誰發明了牛軋糖，關於其起源的傳說卻紛繁多樣：既有一位國王為幫助他的愛人克服對寒冷的斯堪的納維亞故鄉的鄉愁思緒而栽下一片白色杏林花海的浪漫傳說，也有十六或十七世紀為了長時間保存食品不變質而舉行比賽想出各種食物的平凡故事。
後者可能不僅僅是一個傳說。
"我們必須記住，"貝拉加斯說，"雖然現在我們經常談論吃得好不好，而就在不久之前我們的祖先還在談論吃本身。杏仁和蜂蜜都是具有豐富營養和熱量的物質，它們結合在一起能夠給人們提供生活和工作所需的能量。它們還有其它優點：經得起長途旅行，而且不易變質。"
不管歷史怎樣，牛軋糖的現代故事則圍繞著希霍納（Jijona）和阿利坎特（Alicante）兩個西班牙南部城鎮。它們的牛軋糖在西班牙最富盛名，擁有原產地標識（Denominacíon de Origen）（保護性產地標識（Protected Geographical Indication））。阿利坎特的牛軋糖硬而脆，是由糖、蜂蜜，有時是蛋清製成的堅硬白色糖塊中點綴著完整的杏仁；而希霍納的牛軋糖柔軟耐嚼，杏仁碾碎成糊狀再加入其他配料。然而，儘管這兩種被視為經典，今天的牛軋糖還包含巧克力、乾的水果、核桃、松子——有時甚至是威士忌。
另一個重要的部分是原料的品質。修女們選擇來自西班牙南部巴倫西亞自治區（Valencian Community）卡斯特隆鎮（Castellón）所產的杏仁。
"我們嘗試過[伊比利亞]半島不同地方的杏仁，而卡斯特隆杏仁的味道最為強烈"，康特茜修女說。她馬上轉而描述這份工作如何反覆進行實驗。
"我們當然堅持傳統配方，但是有時我們也會按照自己的喜好，改變一兩樣東西。比如製作蛋黃烤脆牛軋糖（Turrón de Yema Tostada），我們[從職業牛軋糖製作者那裏]得到的指點是將糖漿加熱到118攝氏度。我們總是加熱到113到114——取決於杏仁是否新鮮——因為加熱到118度看來會讓牛軋糖太乾。"
當我問康特茜修女牛軋糖是否她的最愛時，她笑了。"我從小就愛吃甜食，"她說道，"只要做得好，我就喜歡。"
Image copyright Margarita Gokun Silver Image caption 蛋黃烤脆牛軋糖在製備工藝的末尾還必須經過（圖片來源: Margarita Gokun Silver）
無疑聖克萊爾修女院的牛軋糖做得很棒。旺盛的需求就是證明：將近一百份包裝在包、盒子或袋子的美味堆放在牆邊，正在等待被運往全國各地。
- By Margarita Gokun Silver
-
22 December 2016
]One of the highlights of the Christmas season in Spain is the proliferation of turrón, a nougat typically made from honey, sugar and nuts. Either hard or soft, prepared with yema (egg yolk) or without it, turrón is a favourite in Spanish gift baskets and seasonal displays.
But the best turrón won't be found in a supermarket — at least according to many Spaniards. If you want an artisanal-quality turrón, you have to go to the nuns.
I headed to Salvatierra/Agurain, a small town in northern Spain’s Basque country, whose convent is known for making several kinds of turrón. The Convent of Hermanas Clarisas has its beginnings in the 15th Century when one of the town’s citizens bequeathed her home to women who wanted to spend their lives in contemplation. Today, almost 600 years later, 22 sisters live a cloistered lifestyle dedicating their time to both prayer and work.
“For us work is a gift,” said sister Contxi, the nun in charge of the obrador, the convent’s workshop where all kinds of sweets are made. Turrón is one of their most sought after.
While it’s widely believed that the history of turrón dates back to when large parts of the Iberian Peninsula were under Moorish rule, sweets that contain almonds and honey – the main turrón ingredients – have been known in the Mediterranean basin since Roman times.
“Turrón is purely Mediterranean,” said Almudena Villegas, a food historian and member of the Real Academia de Gastronomía, the Spanish Royal Gastronomic Society. “There is an infinity of recipes with almonds and honey that appear in sources dating back to Roman and Greek civilisations. While many of today’s theories point to the Moors as the source of both turrón and other sweets made from those ingredients, that’s not necessarily the case. Moors weren’t the only – or the first – people to use almonds and honey to create their sweets.”
Though historians may not be able to pinpoint who is responsible for the creation of turrón, legends on its origins abound: from a romantic tale of a king who planted a sea of white-flowered almond trees to help his beloved overcome nostalgia for her wintery Scandinavian homeland, to a more prosaic story of a 16th- or 17th-century contest to come up with foods that could be preserved for long periods of time without going rancid.
The latter may be more than just a legend.
“We have to remember,” Villegas said, “that although now we often speak about eating well, not so long ago our ancestors spoke mostly about just eating. Both almonds and honey are nutrition- and calorie-rich, and combining them gave people the energy they needed to live and work. They also have the advantage that they travel well and don’t spoil.”
Whatever its history, turrón’s modern-day story revolves around two towns in the south of Spain: Jijona and Alicante. Their turrón is the best known in the country, carrying the Denominacíon de Origen (Protected Geographical Indication). Alicante’s turrón is hard and crunchy, a white block of hardened sugar, honey and sometimes egg white interspersed with whole almonds, while Jijona’s turrón is soft and chewy, the almonds crushed to a paste and incorporated into the other ingredients. Yet, although these two are considered classics, today’s turróns come containing chocolate, dried fruits, walnuts, pine nuts – and sometimes even whisky.
On the other side of the country, Hermanas Clarisas de Salvatierra makes several kinds of turrón. Their most popular is Turrón de Trufa, prepared with chocolate beans sent by their sisters in Ecuador.The second-most-in-demand is Turrón de Yema Tostada, a soft turrón containing egg yolk mixed with ground almonds and sugar, and finally burned on top with a special iron. The convent sells about 2,000 300g-blocks of this turrón each Christmas season.
When I arrived, the sisters had everything ready to show me how to make Turrón de Yema Tostada.
Each nun was in charge of a specific step: one making almond flour, another separating yolks from the whites, yet another burning the tops of finished turrón blocks, and several others engaged in packaging. Except for the noise of the almond grinder, it was quiet in the obrador.
“For us it’s very important how we work,” sister Contxi said. “It’s important to work in silence to have the ability to hear ourselves. Everything is unity and everything is harmony, and depending on how we work, things turn out one way or another. Being together with other sisters – and being together bien (well) – is an important part of this work.”
Another important part is the quality of the ingredients. The sisters have chosen almonds from Castellón, a town in Valencian Community in the south of Spain.
“We tried almonds from different places on the [Iberian] Peninsula and the ones from Castellón had the strongest taste,” sister Contxi said. She then segued immediately into describing the trial and error part of the job.
“We follow the traditional recipes, of course, but we also – according to our own preference – sometimes change a thing or two. Like for the Turrón de Yema Tostada, the instructions we received [from professional turrón makers] were to cook the initial sweet syrup at 118C. We’ve been doing it at 113 to 114C – depending on whether almonds are fresh or not – because cooking it at 118C seemed to make the turrón too dry.”
When I asked sister Contxi which turrón is her favourite, she smiled. “I’ve had a sweet tooth since I was little,” she said, “and I like them all as long as they are well made.”Which they no doubt are at the Convent of Hermanas Clarisas. The evidence is the demand: close to a hundred packages, boxes and bags of the delicious creations stacked against the wall, waiting to be shipped across the country.
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