Tortas de aceite

Torta de aceite

Tortas de aceite in Spain
Type	Biscuit
Place of origin	Spain
Main ingredients	Wheat flour, olive oil, almonds, sugar, sesame seeds, anise seeds and anise flavor
Cookbook: Torta de aceite  Media: Torta de aceite

The torta de aceite, is a light, crisp and flaky sweet biscuit in the shape of a torta.^[1]

The main ingredients are wheat flour, olive oil, almonds, sugar, sesame seeds, anise seeds and anise flavor.^[2]

The true origin of the olive oil tortas is unknown. On one hand, it is said that they come from an ancient Arab recipe, it is also said that olive oil torta was a traditional sweet created in southern Spain. Guzmán de Alfarache, a novel from the end of 16th or beginning of the 17th century, mentioned olive oil tortas; saying:

Dale mis encomiendas, aunque no lo conozco, y dile que me pesa mucho y parte con él de aquesa conserva, que para ti, bien mío, la tenía guardada. Mañana es día de amasijo y te haré una torta de aceite con que sin vergüenza puedas convidar a tus camaradas. (Guzmán, Cátedra, 1987, 486)
Give him my properties, but I do not know him, and tell him I am sorry and bring them this preserved food I kept for you. Tomorrow is the day for kneading and I will prepare an olive oil torta for you to invite your comrades.

They are also mentioned in the novel Don Quijote de la Mancha:

Por eso digo —dijo el del Bosque— que nos dejemos de andar buscando aventuras; y pues tenemos hogazas, no busquemos tortas, y volvámonos a nuestras chozas, que allí nos hallará Dios, si Él quiere. (Quijote, Rico, 734)
This is the reason why I say - said the man of the forest – let’s stop to go looking for adventure; and as we have loaves, we are not going to look for tortas, and let us return to our huts, God will find us there, if He wills.

All the data we have about the origin of olive oil tortas coincide that they were hand-made sweets made of a flour and sugar base, so we can say that these tortas are being developed for centuries, and continue to use both in Spain and in the rest of the world. Today we can find both large factories where most industrialized tortas are produced and small manufacturers that still follow the traditional production process.

References