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The best Spanish food and drink to keep you cool during the summer heat

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The best Spanish food and drink to keep you cool during the summer heat
Salmorejo is classic Spanish summer dish which is yummy and refreshing in equal measure. Photo: Cat from Wales/Wikipedia (CC BY 2.0)

If the summer heat is making you lose your appetite, these delicious Spanish food and drink specialties will help fill you up whilst keeping you cool. ¡Buen provecho! (Enjoy your meal).

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Gazpacho

While outside of the Iberian peninsula, soup tends to be reserved for the coldest of months, Spaniards have their own ideas about food. Gazpacho is a soup served cold, traditionally made of tomatoes, cucumbers, garlic. Look out for modern versions with a twist, such as Gazpacho with a hint of watermelon.

Refreshing and healthy gazpacho is loved by Spaniards. Photo: GeeJo/Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 2.0)
 
 

Ajoblanco

Sometimes called "white gazpacho", this cold garlic soup is popular in Andalusia in southern Spain. In Málaga, it is often served with fresh fruit like apples, grapes or melons.

READ ALSO: Recipe: How to make Andalusian Ajo Blanco soup

Get some of your 'five a day' whilst cooling down with ajoblanco. Photo: Popo le Chien/Wikipedia (Public Domain)

 

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Papas aliñás

This cold summery potato salad dish comes from Cádiz in southern Spain. It's prepared with onions, parsley, sherry vinegar and usually topped with slices of hard-boiled egg.

Papás aliñás can be hearty without being too filling on a hot summer's day in Spain. Photo: Xemenendura/Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

 

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Salmorejo

Much like its sister dish, gazpacho, this cold soup graces the menu of many a Spanish restaurant during the summer. It's thicker and creamier than gazpacho and is often served, as pictured, with bits of serrano ham and hard-boiled eggs on top.

Salmorejo cordobés from the Andalusian city of Córdoba is the most famous of all salmorejos. Photo: Cat from Wales/Wikipedia (CC BY 2.0)

 

Salpicón de marisco

Translating to seafood medley, this Spanish dish is made with diced or minced tomatoes, onions, prawns and other seafood.

The lobster is optional in your salpicón de marisco. Photo: Juan Mejuto/Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 2.0)

 

Horchata
 
This cool drink is made in different ways depending on whether it's in Spain or Latin America. The Spanish beverage is typically extracted from chufas, or tigernuts, and mixed with water and sugar for a sweet, creamy flavour.
 
Glasses of horchata served alongside Valencian pastries fartones. Photo: Núria/Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 2.0)
 
 
 
Granizados
 
Basically a Spanish version of a slushy or a snow cone, these freezing cold beverages come quite in handy when the mercury starts to rise.
 
Snow cones are just as common in Spain as in other countries. Photo: Manop/Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 3.0)
 
 
Helado de turrón
 
If you’re desperate to try Spanish specialty and Christmas favourite, turrón, but also need a cooling fix, why not mix the two by sampling the nougat-like snack in ice-cream form? A popular flavour in Spanish heladerías (ice-cream shops), you'll have no problem finding this very Spanish summery treat wherever you might be in the country.
 
Have an ice cold Christmas treat this summer with some 'helado de turrón'. Photo: Lotus Head/Wikipedia
 
 
 

Tinto de verano or sangría

The tinto de verano mixture of red wine and lemonade (or casera, a sweetened soda water) is best served on a terraza and only ever ordered in the hottest months of the year. While tourists stick to sangria, tinto de verano is a much more authentic summer drink among Spaniards, and is guaranteed to quench that summer thirst.

READ MORE: Daily dilemmas -  Tinto de verano or sangría for the perfect Spanish summer drink?

A thirst-quenching glass of sangría always does the job, as does tinto de verano. Photo: Paul Morales/Pixabay

 

 

Café con hielo

Need your caffeine fix but can't stand the thought of a hot drink? Don't panic! Order your coffee just the way you like it but with a side of ice. It's an art to tip the hot drink into the ice-filled glass (never the other way round) without spilling it across the table but for coffee addicts, it's one worth mastering.

Café con hielo is Spain's answer to Greece's frappé. Photo: Daniel Lobo/Wikipedia (CC BY 2.0)
 

 

Watermelon

Juicy, thirst-quenching and refreshing, sandía, to use the Spanish name, is the perfect treat to cool you down on a hot afternoon. Guaranteed to put a smile on the sweatiest face!

Expect to see plenty of watermelon in Spanish supermarkets during the summer. Photo: STR/AFP
 

READ MORE: How to avoid heatstroke when Spain starts to sizzle

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