There are some vegetables in Spanish supermarkets that are instantly recognisable. Tomatoes, peppers and potatoes present few mysteries.
Then there are the acelgas.
With enormous green leaves and thick white stalks, they are a familiar sight in supermarkets and markets across the Costa Blanca, but perhaps not something everyone immediately knows how to cook.
And they have company. Cardos, escarola and other vegetables regularly appear on Spanish shelves without necessarily making it into the shopping basket.
Acelgas: Swiss chard
Acelga is Swiss chard, and it is actually the same species as beetroot, Beta vulgaris, although cultivated for its leaves and stalks rather than its root.
Both parts are edible. The broad white stalk is known as the penca, while the green leaves can be cooked in much the same way as other leafy greens.
The stalks take longer to soften, so it makes sense to separate them, chop them and start cooking them before adding the leaves.
They are not merely an autumn vegetable either. Alicante’s seasonal produce calendar lists acelgas throughout the year.
Cardo: Cardoon
If acelgas look a little daunting, cardo takes things up a notch.
Cardo is cardoon, Cynara cardunculus, the same species that also includes the cultivated artichoke group.
Its thick pale stalks can resemble giant celery, but they have a flavour more closely associated with their artichoke relatives.
The stalks need a little preparation before cooking. Tough fibres are normally removed before the cardo is cut into pieces and cooked until tender.
It has a firm place in traditional Spanish winter cooking. In the Valencian Community, one example is olla de cardo, a traditional stew featuring the vegetable.
Alicante’s seasonal calendar lists cardo from October until February, so you are likely to start seeing more of it as autumn progresses.
Escarola: Escarole
That curly green vegetable looking like a lettuce that has had a particularly exciting morning is probably escarola.
Escarole, Cichorium endivia, belongs to the chicory genus and has a noticeably more bitter flavour than ordinary lettuce.
That slight bitterness is precisely its appeal. It works particularly well in salads with stronger dressings and ingredients that might overwhelm more delicate leaves.
Alicante’s seasonal calendar lists escarola from October through June, although it disappears from the list during July, August and September.
So autumn is a good time to reacquaint yourself with it.
And what about borraja?
Borraja is borage, and you may encounter it in Spanish recipes or vegetable guides.
It is particularly associated with the cooking of Aragón and Navarra, rather than being one of the characteristic vegetables of the Costa Blanca.
It does not appear on Alicante’s municipal seasonal vegetable calendar, which is a useful reminder that there is no single “Spanish vegetable aisle”. What is commonplace in one part of Spain can be far less familiar in another.
Bridging the Gap’s recap
- Acelgas are Swiss chard, and you can eat both the leaves and thick white stalks.
- Alicante’s seasonal calendar lists acelgas throughout the year.
- Cardo is cardoon, a relative of the artichoke, and its local season runs from October to February.Escarola is escarole, a slightly bitter salad vegetable listed locally from October through June.
