Souvenirs?

Where spices are concerned, an advantage of buying at a supermarket rather than from a loose-spice stall somewhere is that the supermarket packaging will not raise eyebrows when you go through Customs in the US. The inspectors are not thrilled about agricultural products in ad hoc packaging (unsealed plastic bags). Saffron, especially, is rather expensive even in Spain. You won't want to see it confiscated.

I think of balsamic vinegar as more a product of Italy, but for all I know Spain is awash in it.

Balsamic vinegar is from Italy, not Spain. All the spices you need are widely available in the US. You may see saffron in Spain and usually the price is cheaper than what you can get in the US but still not cheap. Buy a small quantity if you see it, it will last a long time. Olive oil? Don’t waste the effort of transporting it. Look on Amazon for Spanish olive oil and you’ll find a ton. Bring home things that will give you lasting memories of your trip. Food is not it.

The other posters are correct, you can get many of these items on Amazon, but there are some items that you will find only in Spain. For heavy food items (Spanish olive oil, canned fish, etc.), I would recommend that you purchase at El Corte ingles before you leave. It will save you from carting heavy items around Spain.

What you might also consider on your travels is looking for food items that you can’t easily buy in the USA. Spain has a lot of convents and locally produced honeys, jams, and the most AMAZING cookies. I picked mine up in Granads. I also picked up marmalade of Seville oranges made by the nuns in Seville.

Have a great trip,
Sandy

Hello, assuming that you live in North America, I would not worry too much about trying to bring back foods and ingredients from Spain. I was born is Barcelona, but currently live in the United States, and for the most part I have been able to find Spanish food/ingredients to cook my comfort food from back home.

I use these two US-based Spanish food importers, you can order online and they deliver to your door. All their products are high quality and made in Spain, but not so unreasonably priced:
La Española Meats
La Tienda Market

Both are good but La Tienda has more variety but is a tad more expensive.

Personally, I would focus more on bringing back souvenirs such as regional handcrafts; like the handmade kitchen towels from Salou (southern Catalonia) or Celtic Wine Cups from Galicia. Research the specialty handcrafts from the regions you will be visiting and pick up a few when you are over there. Hopefully this will put your worries to rest :)

Although Saffron is used in Spanish cooking (Paella) I believe it comes more from Hungary along with Paprika. I know someone will correct me if I'm wrong. Funny, I just made paella tonight, and used saffron that I got in Hungary. I used the America's Test Kitchen recipe and was quite pleased how it turned out.

Balsamic is Italian, from the Modena region. Recently I've been hearing that for most dishes, one could just use a "knock off". If you want it on ice cream, get the real stuff.

I'm going to Andalucia in a few weeks, and I personally will be keeping my eyes open for olive oil. I plan to bring bubble wrap or else use a certain type of cooler bag that I typically use for wine. Should it break, I think olive oil would be a real drag. . .

I do think its super fun to bring back food ingredients from my travel, but I do know I can get similar at home. I do like the vanilla my friends bring home for me from Mexico.

I have brought home my share (and more) of wine and cheese from France and spices from Hungary. I ALWAYS am very forthcoming with customs. It is just not worth it, otherwise. Strange thing is, I think each person is allowed 1 1/2 bottles of wine. We have brought back a bit more thinking that we typically have wine that we love that we purchased inexpensively. If we have to pay 5% duty, so be it. But when I say, "some wine", they never ask, "how much". Sadly, I guess I'm not that interesting. . . I would be VERY careful about meats and it is my understanding that fresh produce (for good reason) would never be allowed.

Obligatory saffron correction... lol anyway here are the countries that produce the most saffron in decreasing order as of 2015; Iran, Greece, Morocco, the Kashmir (Jammu and Kashmir-India), Azerbaijan, Spain, and Italy.

Iran produces the most at 90% of the world's total, but it is usually of lower quality. The quality of the saffron increases the farther you head west due to higher quality control. If you want to make sure you get the real Spanish saffron (not some Iranian knockoff passing as Spanish) then I would look for a EU Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) symbol on the packaging.

Source: Trade and use of saffron

@Carlos, thanks. I've never used saffron before until my paella tonight. It was bright in color and still in the strands, so presumably it was still fresh. I couldn't really tell though, what flavor it added? What should I taste? I was worried about adding too much, I heard it can become bitter in too high of a quantity.

Also, is there a difference in flavor between the Iranian and what would be used for Spanish cooking? Out of curiosity, what part of Spain grows saffron?

No worries Jules, yes saffron is a great ingredient that if used probably can elevate many dishes, not only Paella. You usually want to look for small boxes/bottles that contain small threads that have a more subdued red color. I have observed that here in the States there is "Mexican Saffron" that is thicker and more brightly colored, however this is also a low quality/knockoff that I would stay way from. The websites I linked above are great resources for picking up real Spanish Saffron (or Azafrán as we call it in Spain).

Here is a good test for high quality Saffron:
Put a few threads of Saffron in a small bowl of water, microwave for a couple of seconds and the Saffron will color the water. Both the real and knockoff will color the water, however when you take the threads our of water, the real Saffron wouldn’t have lost its original color, whereas if it was a knockoff, it would have completely lost its added color.

Only a pinch of real Saffron should suffice when cooking a dish. If you want a good dish to really taste the Saffron then I would cook pasta in a Saffron cream sauce. One can find may recipes online for this dish. I found that a Saffron cream sauce really lets the flavor of the Saffron be the protagonist of the dish. The Saffron flavor is sometimes hidden with everything else going on culinary-wise in a Paella.

Usually one can find decent Spanish Saffron going for around $20 USD for 1 gram. For the high quality stuff, I would look for the brand Princesa de Minaya which is grown in the historical region of La Mancha, where most of the high quality saffron (azafrán) is grown in Spain.

P.S. Saffron is great as a tea as well :)

Saffron is the stigma of the flower so picking it is very labor intensive ergo the high cost. On the RS Spain tour we stopped in a small town in La Mancha and met a saffron grower, tasted the goods as well as other delights and bought a little for home. Three years later we still have some left. The taste is subtle and with multiple ingredients hard to pinpoint. I’ve used it in rice where there is little else besides butter and salt to experience the flavor. Just a thread or two.

"Out of curiosity, what part of Spain grows saffron?"

A few, I believe, including Aragon, but most famed is in La Mancha. And for paprika there is no need to go to Hungary since the best comes from Murcia (or La Vera some say). For oil, Jaen province is olive central. Nobody seems to mention Jaen on here but it sits between Cordoba and Granada provinces. There are two beautiful twin towns of Ubeda and Baeza, especially known for the finest olive oils.

And for the OP - one of the provinces known for Spanish balsamic vinegar is Cordoba, so you could buy locally when you are there (though it's generally on sale around the country, of course). You might want to try sherry vinegar.

In the area behind the Granada cathedral is a small spice shop selling multiple spices, including saffron, in bulk and also in small containers, for a very reasonable price.

Are you planning to bring the souvenir food items in your carry on, or checked bag? I ask because my BF tried to bring some olive oil back from Spain in a carry-on bag and it was summarily confiscated at airport security. It was our first time flying back from Europe so I honestly didn't realize it was not allowed, but guess I should have looked into it more. I think if he had bought the bottle at the Duty Free shop in the airport after the security checkpoint, he would have been allowed to carry it on the plane.

Edit to add: I did buy saffron from a supermarket in Madrid and had no problems bringing those packages back.

Anyway, have fun in Spain! It was our first trip to Europe - and I can't wait to return in the future.

Saffron in Spain can cost less than what you’d pay for the same quantity in the U.S. depending on where you buy it. At Carrefour (according to its website), Pote brand saffron costs around €2.60 for 4x 100mg packets. At El Corte Ingles’ website shows Karkom saffron from La Mancha for €13.5 for 1 g, €23.3 for 2 g. On my last trip in 2017, I bought a number of store brand boxes in Tordesillas at a Alimerka store for €1.3 for 4x100mg packets. I bought a mix of ground (molido) and the sprigs (en hebra). It came from Alicante.

In Seville, there's a couple of shops named "Sabor something" - one on Constituition Ave and another on Sierpes. You'll know it because they give out samples of sweeten nuts. It's mostly a store of turrons and marzapan. They make good souvenirs because you don't have to worry about breakage in your suitcase. They are a bit pricy.

Near Plaza San Francisco, is Rosales Ines which I love.

You can find similar items at Corte Ingles a bit cheaper. Valor chocolates are pretty good too. There were some dried fruits with nuts sort of similar to Italian pan forte which we brought home. We shopped at Corte Ingles for food souvenirs toward the end of our trip.

Saffron-sorry but you can buy saffron from Spain for $8-15 per gram on Amazon. You won’t save buying it in Spain.