Fartons
Fartons (Valencian pronunciation: [faɾˈtons], sing. fartó; Spanish: fartón) are confectionary sweets typical of the Valencian town of Alboraya, Spain. Elongated and glazed with sugar it features flour, milk, sugar, oil, eggs and a leavening agent.
This delicate and spongy sweet was made to be dipped in orxata (or horchata), a refreshing drink made of tigernuts. Although it owes its invention to this cold drink its light and spongy texture (made with sunflower oil and not with butter) makes it the perfect accompaniment to hot beverages like hot chocolate or a cup of caffè latte and an ideal item for breakfast or tea.
Origin
According to an apocryphal legend (see horchata), James I of Aragon baptized the drink orxata as "pure gold" due to its texture and sweetness. Since then the beverage producers of Alboraya tried to find the perfect accompanying pastry for it.[citation needed]
In the 1960s a family named Polo developed a special pastry which was oblong in shape, sweet, and delicate. As it had a very spongy texture it was perfect to soak up the delicious beverage and because of its long shape it could be dunked to the bottom of the glass. This was the beginning of the "Fartons Polo".[citation needed]
Many years later, in the decade of the 1990s, the hospitality industry began to serve frozen pastries and with it a new variation of fartó, the so-called "flaky fartó", that is made with a different dough that gives it another texture.[citation needed]
Variations
- "Spongy fartons". Contain: wheat flour, sugar, sunflower oil, water, eggs, fresh yeast, bread supplements and salt.
- "Commercialized (flaky) fartons" (made with hojaldre/pasta fullada, puff pastry). Contain: wheat flour, animal grease partially hydrogenized, water, sugar, eggs, fresh yeast, salt, baking agents and salt.
Nutritional information
Spongy fartons do not contain perservatives or artificial colouring and are made with sunflower oil. The nutritional facts for this product in relation to 100g of the finished product are; calories: 372,6kcal/1559,1 kJ, protein: 9g, carbonhydrates: 58,8g, fat: 11,3g
Commercialized (flaky) fartons have a denser consistency due the featuring of animal grease. The nutritional facts are; calories: 413,3kcal/1729,2kJ, protein: 7,3g, carbonhydrates: 51,7g, fat: 19,7g