{{short description|Cheesecake or stuffed pastry from Spanish cuisine}} {{Unreliable sources|date=January 2021}} {{Infobox prepared food | name = Flaó | image = Flaons de morella1.JPG | image_size = 250px | caption = ''Flaons de Morella'' with a filling of cottage cheese (''brull'') | alternate_name = | country = | region = Levante, Spain | creator = | course = | type = Cheesecake/Pie | served = | main_ingredient = Cheese, sugar or honey, jam, dough | variations = | calories = | other = }}
'''Flaó''' (plural '''flaons''', {{IPA|ca|fləˈons|pron}}) is a cheesecake or tart found in Spanish cuisine popular from Levante.<ref>{{cite book |last=Goldstein |first=Darra |title=Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets |publisher=Oxford University Press}}</ref> It is claimed by Majorca, Ibiza and Formentera, with some controversy.<ref>{{cite book |last=Sevilla |first=María José |title=Delicioso: History of Food in Spain |date=2019 |publisher=Reaktion Books |page=293 |isbn=978-1-78914-189-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c1WsDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA293}}</ref> Traditionally flaons were part of Easter family celebrations in Menorca, but now they are available all year round.{{cn|date=January 2021}}
In some regions flaons are a type of crescent-shaped pie filled with jam and honey in Calasseit, Tarragona, or some type of cheese, varying according to the location. Honey was used traditionally, but in modern times sweet flaons are usually sweetened with sugar. Historically, the first recorded mention of these cakes is from 1252 and they are mentioned as well in Ramon Llull's book ''Blanquerna'', written in 1283.<ref>{{cite book |last=Betí |first=Lluís Gimeno |title=De lexicografía valenciana |date=1998 |publisher=Publicacions de l'Abadia de Montserrat |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LvTIUHsftI0C&pg=PA175 |page=175 |isbn=978-84-8415-034-3 |language=Catalan}}</ref>
==Variants==
===Alt Maestrat=== In the Alt Maestrat and Ports areas the cake has a semicircular shape and it is filled with a mixture of local cottage cheese ''(brull)'' and ground almonds flavored with aguardiente and mistela.<ref>[http://cocina.facilisimo.com/foros/postres/flaons-pastiset-tipico-de-morella_602720.html Flaons de Morella] {{in lang|es}}{{dead-link|date=January 2021}}</ref> The flaons of Morella are the gastronomic icon of the ancient city. An average-sized Morella flaó is about 12 cm long.
===Ibiza and Formentera=== The ''flaó d'Eivissa'' has a circular shape and has a filling of sheep or goat cottage cheese, eggs and sugar, slightly aromatized with peppermint leaves and aniseed.<ref>[http://www.whatibiza.com/ibiza-food.html Ibiza Food]</ref> Flaons are usually eaten along with a glass of sweet wine or the local Liqueur ''frígola'', a thyme-based digestive beverage.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.illesbalears.es/ing/balearicislands/cuisine2.jsp?SEC=GAS&id=00000348&lang=0004 |title=Flaó and Greixonera |access-date=2010-11-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110919144914/http://www.illesbalears.es/ing/balearicislands/cuisine2.jsp?SEC=GAS&id=00000348&lang=0004 |archive-date=2011-09-19 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
===Menorca=== The ''flaó de Menorca'' is a pastry made with tender Maó cheese, wheat flour, olive oil and yeast. Often they include egg and a little lard in the recipe. Good Menorca flaons have to be very puffy in the middle. There are salty and sweet versions of this pastry in Menorca. Some of them have a filling, while in others all the ingredients are mixed together.<ref>[http://www.ajmao.org/Contingut.aspx?IdPub=2095&Seccio=6 Rebosteria Típica - Ajuntament de Maó]</ref>
===Matarranya=== The '''flaonets de Calaceit''' ({{langx|ca|flaonets}} = little flaons) are made in Calaceit, a town of La Franja region of Aragon. They are a different kind of pastry despite their name, for instead of cheese these small pastries have a filling based on pumpkin jam and honey.<ref>Lluís Gimeno Betí, ''De lexicografía valenciana'', in ''De las ciencias auxiliares de la Historia a la cultura escrita'' ed. by Francisco M. Gimeno Blay, 1999, Publicacions de la Universitat de València, {{ISBN|978-84-370-3931-2}}</ref> These ''flaonets'' were one of the traditional Spanish pastries fondly remembered by painter Salvador Dalí.<ref>Jaume Fàbrega, ''Dalícies: a taula amb Salvador Dalí'', Cossetània Edicions {{ISBN|84-9791-001-X}}</ref>
==Gallery== <gallery perrow="5"> File:Flaó Eivissa.jpg|''Flaó d'Eivissa'' made in Ibiza File:Flaó de Menorca.jpg|''Flaó de Menorca'' from Menorca </gallery>
==See also== * Flaouna
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * [https://web.archive.org/web/20101124212601/http://www.morella.net/morella/conocenos/gastronomia_de_morella Gastronomia de Morella] * [http://www.spain-recipes.com/balearic-recipes.html Balearic Recipes] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20110706214934/http://paper.avui.cat/article/societat/187285/flaons.html Els Flaons - Avui] * [https://trishsfoodadventures.blogspot.com/2009/04/my-familys-flaounes.html My Family's Flaounes]
{{pastries}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Flao}} Category:Cuisine of Ibiza Category:Mediterranean cuisine Category:Ports (comarca) Category:Spanish pastries Category:Cheesecakes Category:Stuffed desserts Category:Pies