If you have never heard of them, the name might raise a smile, but there is nothing strange about a fartón.
This long, soft, sugar-glazed pastry is one of the best-known sweet treats in the Valencian Community. For many locals, a glass of ice-cold horchata is not complete without one.
People have enjoyed the two together for generations, especially on hot summer afternoons, when they dip the fluffy pastry into chilled tiger nut milk. Although many also eat fartons with coffee, hot chocolate or on their own, horchata remains the classic choice.
Created to accompany horchata
The story of the fartón begins in Alboraya, the town widely recognised as the home of horchata.
During the 1960s, local horchata makers wanted a sweet pastry that paired better with the refreshing drink than the hard bread or breadsticks people traditionally used.
The Polo family, originally from Titaguas in Valencia’s Los Serranos region, came up with the answer. After moving to Algemesí, they ran a grocery shop that sold summer refreshments such as horchata and lemon granizado. Later, they settled in Alboraya and began experimenting.
Their aim was simple. They wanted to create a light, fluffy pastry that would absorb plenty of horchata without falling apart.
Using the dough from the traditional Valencian panquemao sweet bread, the family made it lighter and shaped it into a long roll that fitted neatly inside a glass. A thin sugar glaze completed the recipe. The new pastry quickly became known as the fartón.
It soon became the perfect partner for horchata and remains a favourite across the Valencian Community today.
Over the years, the Polo family introduced chocolate-covered, filled and puff pastry versions. However, the original glazed recipe remains the most popular.
Bridging the Gap’s Fun Fartón Fact
The singular is fartón, with an accent on the ó, but the plural is usually fartones, without the accent.
Why? Spanish spelling rules automatically stress words ending in a vowel, n, or s on the second-to-last syllable. In the singular, fartón would naturally be pronounced FAR-ton, so the accent mark is needed to show that the stress falls on the last syllable: far-TÓN. When the plural fartones is formed, the extra syllable means the natural stress shifts to the second-to-last syllable, TO, giving far-TO-nes, so the written accent is no longer necessary.
Fartons or fartones?
One final curiosity is the name itself. In Valencian, the pastry is called fartó in the singular and fartons in the plural. In standard Castilian Spanish, the corresponding forms are fartón and fartones.
However, throughout the Valencian Community, you’ll often see the Valencian plural fartons used even on otherwise Spanish-language menus. That’s because the pastry originated in the region, and its Valencian name has become part of its identity.
So if you order a glass of horchata almost anywhere on the Costa Blanca, you’re much more likely to see horchata con fartons on the menu than horchata con fartones, even if everyone is speaking Castilian Spanish.
Simple ingredients
Traditional fartons use everyday baking ingredients:
- 500g plain flour
- 60g sugar
- 80ml sunflower oil
- 25g fresh yeast
- 3 eggs
- A pinch of salt
- Water
The traditional recipe contains no artificial colours or preservatives.
How to make fartons
Start by dissolving the yeast in water. Next, mix it with the sugar, sunflower oil and beaten eggs. Then add the flour and salt before kneading the dough for 15 to 20 minutes until smooth and elastic.
After about an hour, the dough should have doubled in size. At that point, divide it into portions of around 25 grams. Roll each portion into a rectangle before shaping it into the familiar long roll.
Bake the pastries at 180°C for about seven minutes until lightly golden. Once they have cooled on a wire rack, prepare the icing by mixing icing sugar with warm water. Finally, spread the glaze over each pastry.
