I will tell you about what gastronomic souvenirs and useful gifts you can bring from the most popular tourist region of Spain — Catalonia and its capital Barcelona.
Tasty souvenirs: Spanish drinks and products
Meat, cheese, wine and olives are everyday products for a Spaniard and a delicacy for a Russian tourist. You can buy them in any Spanish supermarket — better quality and cheaper than in Russia. And if you want to try the product before buying, then go to specialized stores or the market. Remember that only factory-packed food can be taken on an airplane.
Jamón (jamón) and other meat delicacies
Spain is famous for its meat delicacies, and cured pork ham (jamón) is its pride. The best and most expensive is jamón ibérico (jamón ibérico), which is made from black Iberian pigs. It is not an everyday dish, but at Christmas, traditionally a whole leg is bought. The daily specialty is jamón serrano (jamón serrano), a ham made from white pigs.
Jamon is sold in slices or as a whole leg. When traveling, it is better to take vacuum-packed slices: no more than 5 kg per person can be carried across the border.
- Price: jamon iberico from 40 €/kg, jamon serrano from 8 €/kg.
You can bring pork cured sausages from Spain. There are many varieties, and the most popular ones are:
- Chorizo (chorizo). Red sausage with paprika in a natural casing.
- Salchichón (salchichón). Sausage made of lean pork with lard and spices.
- Fuet. Catalan sausage with black pepper in a white mold casing.
Cheese (queso)
Spain produces several hundred types of cheese. Cheeses from factories are sold in any supermarket, you can taste and buy farm types at markets, and for exclusive cheeses go to specialized stores.
Cheese in Spain is made from the milk of cows (vaca), goats (cabra) and sheep (oveja) — from a single type of milk or mixed (queso mezclado).
Aging time affects density, flavor and price.
- Tierno is a young soft cheese, more often made from goat’s milk.
- Semicurado is a semi-hard cheese that matures for 2—4 months.
- Curedo is an aged hard cheese that is at least 6 months old.
- Viejo is an old hard cheese that matures in 10—12 months.
The most famous Spanish cheese is Manchego. This hard cheese is made from the milk of Manchego sheep. It keeps for a long time and you don’t have to worry about its safety during the flight. A kilogram of Manchego cheese costs 25 €.
The most unusual Spanish cheese is Cabrales: it is a blue mold cheese made from the milk of cows, sheep and goats. It matures for at least three months in limestone caves, has a pungent smell and specific taste, so this product is not for everyone. A kilogram of cheese costs 20 €.
A more familiar cheese for Russia is the hard Queso Curado Mezcla made from several types of milk, for example from Entrepinares cheese factory, priced at €10/kg.
vino
Spaniards know a lot about wine, it is the pride of the country and a frequent tourist souvenir. Most of the wine on the store shelves is dry red or rosé.
- A good table wine (Vino de Mesa) in Spain costs from 2—3 €.
- The top category wines are marked DO (Denominacion de Origen) and cost from 6,5 €.
Traditional wine regions: La Rioja, Terra Alta, Penedès, Priorat, Alella. The wine of these regions is a very symbolic souvenir.
Cava.
150 years ago in Catalonia they started to produce a sparkling drink called Cava. It is analogous to French champagne, the only difference being the grape variety and the producing country. Cava is made using the traditional method of secondary fermentation in bottles, which is traditional for sparkling wine.
Sparkling Spanish wine is mostly white, pink wine is less common. Cava aged more than 15 months is Reserva, and more than 30 months is Gran Reserva.
- The most famous and oldest producer of cava is Codorniu. Every tenth bottle of cava is from this wine house. The most popular drink is Anna de Codorniu cava, its price from 8 €. Jaume C odorniu belongs to the most prestigious brands, a bottle costs from 30 €.
- The second most popular wine house in Catalonia is Freixenet. A bottle of this cava can be bought from 6 € .
Olive oil (aceite de oliva)
Spain is the leader in olive oil production and quality. It has 200 million olive trees and produces 40—50% of the world’s olive turnover. There are more than 500 varieties of Spanish olive oil.
The authoritative Evooleum, which has been evaluating olive oil for 20 years, has named three Spanish brands as the best in the world:
- Oro Bailén Picual is the absolute leader of the rating in several categories. Price: 10.8 € per liter.
- Valdenvero Hojiblanco is the second best olive oil in the world. Price: 10 € per liter.
- Santuario de Mágina is the third brand in the top 10 and the best among the DOP category of oils, which is a mark of protected origin for elite oils that are rarely exported.
A regular virgin olive oil for daily use can be bought within 3 €, while the intenso category is 0.4 — 0.5 € cheaper.
Olives (aceitunas)
Pickled olives in Spain can be bought in tins or glass jars in supermarkets, while bulk olives can be bought in markets. These can be olives with seeds, stuffed with garlic, red peppers, anchovies or gherkins. The choice of pickled olives is huge, and you can taste them before buying them.
- The price of bulk olives depends on their variety and filling: from 5 € to 30 € per kilogram.
Clothing of Spanish brands
The Spanish company Inditex is a world leader in clothing production. This means that when in Spain, it is worth visiting the stores of popular Inditex budget brands: Zara, Pull&Bear, Bershka, Stradivarius, Oysho. Throughout Spain — numerous stores of the Spanish company Mango, which was founded in Barcelona in 1984, and Massimo Dutti, a more expensive sub-brand of this company. The premium Spanish brands Adolfo Domínguez and Pedro del Hierro are world-renowned, and recognizable original clothing is at Desigual.
The assortment of these brands in Spanish stores is wider and the price is lower, especially during the sale period: January-February and July-August.
Leather goods: shoes, bags and belts
Leather accessories are one of the most frequent shopping goals of Russian tourists in Spain. And these are not necessarily big brands such as Bimba y Lola, Adolfo Domínguez, Loewe. In Spain, many leather goods are produced by small family companies.
The Spanish climate is very different from Russia, so you can’t find winter shoes, but you can find good summer shoes in the Casas chain of shoe stores or in small stores selling local brands.
Souvenirs for soccer fans
A souvenir with the symbolism of one of the most famous soccer clubs, Barcelona, will be an ideal gift for soccer connoisseurs. Gifts with the club logo can be bought in all tourist stores, but for original products go to the official stores of FC Barcelona: in the Maremagnum shopping center or at the Camp Nou stadium, where the biggest store of the famous soccer team is located.
How many products can be imported into Russia?
- Alcohol with a strength of up to 70 degrees — no more than 3 liters per person, additional 2 liters with a fee of 10 € per liter, over 5 liters is prohibited. Drinks over 70 degrees are not allowed. Alcohol can be carried only in luggage, except for Duty Free goods bought before boarding the flight.
- Animal products (sausages, cheeses, jamon) and olives can be imported up to 5 kg per person. The product must be in its original packaging.
- Olive oil has no official restrictions.
