Botelo: Protected Geographical Indication and Festival of Tourist Interest of Galicia

The Xunta (regional government of Galicia), after including the botelo under a Protected Geographical Indication, defined it this way: “The botelo, known in some areas of Galicia as butelo, is a meat product resulting from the mixture of ribs (minimum 70%) and pork rinds, lean meat, head bones and other bones with meat (backbone and other bones with meat, never more than 15% of the total), obtained from the carving up of pork. These elements are marinated and stuffed into pig cecums, stomachs or bladders, which are then smoked with oak wood and cured. They are consumed after cooking.”*

The weight of the botelo is variable, ranging between 500 grams and 2 kilos if cecum or bladder casings are used (in other parts of Galicia), and between 1 and 5 kilos if stomachs are used. The area where the botelo is traditionally produced is clearly determined by the Protected Geographical Indication, in the eastern part of Orense.

*Order of 6 February 2009 adopting the favourable decision regarding the application for registration of the protected geographical indication Botelo de Galicia and publishing its specifications.

http://www.xunta.es/dog/publicados/2009/20090212/Anuncio9506_es.pdf

A few years later, the Galician Tourism Agency published the resolution of 27 October 2014 in the Official Journal of Galicia (DOG), ordering the publication of the Acuerdo del Consello de la Xunta de Galicia of October 23, 2014, declaring the Festa do Botelo of O Barco de Valdeorras as a Festival of Tourist Interest of Galicia. The Festa do Botelo is held in January in the O Barco de Valdeorras (Orense) municipality.

http://www.xunta.es/dog/publicados/2014/20141104/AnuncioG0256-271014-0001_es.pdf