Mercado de Abastos de Cuenca
Tucked into a handsome early-20th-century building just off the Plaza Mayor, Cuenca's covered Mercado de Abastos is where the city's cooks shop for morteruelo spice paste, locally cured manchego, and wild mushrooms foraged from the surrounding pine forests. It is small, unhurried and completely authentic.
What to look for inside
The market's dozen or so permanent stalls specialise in the produce of Castilla-La Mancha: whole legs of serrano ham, wheels of DOP Manchego at various stages of curing, pungent saffron sold by the gram, and the region's distinctive alajú (a dense nougat of honey, walnuts and spices wrapped in unleavened bread).
Ask any of the butchers for morteruelo — a thick, dark pâté of game meats, liver and spices that is Cuenca's most emblematic cold-weather dish. Many stalls sell it ready-made in jars to take home as a genuinely local edible souvenir.
Best time to visit and nearby eating
Saturday morning between 09:00 and 12:00 is the liveliest session, when local farmers bring seasonal produce directly to the market. The atmosphere is relaxed and stallholders are happy to let you taste before you buy.
After shopping, walk 50 metres to the Bar Mangana on Calle Colón for a glass of local Manchuela red wine and a plate of zarajos (grilled lamb intestines wound around a vine shoot) — a classic Cuencan tapa that divides opinion but defines the city's food culture.
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