Shopping for quality ingredients is one of my great pleasures when I go away. I always make the most of my luggage allowance and sometimes exceed it (most airlines will let you get away with an extra kilo, but not more). In Seville there are plenty of great places to stock up on fantastic local foodstuffs.
I like to have one of my last meals eating at an abaceria (a grocery store where they serve their goods as tapas) where you can buy anything that you have tasted (so good for cheese and ham). La Antigua Abaceria in Triana (post here) and Casa Moreno in Arenal (post here) are my top abaceria tips.
My Google map of the city is here.
The other option is to go shopping. There are a couple of good places in Arenal…
La Oleoteca de Sevilla (Elementary A), 39 Calle García de Vinuesa, www.oleotecasevilla.com
A small but very friendly olive oil shop where you can taste before you buy. They also organise regular tastings (catas de aceite).
El Torno Pasteleria de Conventos de Clausura Rose (Elementary A), 24 Avenida de la Constitución 24, 2 Plaza del Cabildo, dulceseltorno.com, open Monday to Friday 10-1.30/5-7.30 and Saturday to Sunday 10.30-2
Regular visitors to Spain will know that the best sweets are often made by nuns and that many convents have a side door where you can buy their wares directly via a turntable that prevents you and the nun on the other side from accidentally seeing each other. El Torno has made things simpler by collecting together many of the products made in Seville’s convents and selling them in one place; their small shop on the hidden but very pretty Plaza del Cabildo, just over from the cathedral.
I took home a couple of jars of Confitura de Pétalos de Rosa, rose petal jam, and would have loaded up on the marzipan and nougat if my conscience would have allowed it.
For good quality ham you could go to Patio San Eloy in Alfalfa (post here) or head to the market in Triana…
Mercado de Triana (High Intermediate B+), 6 Calle San Jorge, www.mercadodetrianasevilla.com
This is Seville’s best market with seventy five stalls, all top quality.
There are fantastic displays of, amongst many other things, fruit and veg, mushrooms, stuffed olives, charcuterie and cheeses, seafood and game.
You can even get vacuum packed cochinillo here, something you would never see in the UK where piglets are only slaughtered after they have been weaned.
One stall has the best selecton of pimentón I’ve ever seen. Video here.
If you want to shop for cheese, this post I’ve written will be helpful.
The best place to buy wine is in the basement of El Corte Ingles www.elcorteingles.es at 8 Plaza del Duque de la Victoria.
Alternatively you’ll find Casa de Los Licores at 7 Alameda de Hercules, on the southern side of the square, which is the best shop I know of for harder-to-find wines and spirits. There’s another branch on Delicias.
So now you have no excuse for an empty suitcase! Happy shopping.