Mercado de Verónicas Market Tour and Cooking Class

The Mercado de Verónicas Market Tour and Cooking Class, offered by Cocina Murciana, is a four-hour experience that begins at the Plaza de las Flores entrance to Murcia's most celebrated covered market and closes with a shared lunch of the dishes prepared in the school's teaching kitchen. Cocina Murciana has been running culinary classes near the market for over a decade, building a programme around the traditional recipes and seasonal produce of the Murcia region.

The session begins with a guided tour of the Mercado de Verónicas, a nineteenth-century market building housing stalls selling fresh produce, fish, and charcuterie of the Segura river valley. The instructor points out the seasonal rhythm of Murcian vegetables — the artichokes and broad beans of late winter, the tomatoes and aubergines of summer — and helps participants select that day's ingredients. Ingredient costs of approximately €8–€12 per person are included in the class price. The market visit typically lasts around 45 minutes.

The group then moves to the Cocina Murciana teaching kitchen for a hands-on session covering two iconic Murcian preparations. The first is caldero rice, a saffron-scented fish and rice dish traditionally linked to the fishing communities along the Mar Menor lagoon, cooked in a wide pan with layered stages of stock reduction. The second is zarangollo, a courgette and egg scramble that appears on virtually every tapas menu in the city. The instructor demonstrates each technique, then guides participants through replicating it with time for questions at each stage.

The session closes with a shared lunch of both prepared dishes accompanied by a glass of regional white or rosado wine. A printed recipe booklet is provided for each participant. The class price of €75 covers the market visit, ingredient costs, the kitchen session, the shared lunch, and wine. Classes are delivered in Spanish with English assistance available on request; a fully English-language private session can be arranged for groups of four or more. Dietary substitutions, including vegetarian versions of both dishes, are accommodated with 48 hours' notice. The class runs Monday to Saturday only, as the Mercado de Verónicas is closed on Sundays.