Almojábana is a type of

bread Bread is a baked food product made from water, flour, and often yeast. It is a staple food across the world, particularly in Europe and the Middle East. Throughout recorded history and around the world, it has been an important part of many cu ...

made with cuajada cheese and corn flour.

About

An almojábana is a small, bun-shaped bread with a tart flavor. It has some variations between Hispanic America and Spain. The etymology stems from Andalusī Arabic and that in turn from

classical Arabic Classical Arabic or Quranic Arabic () is the standardized literary form of Arabic used from the 7th century and throughout the Middle Ages, most notably in Umayyad Caliphate, Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphate, Abbasid literary texts such as poetry, e ...

المُجَٰبَّنة "almuǧábbana" (made of cheese), the measure II passive participle of the root ج-ب-ن, the same root as جُبْن "jubn" (cheese).

Versions

Colombia

Almojábanas are made with masarepa or pre-cooked white cornmeal, cottage cheese,

butter Butter is a dairy product made from the fat and protein components of Churning (butter), churned cream. It is a semi-solid emulsion at room temperature, consisting of approximately 81% butterfat. It is used at room temperature as a spread (food ...

, baking powder,

salt In common usage, salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl). When used in food, especially in granulated form, it is more formally called table salt. In the form of a natural crystalline mineral, salt is also known as r ...

, eggs, and

milk Milk is a white liquid food produced by the mammary glands of lactating mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals (including breastfeeding, breastfed human infants) before they are able to digestion, digest solid food. ...

Puerto Rico

In Puerto Rico almojábanas are small fried balls eaten in the northwest part of the island. They are made with rice flour, wheat flour, sugar, milk, butter, baking powder, salt, eggs, and fresh white cheese called ''queso de país''. A sweeter version is served on Christmas using coconut milk and vanilla. Sweet almojábanas are rolled in cinnamon sugar and served with a guava sauce. The Almojában Festival is celebrated in Lares, Puerto Rico in October.

Spain

Spanish almojábanas do not use

cheese Cheese is a type of dairy product produced in a range of flavors, textures, and forms by coagulation of the milk protein casein. It comprises proteins and fat from milk (usually the milk of cows, buffalo, goats or sheep). During prod ...

; they are made with wheat flour,

olive oil Olive oil is a vegetable oil obtained by pressing whole olives (the fruit of ''Olea europaea'', a traditional Tree fruit, tree crop of the Mediterranean Basin) and extracting the oil. It is commonly used in cooking for frying foods, as a cond ...

, eggs, and

honey Honey is a sweet and viscous substance made by several species of bees, the best-known of which are honey bees. Honey is made and stored to nourish bee colonies. Bees produce honey by gathering and then refining the sugary secretions of pl ...

sugar Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose Glucose is a sugar with the Chemical formula#Molecular formula, molecul ...

or both. They are typical from southern Aragón, southern

Alicante Alicante (, , ; ; ; officially: ''/'' ) is a city and municipalities of Spain, municipality in the Valencian Community, Spain. It is the capital of the province of Alicante and a historic Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean port. The population ...

, Murcia and

La Gomera La Gomera () is one of Spain's Canary Islands, in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Africa. With an area of , it is the third-smallest of the archipelago's eight main islands. It belongs to the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife. La Gomer ...

island.

References