Gazpacho

What it is

A cold, raw, emulsified soup of tomato, cucumber, pepper, garlic, bread, olive oil and vinegar, served chilled. The bread and oil turn it from juice into something with body.

Known locally as Gazpacho andaluz.

Traditional tomato

No single historical cultivar. Andalusian cooks use large, very ripe, low-acid summer tomatoes; earlier versions of the dish contained no tomato at all.

Method

Tested by the desk

1. Chop 1kg of very ripe tomatoes, half a cucumber, one green pepper and one small garlic clove. Add 60g of stale bread torn into pieces.
2. Salt it, and leave it to sit for thirty minutes so the salt draws juice and softens the bread.
3. Blend until completely smooth, then pour in 100ml of olive oil with the motor running so it emulsifies and pales.
4. Add sherry vinegar cautiously — a tablespoon, then taste. Pass through a sieve if you want it silken. Chill hard, and check the salt again cold.

Our own method, in our own words, cooked in our own kitchen.

Origins

Descends from older Andalusian bread-and-oil pounded soups that predate the tomato in Europe entirely; the tomato joined once it became common in Spanish kitchens, and the modern smooth, tomato-red form is comparatively recent.

Field notes

No field notes filed from Andalusia yet.

The Ledger

No cook or grower has yet put a record against this dish. When one does, the varieties actually used will appear here — with who recorded them and how firmly.

Audio dispatches

No dispatch has been recorded around this dish yet.

Sources

• Tomato — Solanum lycopersicum, history and spread — Encyclopaedia Britannica, accessed 2026-08-09

Documented by The Tomato Post desk · last checked 2026-08-09 · The Tomato Post is not a ratings or review platform