What is in season in Córdoba. and what to order when the market changes.

Spring

  • Caracoles: Snail stands open on Andalusia Day, 28 February, and run to late May. Caracoles La Magdalena has worked the same Córdoba plaza since 1965.
  • Alcachofas: Artichokes hit the Corredera market in March and April, and La Cuchara de San Lorenzo plates them with jamón for as long as they last.
  • Habas: Broad beans arrive with the first heat and go into potajes and revueltos across the tabernas, usually alongside jamón or a fried egg.
  • Patios-season eating: The May patios festival turns whole barrios into open courtyards, with neighbourhood bars pouring Montilla-Moriles beside the geraniums.

Summer

  • Salmorejo: Guadalquivir tomatoes, telera bread, Montalbán garlic and olive oil, pounded thick and served cold with jamón and hard-boiled egg on top.
  • Mazamorra: The white almond version, older than salmorejo, comes back onto Taberna La Montillana's carta when the heat sets in properly.
  • Fino de Montilla-Moriles: Fino is poured cold and dry all summer in a catavinos glass, and it is the one wine that survives 40-degree afternoons in Córdoba.
  • August closures: Córdoba clears 40 degrees regularly and kitchens take their holidays. Choco shuts for the whole month and many tabernas drop their dinner service.

Autumn

  • Vendimia: Montilla-Moriles runs one of continental Europe's earliest harvests, and Montilla holds its Fiesta de la Vendimia in early September.
  • Aceite nuevo: The first pressing of the Priego de Córdoba and Baena olive harvests lands from late autumn, green, bitter and best eaten on bread.
  • Jamón de Los Pedroches: The Iberian pigs go into the dehesa for the montanera acorn season, and Villanueva de Córdoba holds its ham fair in November.
  • Setas: Wild mushrooms come down from the Sierra Morena and appear in the guisos at kitchens such as Astoria Casa Matías.

Winter

  • Rabo de toro: Oxtail braised in Montilla-Moriles wine is winter food, and Bodegas Campos has kept it on the carta for more than a century.
  • Potaje and berza: Chickpea and cabbage stews carry the cold months in the tabernas, thick enough to be a whole lunch on their own.
  • Naranjas de Córdoba: Local oranges appear in salads with salt cod and olives, a Sephardic-descended combination the Judería kitchens still run.
  • Roscón de Reyes: Pastelerías Roldán and Obrador San Rafael both build their January around the roscón, and the queues start well before Epiphany.
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