Artisanal food purveyors of some of our favorite Spanish brands
We love to stock our shelves with small producers who are creating superior products, but it’s not always easy to find them, since they don’t always have the resources to promote themselves. That’s where Regalis comes in. Regalis Foods was founded in 2012 and is New York City’s leading importer of specialty food products. Regalis Foods’ selection is vast, and includes fresh truffles, wild mushrooms, seafood and a wide array of products from Japan, Korea, Tunisia and Spain. Regalis values their relationships with producers worldwide, maintains a sustainable production system, and upholds a commendable degree of transparency. Not only does Regalis have a wide selection of incredible items, but Regalis also imports products to over 40 countries– 90% of the U.S.’s Michelin starred restaurants receive their products from Regalis Foods!
We appreciate getting to work with Regalis Foods and want to highlight 6 of our favorite Spanish producers and the products Regalis helps bring to the Deli: O-Med, Molino, Badia Vinegars, Bahia de la Concha, La Brujula and Losada.
O-MED
O-Med is a dynamic olive farm and olive oil producer in southern Spain, currently managed by Juande and Paula, the 4th generation of the Garcia-Casas family. Controlling the full process, from harvest to bottle, makes for flavorful results—remarkably balanced olive oils with intense fruitiness that are one of Spain’s most-awarded.
Every variety of their extra virgin olive oil is produced in the 2 days, at the very beginning of the harvest, when the olives have the most flavor, but the least yield. Their groves, in the hills of Andalusia, take advantage of a very specific terroir on the skirts of the legendary Sierra Nevada mountains and benefit from a devotion to sustainability. The brother and sister duo refrain from high-density farming to conserve soil health, utilize gravity-fed underground irrigation and solar energy, and incinerate the olive pits to help power their mill.
Photo courtesy of O-MED
O-MED PICUAL OLIVE OIL
Harvested in mid-October, O-Med Picual is wonderfully complex. You’ll notice aromas of fresh-cut grass, tomato plant, and aromatic herbs, flavors of artichoke and green walnut, and a long peppery finish. This is an excellent finishing olive oil for meat dishes, tomato salads, cold soups, and full-bodied cheeses. This is also the olive oil we favor for making paella and comes in each of our paella kits.
O-MED OLIVE PIT SMOKED ARBEQUINA EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OIL
Omed’s Arbequina olive oil is smoked using olive pits, which adds a sweet smokiness. If you’re looking for an instant wood-fired flavor for any dish, give this oil a try. Or make a smoky aioli, finish a grilled salmon steak, use over any roasted vegetables or add to a vinaigrette.
O-med is also known for a variety of delicious vinegars, all of which are made with organic wines. They are produced by the Schützenbach Method, a slow and meticulous process to extract the best features of vinegar and its base wine in order to better preserve the aromas and flavors. The end result is a very pleasant touch of acidity to the original flavor of the grape. This cabernet sauvignon vinegar is a smooth classic red wine vinegar and is great for everyday cooking.
Yuzu is a citrus fruit, a cross between a wild citrus and a sour mandarin, thought to have originated in Korea. O-med makes this vinegar with grapes from Catalonia and yuzu from Valencia–a bright and citrusy marriage of Spanish fruits. Like other O-Med vinegars, this one has a soft, versatile acidity that allows the essence of its fruits to shine through. It pairs beautifully with raw fish dish or a cocktail, and makes a hell of a spritzer!
The Molino oils are also created by the Garcia-Casas family, harvested just a few short weeks after O-Med production is finished.
MOLINO ARBEQUINA EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OIL
While an incredible value oil for cooking, this all-purpose olive oil is considered strictly a finishing oil for most. This single varietal arbequina extra virgin olive oil has a soft flavor with hints of green apple and banana; try drizzling it on delicate white fish dishes or a leafy green salad.
This century-old, family-run company is so devoted to making the highest-quality artisan vinegars, they say vinegar runs through their veins! Rather than use more modern methods that would allow for higher production levels, their vinegars are made using a traditional method invented almost 200 years ago, that requires a slow and meticulous process that allows the best characteristics of the wine to be extracted, resulting in vinegars with more nuanced flavor profiles.
Photo courtesy of Badia
As the Badia name is synonymous with vinegar, so is Alemany Mel y Turrón with monofloral (single-flower) honey. Both of these Spanish companies have maintained their artisanal production practices for 5 generations now, so it’s no surprise that there’s a very sweet result of bringing their knowledge and experience together into their Orange Blossom Honey Condiment.
ORANGE BLOSSOM HONEY CONDIMENT
Made with organic muscat wine and orange blossom honey, this vinegar blend has a harmonious blend of floral and citrus notes. More vinegar than honey, this bittersweet blend is delicious drizzled on salads, shrimp, and salmon. We also love adding a splash to soda water and spritzers.
The Castell de Gardeny family have been made for almost 200 years and use a slow and delicate fermentation process. The Badia family now maintains the Gardeny brand and still personally selects each of the varietals of wine that become the Gardeny vinegars. This classic Spanish vermouth vinegar has an exotic, rosé color and an exquisite herb aroma. The unique flavor will add delicious notes wherever you use it–an herbal bouquet of flavors that will blow you away!
Sourced and hand-packed in Galicia, Spain, La Brujula’s products are regarded as some of the finest preserved seafoods in the world. La Brujula captures the fresh aromas and flavors, so every time you open one of their hand-selected and packed tins filled with the highest grade seafood, you’ll be transported to the ocean. They’re very focused on sustainability, and help guarantee the future of marine biodiversity by defending responsible and selective fishing methods and respecting closed seasons and catch limits.
LA BRUJULA SCALLOPS IN SAUCE
Tender small scallops, sustainably harvested from the Arousa estuary, cleaned, trimmed, and cooked with a traditional Galician sauce of tomato, onion, red pepper, spices, and wine.
Hand-packed cockles from Galacia, Spain have a special sweetness that will win over fanatics and those new to cockles alike. Plump, juicy cockles deserve to be alongside a tossed salad, or gobble them out of the tin with a squeeze of fresh lemon. Let the sea spray wash over you to warm the cockles of your heart.
A real treat for tinned fish lovers: these hand-fileted sardines are lightly floured and fried in olive oil before bathing in a spiced tomato sauce. This mild, full-flavored meal of tin is highly versatile, or perfect in a baguette sandwich.
Named for the famous, shell-shaped, picturesque bay in San Sebastian, their anchovies are fished strictly from the cool waters of the Cantabrian Sea. Spain’s Basque Country is recognized for producing the finest anchovies in the world. Bahia de la Concha takes that a step further by paying a premium for the fish that were caught last on the boat and only selecting the largest-sized anchovies.
BOQUERONES
The care taken in the curing of these fish is easily recognizable. The plump anchovies are hand-fileted, one-by-one, then cured in sea salt for about five months, before being gently packed in olive oil, giving them a deep pinkish hue and rich umami flavor. These are the ones you want to savor whole, whether on toast or straight from the tin. Or try them in a simple pasta dish.
For over 60 years, Aceitunas Losada has produced table olives in Carmona, Spain, near Seville. The family-owned company controls the entire process from hand-harvest in their groves to curing and like a lot of our favorite producers, they stubbornly stick to traditional ways. Each fall, the freshly picked olives are brought into the plant, hand cracked, and then placed into a natural brine of water and sea salt. They stay there for 9 to 12 months, which is super old-school curing. This style of olive-making may take way longer, but makes for a really marvelous flavor. The current generation owners are siblings, Luis, and Maria Losada, who have focused on resurrecting forgotten olive varieties and returning to traditional natural curing methods.
Photo courtesy of Losada
ALORENA OLIVES
Aloreña olives come from the Valley of Guadalhorce, in the district of Malaga, on Spain’s southeast corner, just up the road from the famous tourist town of Torremolinos. These pitted Aloreña olives from Losada are firm, savory, and nutty. They are so prized in Spanish cuisine that they are the only Spanish olive to earn a Denomination of Origin and have have also been recognized on the Slow Food Ark of Taste. Losada uses a neutral brine to perfect the ratio of saltiness to bitterness without compromising the flavor profile of each distinct variety they feature. They have a lovely light khaki in color, the texture is crisp and lovely. The flavor is meaty, fresh, and clean. Try them with olive oil and a bit of fresh herbs.
This olive mix is a selection of uniquely traditional Spanish olives. Containing Natural Gordal, Verdial, Zorzalena, Cuquillo, and Cornicabra olives–a wonderful mix of sizes, colors, textures and flavors. It is named for Carmona, the town where the Losada family has resided for more than 60 years. Losada uses a neutral brine to perfect the ratio of saltiness to bitterness without compromising the flavor profile of each distinct variety they feature.
