Stocked and ready A sweet stamp

THE Spanish Postal service has launched a new stamp dedicated to the most fa‐mous cake in the Balearic Is‐lands ‐ the ensaimada.

The new Correos stamp is part of a series entitled ‘Gas‐tronomy: Spain in 19 dishes’ showing the most famous meals and desserts of each autonomous community plus Ceuta and Melilla.

Past designs have fea ‐tured Andalucia’s gazpacho, Valencia’s paella and Madrid’s cocido madrileño, among others.

The series was designed in collaboration with the Royal Gastronomy Acade‐my, with the first stamp showing Extremadura’s lamb caldereta issued in July 2020.

Baked in Mallorca since the 17th century, the en‐saimada is a round pastry confection made with strong flour, water, sugar, eggs, mother dough and a kind of reduced pork lard named saïm in Catalan, which gives it its name.

It was granted Specific De‐nomination of Origin status in 1996 and in 2003 the Balearic Islands Govern‐ment officially recognised the ensaimada mallorquina as a Protected Geographical Indication.

This is not the first time Correos has paid homage to Balearic Islands cuisine, as commemorative stamps were issued in March 2021 dedicated to Mallorca olive oil and Mahon cheese.

THE Balearic Islands are ful‐ly stocked up on medical supplies in the event of an‐other pandemic.

Regional health depart‐ment IB‐Salut has reported that the arrival of Covid has changed the way sanitary material is purchased and stored on the islands, and that the service now has a large, centralised ware ‐house stocked with all the necessary personal protec‐tive equipment ‐ the fa ‐mous PPE ‐ and other emergency sanitary prod‐ucts to face any eventuali‐ty.

Spokespeople for IB ‐Salut explain that the previ‐ous system, known as ‘just in time’ and based on im ‐porting smaller amounts of