Have you ever tried the typical Mallorcan oil cookies?
The recipe is very simple: oil, water, flour, salt, and yeast. We won't dwell on the details of the recipe, but basically, you need to integrate all the ingredients and let the dough rest for at least 45 minutes.
Then, all you must do is roll it out, cut it on a baking tray, and give them the characteristic rounded shape, as well as, of course, place the three dots, which are obligatory.
Currently, the recipe includes extras that give rise to delicious variations: oil biscuits with sesame, thyme, rosemary, garlic, chili... But in their origins, they were just a way to provide nutritious and long-lasting food to navigation companies, which made long journeys.
The first mentions of the so-called "Inca biscuits" date back to the 18th century and appear in various literary works.
The first ovens that made Mallorcan oil biscuits.
In the 19th century, one of the first ovens to make Mallorcan oil biscuits was established. It was Can Guixe, in Inca, and that is why they are often found with the name "Inca biscuits". Over time, the small oven moved to a building that would become the main biscuit factory, with the most modern machines of the time, capable of producing the popular Marie biscuits in continuous line.
The Quely factory started the tradition, taking the name of Princess Grace Kelly, whom the creators of the initiative admired greatly.
The brand developed its products and today remains one of the main suppliers and exporters of oil biscuits.
Other places to taste oil biscuits.
While Quelys were the most famous and almost the only ones for a long time, the market has diversified, and we can find Mallorcan biscuit artisans in many towns on the island.
One of them is in Artà, where we find Forn de Sa Plaça. It is a family business, passionate about the world of oil biscuits, and has created variations of the product with salt, with wholemeal flours and different types of grain, with spicy flavors, or even with seeds like sunflower or sesame.
In Porreres is the Galletas Rossellons factory, which is also a family project that began with the work of two brothers who decided to buy the machine from the Gelabert biscuit factory, in Llubí, to continue with the tradition but also to innovate their products.
This is how they started making biscuits from white or wholemeal flour, with different flours, and different formats.
Rossellons stands out above all for the Galefit brand, biscuits made from carob seed, which contain phytate and are very beneficial for people suffering from kidney stones.
Very close to the Albufera Natural Park, in Muro, is the Galletas Gori de Muro factory, which has been making biscuits for centuries that sailors took on their journeys, but also specialized in local products such as ensaimadas, pies, or country bread.
Their famous sea biscuits are made with flax or chia, but now we also find rye or xeixa biscuits, a wheat flour native to Mallorca, and variants such as spicy biscuits or rosemary biscuits.
Which factory are you going to visit soon? If you like Mallorcan products or the island's gastronomy, from La Pérgola we recommend visiting this blog article.
