The almond milk of a Mallorcan Christmas

It’s reckoned that almond milk was forming part of mediaeval diets from around the turn of the thirteenth century, though it is most likely a lot older than this.

In Mallorca, its tradition is associated with the Minims, the religious order founded by Saint Francis of Paola in the fifteenth century. The Minims were vegetarians, so they needed alternatives to animal milk. Almonds provided an alternative. There were various Minims’ convents in Mallorca, and the one in Santa Maria del Camí is attributed with having made almond milk a traditional drink in Santa Maria and neighbouring villages.

Away from Mallorca, almond milk is associated with Easter, but the association on the island is with Christmas and in particular with Pla de na Tesa in Marratxi, where the eighteenth Fira Llet d’Ametla (or Ametlla, as both spellings are used) is this weekend.