One of the most famous dishes of Spanish cuisine is gazpacho, the national cold soup that has become well-known throughout the world. It exemplifies the sunlight, color and easy living we associate with Spain.

However, gazpacho is not the only soup of its kind. We can mention other specialties like salmorejo, porra, ajoblanco and soups made with chopped green vegetables and aromatic herbs. These are all part of an age-old Spanish culinary defense against the torrid months of summer.

To protect themselves against the scorching heat, the Spanish have traditionally resorted to a canny combination of shade, shutters, fans, straw hats and botijos, earthenware containers, either plain or artfully decorated, that keep water cool. But a favorite way to beat the heat is with a cold soup: practical, imaginative and highly effective. When enjoying such a dish, who cares if the temperature keeps rising?

Origins
In Spanish lands, cold soups have been considered since ancient times an important way of hydrating the body, combining a saline solution with valuable antiseptic ingredients such as garlic, wine vinegar and salt itself. In Roman Hispania, almond milk was consumed in large amounts. The almonds were crushed in a mortar with garlic and salt, thinned with water, then combined with virgin olive oil and pieces of bread. This was the forerunner of the Spanish soup ajoblanco that is still eaten today. Another primitive ancestor of Jewish origin was what could be called "green gazpacho." In modern variations, green vegetables such as lettuce, escarole and other wild plants like asparagus are added to provide an enticing touch of bitterness. These rustic vibrant green gazpachos survive in the mountains of Malaga province, overlooking the Mediterranean, in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. Their ingredients include campion, which grows abundantly under olive trees in springtime, brookweed (Samolus valerandi), smooth sow-thistle (Sonchus oleraceus L.), rocket (Eruca vesicaria cavanilles ssp), plants of the chicory family like dandelion (Taraxacum officinale Weber), skeleton weed (Chondrilla juncea L.) and fennel (Foeniculum vulgare Miller), among many others. All the plants for green gazpacho can be picked during walks in the country, just as shepherds and nomads would have done in ancient times. The greens form an exuberant ensemble when immersed in the table "pool," an earthenware container filled with cool water, drawn perhaps from the patio well, and seasoned like any other gazpacho with oil from local picual or Velez Malaga olives, sherry vinegar and sea salt.

The Arabs lived in Spanish lands for eight centuries, from 700 until the departure of the Moorish king Boabdil. This latter event, in 1492, brought to an end an extraordinarily important era in Spanish cuisine. During this long period, the peoples of Damascus, Toledo and Cordoba, as well as those from other Christian-Arab kingdoms, introduced some very sophisticated recipes and cooking methods. For example, extensive use of the almireces, a highly decorated bronze mortar and pestle, improved the texture of the Romans' cold almond soup, giving rise to the definitive version of ajoblanco, satiny and subtly flavored, that is still served today. In contemporary times, a whole variety of ingredients has been added: fresh white grapes, small pieces of apple and even fried anchovies. These imaginative additions have produced a wide range of textures, making this nourishing white gazpacho a unique dish.

Over the course of history, the trading activities of early Spanish adventurers in the newly-discovered Americas would provide cold soups with their most characteristic color: tomato red. Tomatoes are a perfect vegetable for cold soups, since they provide a great deal of water, acidity with a touch of sweetness, and the scent and flavor of non-irrigated gardens, which all blend wonderfully with their elegant color.

Mistakes to avoid
We've noticed that non-Spanish cooks and writers sometimes interpret Spanish cold soups incorrectly, erroneously applying the name "gazpacho" to dishes that should be given a more generic term. The errors usually consist of adding aromatic and coloring ingredients, even thickeners, that only debase the final product.

Never add tomato paste to gazpacho to give it more color and flavor: the traditional natural character of gazpacho comes from using only fresh raw ingredients. The tomatoes must be ripe, red and flavorful. Even the fresh natural properties of a relatively pale and bland tomato are still better than adulteration with superfluous ingredients.

Don't add paprika, pepper and other spices to make the gazpacho more intense and robust - doing so will only alter the excellent properties of this cold soup, whose flavor, aroma and freshness depends solely on the traditional ingredients. The only seasonings necessary for gazpacho are olive oil, preferably Spanish and extra virgin, a very good wine vinegar (sherry vinegar being the ideal), good quality garlic, sea salt and - in some regional variations - a little ground cumin: no more nor less. Do not add ice cubes to chill cold soups. We're in the habit of wanting things ice-cold; furthermore, we're impatient. However dishes that are simply cool, that is, slightly colder than room temperature, are generally more refreshing than very cold dishes. But the most important thing is to not disrupt the dish's internal structure. The combination of a liquid fat (olive oil) with two kinds of liquid (crushed vegetables and cold water) produces an emulsion that binds two very different ingredients into one delicious texture. Beating it either by hand or with a blender achieves the miracle of this cold soup: a smooth, satiny texture of unequalled sensual richness. Ice cubes, as they melt, will only create little puddles of water floating on the surface, which will not blend into the emulsion. For a quick cold soup, you could add cracked or crushed ice at the beginning instead of using water.

Thickening the soup with starch or other thickeners is another flagrant error. Since ancient times, foods rich in oil, such as nuts (almonds in particular, though walnuts and hazelnuts as well) have been used in Mediterranean cooking as thickening agents to change the consistency of sauces and other dishes. Just like olive, sesame or other grain oils, garlic also possesses these emulsifying properties when it is correctly blended with certain liquids. Bread and bread products have also been used to alter textures. For all these reasons, it is appropriate to observe the fundamental principles of classical Mediterranean cuisines. Use only these nutritious and functional ingredients and forget about flours and starches that destroy the pleasure that only an authentic dish, with a long historic pedigree, can offer.