Places can be enjoyed in many ways but the best of all is to explore them with all your senses.
El Maestrat is a historic region where you’ll find villages full of stories, castles, walls, churches, legends… But also landscapes of great diversity and, with them, flavours with a strong personality.
Rugged terraced landscapes, shaped by the sweat of those who have lived here and by the civilisations that have left their mark.
The greatest expression of this cultural mix is the spectacular landscapes of ancient olive trees. Yes, in this region, and alongside the Roman Via Augusta, you’ll find the largest concentration of monumental olive trees on the planet. Living beings of exceptional value, not only for their beauty and size, but because they connect us with our deepest roots.
How many generations of ancestors have been fed, lit, healed, cleaned by the olive oil produced by that very olive tree you’re looking at now? How many wars, droughts, plagues, fires, frosts or fashions has it survived?
The result of this impressive human-shaped landscape is the elixir of eternity, also known as ancient olive oil, from the very old Farga variety.
Olive oil is the foundation of the world-renowned Mediterranean diet and of our most genuine culture.
And it is precisely from La Jana, in the heart of El Maestrat, that we begin our journey that will take us to the Mediterranean.
With the blue sea in sight, we find other gastronomic treasures, such as the citrus groves in Vinaròs. It was right here, in 1948, that the most prized orange variety in the world emerged: the exquisite Navelate. A surprising story that deserves to be told.
Did you know that every orange that reaches your table is a fascinating history lesson? Because the Fruit of the Gods has a great story to tell—and to delight us with.
Near the sea we’ll also find fertile market gardens, presided over by the Artichoke of
Benicarló, the only Designation of Origin in Castellón. The Queen of Benicarló’s market gardens lives in an agricultural landscape rich in hermitages, barrel-vaulted cottages with pergolas, waterwheels and cisterns.
A true Mediterranean experience is to harvest them with a basket and taste the sweet bitterness of our “green rose” in the fields.
On our gastronomic journey we couldn’t forget the sea and its bounty.
In fact, we know more about the surface of the Moon than the bottom of our sea… A host of secrets awaits us if we decide to enjoy an unforgettable seafaring experience from our ports and fish markets!
In El Maestrat, fishing diversity is especially remarkable thanks to its proximity to the Ebro Delta… That’s why the star product is the Vinaròs prawn. And this is an incomparable draw to immerse ourselves in a wonderful experience: the fish market, fishing techniques, ancestral seafaring knowledge and flavours…
For all these reasons and many more, we invite you to explore El Maestrat, an incomparable gastronomic pantry.
