Spanish Fruit Breads and Cheese - A Perfect Pairing!

Chances are, if you’re lucky enough to be in Spain during the holidays and are invited to share a meal, you’ll be offered all sorts of traditional holiday sweets. Maybe some almond turrón or a few alfajores... but you also might be offered a slice from a large, solid round reminiscent of a wheel of cheese. However, this wheel is dark in color and more solid – it is comprised solely of dried fruit and nuts. Spanish “fruit breads” are the essence of sweet simplicity.

The “fruit breads” of Spain aren’t really bread at all, but a sweet compressed round of dried fruits and nuts that are eaten in slices. Fruit breads are most typically eaten around the holidays, but are also enjoyed year-round as a simple dessert or as an accompaniment to cheeses. Our Matiz Fruit Breads are made from figs and apricots paired with walnuts and almonds. We source our fruit breads from a family-owned Spanish company called Biovera. The Sanchez family cultivates fruit trees in La Vera, located in hot, arid Extremadura in central Spain.

Figs and apricots were originally brought to Spain by the Moors. These fruits are original cultivars of the Middle East and northern Africa, but were natural transplants to the desert-like climate of southern and central Spain. In fact, Spanish dates are the most northern dates grown in Europe. Figs are picked and dried in the fall months, preserving them for winter. Once these fruits are dried, their nutritional properties remain intact. Figs and apricots are high in fiber, and apricots are high in vitamin C.  They are an all-natural, delicious treat that you can feel good about!

This holiday season, may we suggest this “recipe” for a festive cheese course with fruit breads and other fine accompaniments from Matiz. !Buen provecho!

Matiz “Just Add Cheese” Course

Lay out an array of some of our finest Spanish cheese accompaniments, add a few good hunks of Manchego, Idiazabál or Mahón and your cheese course is complete!

Matiz Fig Bread

Matiz Apricot Bread

Matiz Date Bread

Matiz Picos and Tortas de Aceite

Matiz Quince Paste

Matiz Marcona Almonds

Dequmana Cured Olives

Matiz Piparras

Arvum Sherry Vinegar

Product Highlight: Quince Paste

When the leaves fall and the mornings greet us with autumn’s telltale sign of sapphire blue, here at Matiz we know it’s time to look for quince. Most people think only of fall’s ubiquitous apples and pears, but quince fruits at the orchards of Trafut Cano in Spain are what we think of first.  These pear-shaped fruits go into both varieties of quince paste (or membrillo in Spanish) that we carry – Matiz brand and Corazón del Sol. Trafut Cano is a family-run business that has partnered with us since our beginning over 15 years ago, and continues to produce an outstanding product that we’ve never tired of pairing with our favorite Manchego.

In the orchards of the Cano family in Andalucía is where you’ll find these chameleon-like fruits. Looking like an irregular-shaped pear but with a tough, astringent flesh, quince fruits change to an appealing flavor and texture after hours of cooking with sugar and lemon. Quince have a light flesh, but this turns to a deep caramel the longer it’s cooked, producing a mild, sweet flavor somewhere between an apple and a pear. Corazón del Sol quince paste is lighter and milder in flavor that our own Matiz brand, which is cooked longer to result in a deeper color and more caramel notes.

Spain has always had a love affair with quince, as a traditional sweet foil for their pungent sheep’s milk cheeses. However, quince have been enjoyed around the world for millennia. Quince are in the same family as apples and pears and are native to the slopes of Iran and Turkey. The ancient Greeks considered these fruits a symbol of fertility, and there are tales that the biblical “forbidden fruit” was written to be quince. They were popular in the US during the colonial period, but have since become more of a “forgotten” fruit than a forbidden one.

Here at Matiz, we think quince are ready to be the new breakout stars of fall. Quince paste is quite versatile – its subtle flavor can conform to a variety of sweet and savory flavors. Besides pairing with your favorite pungent Spanish cheese, quince paste can be added to desserts. Check out our recipes page for fun recipes using quince paste.

How do you like to use quince paste?

Photo credit: Rebecca Siegel (quince paste photo 1) and Maggie Jane (whole quince)