Loli Benlloch | València (EFE).- At 76 years old, Pepita Zarzo’s olfactory memory is filled with the buñuelos in Fallas: her mother started selling them in 1948, she has done so for four decades and now it is the third family generation that assembles every March one of the oldest stalls in Valencia.
They are the ‘Buñuelos Bolea’, a “lifelong” stall located in the Valencian neighborhood of Benimaclet and which is presided over by a black and white photograph of the precursor, Adela Bolea, in the middle of the buñolera task accompanied by her young daughter, a fallerita who is none other than Pepita with 7 years.
“Since I was little, my family was already making and selling fritters, I don’t remember a Fallas without them,” Pepita explains to EFE, whose osteoarthritis in her hands has forced her to hand over the baton to her children and nephews, but she continues to go through the position to see “how things are going”, help dispatch or lend a hand with the grandchildren.
Fritters with charcoal stove
While showing photographs that reflect the 75-year history of the family stall, this cook with half a century of profession recalls that before there was butane gas, they made the fritters in the neighborhood square with two charcoal and wood stoves: “The more queue there was , the fires were not going ”, he recalls between laughs.
In addition, the stoves could not be turned off during the night, because otherwise they would not be ready at 8 in the morning, and sometimes in those embers that they had to watch over they would roast ears that a neighbor bullfighter brought from the bullfight in the bullring. Valencia bulls. “We have had a great time with the fritters,” he says.
At that time they were the only ones in Benimaclet who sold this fried sweet, while in the city there were “three or four older women who made them”, as in the Plaza del Collado and Ruzafa street. It was all “very artisan; now it has become more commercial ”, he considers.
The secret of good fritters
When Pepita is asked what is the secret to making good fritters, she does not hesitate to answer: “Work the dough well”, so that it is neither too soft nor too hard, and “put in good oil”.
Gone are the days when they mixed flour, water and yeast kneeling on the ground. Now they have a machine to knead the 750 kilos of flour that these fallas festivities will use, although they then go over the dough by hand.
The fritters are usually made without pumpkin, as they require extra work (here the pumpkin is not “from a boat”), use a less intense fire so that they do not ignite and are less in demand, although on the big days of Fallas they are also offered, and you can order fritters with figs.
For six or seven years they have given in to the request of the clientele -whom they know for the most part and who come here from other parts of the city or from the neighboring municipality of Alboraia- to offer churros, despite the fact that “in no way way” they wanted, affirms Pepita.
the strongest day
The busiest day is March 19, the festivity of San José, when queues of people form very early on who come to this street stall for fritters, churros or hot chocolate, which boasts of having been passed down from generation to generation. .
Before that big day, it has already become a tradition to receive a visit from a nearby Fallas commission -in which they are honorary Fallas- accompanied by the music band, whom they entertain with a tray of fritters and mistela.
This buñuelos stand has always been in the Benimaclet neighbourhood, although it has been changing locations until it is on Enrique Navarro street, in front of the ‘Planeta azul’ homemade food bar, which Pepita and her husband managed for 30 years before moving on. to one of his sons and whose walls are decorated with photos of his buñolera career.
Another of the curiosities of this position is that those who now run it work in other activities, but when the Fallas arrive they take vacations to attend to it, since the whole family has always been involved. Pepita attributes it to the fact that they have a good time and there is harmony, and she assures that the idea is to “continue while we can”. EFE