Anise spirits

Following suggestions from several Tasta'l d'ací readers, we decided to start a series of articles that we wanted to call #TastalAlSúper.

let's start, so, a roundup of the busiest supermarkets in Valencia and we analyze the number of Valencian products that are on their shelves. In this case, one of the emblematic Valencian brandies.

Aware that a large majority of people use these establishments to buy regularly, we find it essential that the Valencian product should be well present on these surfaces and with this new section we want to claim it strongly. You want to know which are the supermarkets that bet the most on Valencian products?

Many Valencian brandies and liqueurs travel across our geography and rise in our gastronomy. From the southern Valencian singer, passing by Alcoi iced coffee, the herberet of the Vall d'Albaida, etc. But if something unites all the Valencian regions, it is anise brandy, or simply 'anise'. Just take a look at the amazing old labels of some Valencian anise brandies. An alcohol distillate macerated with batafaluga, also called matafaluga. As the lexicographer Eugeni S. king, it should be noted that the name 'lavoretes', although it is traditional, it is confusing because it is not the seeds of the plant but its fruits.

Siga com siga, l’aiguardent d’anís es sol comercialitzar en dues versions: l’anís dolç i l’anís sec, aquest últim, sobretot quan té una alta graduació, és anomenat modernament ‘cassalla’ a causa que a Cazalla de la Sierra, una vila a la Sierra Norte sevillana d’Andalusia, hi havia una gran producció d’aquest aiguardent. In fact, la primera documentació registrada en valencià és del 1923 en un escrit d’Alfred Sendín Galiana, escriptor valencià nat a Xàtiva el 1903.

La diferència entre anís dolç i sec té a veure amb els grams de sucre per litre i també amb la graduació i els olis essencials de l’aiguardent. Vet ací un esquema:

TIPUS D’ANÍS

GRADUACIÓ

SUCRE

OLIS ESSENCIALS

And we begin our tour of the supermarkets with the most presence in Cap i Casal:

ALCAMPO 👌
This hypermarket is often located on the outskirts of cities. There you can find two Valencian brands: Vidal (45º), a winery located in the town of Almassora (the Upper Plane), i Ferri, a distillery located in Bellreguard (Safor) and that makes so much dry anise (45º) like sweet anise (35º), plus cake (45º), an anise liqueur of Occitan origin that is drunk in France cold and dissolved in water (like our little cloud), mostly during the aperitif.

ALDI 👍
In this supermarket that has increased its presence in Valencian towns,the brand draws our attention Scaffold (without any network presence), coming from Elche (Baix Vinalopó) and that produces several liquors: the traditional cantuesso, orange liqueur, iced coffee and also dry anise (48º).

CARREFOUR 👌
We step on this other French hypermarket giant where we find a wide variety of Valencian aniseeds, like the already mentioned anise Ferri, as well as their cake. Besides, dried anise stands out Cerveró (46º), distilled as it was done in the old days with orange wood in Cullera (the Ribera Baixa), and anise Kcalla (45º), produced by Licores Sinc, company with a long tradition of liquor production located in the town of Alcoi (the Alcoià).

CARREFOUR EXPRESS 👎
However, in the urban version of the Carrefours that have appeared like mushrooms in the Valencian capital, we feel it necessary to point out that we have not found any type of Valencian anise brandy on your shelves.

CONSUM 👍
We continue the walk and enter the Valencian cooperative company that is dedicated to the sale of everyday products. We find anise Ferri, both the sweet and the dry, and also the Tenis brand and its dry anise (48º), de Montfort (the Middle Vinalopó).

THERE 👎
This distributor of food products does not stand out for the general presence of Valencian products and, in this case, we do not find any anis brandy of Valencian origin.

DIALPRIX 👎
This supermarket company that has landed relatively recently in Valencia, does not have any Valencian anise brandy among its products.

LIDL 👎
This other chain, of German origin, is a large distributor of food products in more than 28 European countries. Unfortunately, it does not bet on zero kilometer products, in this case, we do not find any anise brandy of Valencian origin.

MASSIVE 👍
This surface, more common in the central Valencian regions, even though it comes from Asturias, has recently opened supermarkets in the Valencian capital. In this case, we only find a brandy of Valencian anise: dry anise Ferri.

MARKET 👍
A single brand of Valencian brandy can be found on the shelves of this Valencian company, star of the supermarkets and one of the most important family businesses in the world. It's about the anise Tennis.

EL CORTE INGLÉS SUPERMARKETS 👎
El Corte Inglés stores often stand out for their quality and variety of products. In this case, despite having many brands of spirits, we have not found a single Valencian one, a fact that unfortunately we do not find fair at all in terms of Valencian consumers and the promotion of the zero kilometer product.

SUPER COLOR 👎
These urban supermarkets, with longer opening hours than the El Corte Inglés company, also do not have any Valencian anise brandy. We take note.

VIDAL / CUBE 👌
Under these two names we find supermarkets based in Ontinyent, also present in Cap and Casal. There we find two types of Valencian spirits: the anise Kcalla of Alcoy, as well as the dry anise of Tennis.

XAVIER BENAVENT / MARTINA MONLLAU