Gazpacho originated in southern Spain. It is a cold soup and does not require cooking. In addition, it does not contain cholesterol, is low in calories and is high in vitamin C.
The main ingredient in Gazpacho is the tomato, which grows in abundance in southern Spain. But as you can imagine, being of Spanish origin, it also contains onion, garlic and olive oil. Again, these are readily available and of course inexpensive.
The tomatoes provide the sweetness, as well as being high in vitamin C, and the paprika adds a bit of spice to the soup.
The ingredients are:
25 g fresh breadcrumbs
2-3 tablespoons of virgin olive oil
1/4 teaspoon paprika
225 g tomatoes
3 chives
small garlic clove
1/4 large cucumber
1/2 red pepper
1/2 yellow bell pepper
Juice of one lime
450ml tomato juice
salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method: Boil 150 ml of water and add the breadcrumbs, oil and paprika to a bowl. Remove the skin from the tomatoes by immersing them in hot water. Cut the tomatoes in half so you can remove and discard the seeds. Then mince the meat. Cut and chop the chives, peel the garlic and cucumber. The peppers should also be diced. Save some of the diced veggies to place in the middle of the soup when ready to serve.
Mix until the mixture of breadcrumbs, cucumber, bell peppers, onions and garlic is quite smooth. Add the lemon juice. Then add this mixture to tomato juice and chopped tomatoes, season and chill for at least an hour.
There are different ways of making Gazpacho and it will likely vary from region to region. I suspect this recipe is a fairly modern variation on the traditional ones as I had Gazpacho in Marbella on the southern coast of Spain and I am sure there was no bread in it. However, this is a tasty, healthy and inexpensive dish with lots of vitamin C, not only from tomatoes but also from bell peppers. Red and yellow bell peppers contain four times more vitamin C than oranges. Garlic is good for many things, including the immune system and circulation, infections, etc.
As for the origin of the word Gazpacho, it is more vague. I read once that it had to do with “edible treasures”, but apparently it comes from the pre-Roman Mozarabic word. dandruff, which means “fragments” or “flakes”, as in small pieces of bread.
