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The most traditional sweets at this time of year are the polvorones (crumbly almond sweets), mantecados (similar to polvorones but not so dry), alfajores (yet another almond sweet), turr�n, marzipans and other delights which we tend to find rather too many of in that marvellous invention which arrives home every year: the famous Christmas basket with its hotchpotch of products with unrecognisable brands.

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However we don�t have to eat whatever�s put in front of us; we can make them ourselves. This time of year reminds me of a tradition my mother had, which involved eating thirteen sweets which stayed on the table right through the meal as a sign of good luck. Thirteen was a lucky number where she was from, because at the last supper there were twelve plus one.
In my family all the women, except my daughter who is still taking advantage of her father's stupidity, makes a sweet. And the number is made up to thirteen with nuts, orejones (dried apricots), figs, and creams to dip all of them in, and turrones. Real turrones ! Not those strange things they are bringing out nowadays, which tend to disorient me and make me wonder whether I�m in Spain or somewhere in Asia.

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But in this time of calorific overkill, it is difficult to forget about chocolate guirlaches (a sort of chocolate coated nut brittle), or turr�n de C�diz (more marzipan than turr�n), or marzipan eels which looked at us with their sugar drop eyes and which I took so long to get round to trying. Before I knew how good they tasted, we had eyed each other up endlessly until my breath steamed up the window.

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Of course between meals the best thing to do is to turn to oranges, which are at their peak now and are a joy to eat with their unseasonable taste of the Mediterranean heat. And which are also terribly good for you, what with their vitamins and other things, but they should be munched, not drunk as juice .

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But if we want to know something about the traditional sweets from each area, we could do a lot worse than to leaf through Jos� Carlos Capel�s book -Golden Age Gluttony published by R&B-; on the subject, which also tells us the best places to buy them.