Ambroz Valley Gastronomy Our ancestors always tried to have the larder full with all the necessary products for life, without forgetting animals raised in the house: kids, lambs, veals, seasoned with the products that the environment offered such as its famous paprika, necessary for its delicious “embutidos” (cold meat): chorizo, salchichón (spiced sausage), blood sausage, “chorizos de bútago” (from the slaughter of pork) and jamón (Spanish ham). Cheeses are other important products from this region.

Products that the environment offers have been made good use of by the inhabitants of this region; with them have been able to make a varied and attractive gastronomy. Among the last products used to cook we can find the mushrooms and fungus, abundant and varied. The process of providing information made by the mycology associations, culinary makings starting from the new cookery budgets and establishments more and more competent make our visit to these lands a pleasant experience.

These environment products have been used for the everyday diet. There were restrictions imposed by the religious creed or cultural guidelines that were resolved by the inhabitants’ imagination. This universe of restrictions, that can be thought as limiting, stimulated them to find answers in a gastronomy plenty of nuances; a experience for any palate: veal, kid and lamb stews, even pork stew, that give us an idea of the plurality of this activity in these lands. Among the most suitable dishes we have the kid stew (Caldereta), the pork tails, snouts and ears stew (in marinade), the pickling brined potatoes (escabechas), the “tumbled” potatoes, the “migas” (breadcrumbs fried in garlic), potatoes with cod and others, typical in each village.

In Baños de Montemayor the typical dishes are different from the rest of villages, and the most suitable ones are the anchovies from the country, tomatoes “al perico” and the cow tail.

In Aldeanueva del Camino we can enjoy dishes such as the pork “callos” (tripe) with paprika, the lean with peppers, pork stews or pickling brined potatoes (escabechas), accompanied by a good wine. It’s also typical in Aldeanueva "go out and have the 11", that means to go and drink wine and tapas (small portions of food served in bars with the drink) on Sunday morning, and the most typical tapas are the “callos”.

In Casas del Monte, apart from all the typical dishes, there are suitable ones such as the “zorongollo”, the poor gazpacho (cold soup made from tomatoes, peppers, etc), “freje” soup, tomato soup, white soups, the “chanfaina”, the “landrillas”.

Nowadays we can enjoy all of them in this gastronomic minor variant that tapas are, which are served to accompany the wine or beer in the zone bars.

Relating to desserts, the region offers a great variety in each season; it was required, according to the time, the presence of other delicacies: sweet things, for special dates or significant social events like weddings; for example, “hornazos” and pastries in Holy Week. In the region there are some pastrycook singularities such as the sweet soup of Aldeanueva or the ““roscas” without bath” (ring-shaped buns), from Baños de Montemayor. Also the “fried milk”, and in Carnival the “coquillos” and the “roscas”. Most of them made with products from the zone: honey, and in recently the pollen.