Author: Jan Edwards

Potatoes from Sa Pobla – a Mallorcan Export

June 8, 2014
by Jan Edwards
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Eat / Events for foodies / Food

Relatively few tourists visit Sa Pobla, a small agricultural town in the north of Mallorca – but many (particularly British visitors) will have eaten one of the crops grown in the flat fertile fields surrounding the town: potatoes. A large percentage of the new potatoes harvested from this area ends up on dinner plates outside Mallorca; they’re a valuable export crop. I was once told by a Manacor market stallholder that local housewives don’t like the […]

Mallorcan Olive Oil Named One of the World’s Best

May 23, 2014
by Jan Edwards
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Eat / Food / Mallorca extra virgin olive oil

An extra virgin olive oil produced in the Manacor area has been named one of the best in the world. Llàgrima Verda (which means ‘green tear’) won a Silver Award in the New York International Olive Oil Competition 2014 – repeating the success they enjoyed in last  year’s competition. Spain leads the world in quality virgin olive oils The annual competition brings together a panel of international experts who taste nearly 700 extra virgin olive […]

‘Food and Foot’ – Photo Exhibition Organised by Chefs(in)

May 6, 2014
by Jan Edwards
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Food / Restaurants

‘Food and Foot’ is an interesting name for a photographic exhibition, but then it’s a very interesting and original concept, involving eight of Mallorca’s top chefs – members of Chefs(in), eight Mallorcan shoe manufacturers, and Nando Esteva, the award-winning photographer from Palma de Mallorca. I love food – but I also have a weakness for shoes. The great thing about footwear is that your feet rarely change size once you’re an adult – even if the rest of […]

The Best Way to Discover Mallorca’s Many Wines

May 4, 2014
by Jan Edwards
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Bodegas / Drink / Wine / Wineries

If you want to discover Mallorcan wines, a visit to the Fira del Vi, held in the Cloisters of Santo Domingo in Pollensa, is a must. This annual spring event usually takes place two weeks after Easter, and brings together around half of the island’s 70-or-so bodegas, whose wines are available for tasting by the fair’s visitors – who include wine professionals as well as those who just love drinking the stuff. The Fira del Vi was first held […]

Asian Food Par Excellence in Palma

March 31, 2014
by Jan Edwards
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Food / Restaurants

I don’t make a point of writing general restaurant reviews on this site. If you’re looking for a restaurant on Mallorca you’ll find that the best are featured in Mallorca’s 101 Top Restaurants 2014-2015, just published by abcMallorca. Having said that, we had such a great experience on Friday evening at Arume – a Japanese/fusion restaurant in Palma de Mallorca – that I thought I’d share details with you. (It’s also in the aforementioned guide). Turning […]

Hotel Review: Sheraton Mallorca Arabella Golf

January 31, 2014
by Jan Edwards
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Hotels / Sleep

Strictly speaking, this hotel is called the Sheraton Mallorca Arabella Golf Hotel – but taxi drivers will know where you mean if you ask for “the Sheraton”. If you get a newbie, it’s on the Son Vida estate, just outside Palma. The longer-than-convenient hotel name reminds me of my former days of doing PR for Holiday Inn Worldwide (EMEA). When they acquired the famous Midland Hotel in Manchester (where Rolls and Royce met in 1904 and formed […]

Gold in the Soller Valley (Part 2)

January 17, 2014
by Jan Edwards
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Eat / Food

This is the second – and slightly edited – part of an article I had published in Food & Wine Journal in September 2013. Please see previous post to read the story from the beginning. In the late 20th century, Sóller’s fortunes began to improve – thanks to Franz Kraus, who had moved to Sóller from his native Germany. In 1994 Kraus founded Sa Fàbrica de Gelats – which produces high-quality artisan ice creams and sorbets, using local […]

Gold in the Soller Valley (Part 1)

January 15, 2014
by Jan Edwards
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Food

This is an edited version of my article published in Food & Wine Journal (quarterly), September 2013. Blinking in the bright sunlight, having emerged from the long dimly lit Sóller road tunnel, motorists see a roadside sign announcing their arrival in the ‘Valley of Oranges’. The sign is hardly necessary: for a large part of the year it’s impossible to miss the profusion of citrus fruit trees – laden with oranges or lemons – growing in Mallorca’s Sóller […]

Spain’s New Year Grapes Tradition

December 31, 2013
by Jan Edwards
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Food

Tonight, as we say goodbye to 2013 and welcome in the New Year, we’ll be taking part in a Spanish tradition that’s more than a century old. All over Mallorca, the Spanish mainland and other islands, Latin America and Hispanic communities around the world, as midnight is striking, we’ll be gulping down one grape for each of the dozen chimes. These are the lucky grapes – las uvas de la suerte – and by methodically […]