Every November from 1894 onwards, José Lopez Bernabeu came to Menorca to sell the turrón (a kind of nougat) that he had made, with the new September almonds.

Turrón has always been made in Jijona because of the area's dry microclimate. In other places, like Toledo, marzipan was made, but the Jijona and Alicante denomination of origin for turrón does not cover turrón that is not made in the little village of Jijona (Alicante).

Every year, the people waited for him and sometimes the journalists of the time reported his arrival. It was something very much looked forward to because people ate this food for Christmas, including some who were only able to buy the crumbs made when he cut the bars to sell them by weight. Those were different times!

One of his daughters married the ice-cream maker José Miquel Arques, who made and sold ice-cream, horchata (a drink made with tiger nuts) and granizados (frozen fruit drinks). They only used to come in the turrón season, but when the first tourists arrived they decided to establish themselves in Mahón for more months during the year, around the 1950s or a little before.

Once they were established, they made ice-cream, horchata and granizados during the whole year, always with natural products and with a quality that made them stand out.. The turrón was still made in Jijona, because of the climate and the machinery and, in November every year, "El Turronero (The Turrón Maker) arrived to sell his turrón.

My father, Fernando Miquel and my mother, Maria, and now I, Montse Miquel, together with my husband José, have continued to make ice-cream, horchata, granizado and turrón, with the same quality as always, but with more modern machinery than my great-grandparents had.

Montse Miquel Roige.