Live News From Spain As It Happens

EVEN though the festive season is now over for most of the world, the great news for anyone spending the holidays in Spain is that the country makes use of the full 12 days of Christmas – presents are given on the night of January 5 when the Magi parade through towns, or the Three Kings, as they are known uniquely here, and the following day is a public holiday.

Which means there's more celebrating to be done in Spain, despite New Year's Eve being behind us.

And for January 6, or 'Three Kings day', two key ingredients make up these celebrations: Roscón de Reyes and cava.

A Roscón de Reyes is a huge, circular cake, made from doughnut-like pastry, topped with candied fruit and sugar and, sometimes, cut in half and filled with cream.

And although cava is often treated as a poor relation to champagne and prosecco in Europe, a good-quality version can cost at least a week's salary – so it's definitely not, despite its unfortunate international reputation, a 'bargain basement' alternative to the 'real thing'.

That said, as cava is home-made from nationally-grown grapes, it does not have to be expensive and, as is often the case with Spanish wines sold within the country's borders rather than imported, price does not always bear any relation to flavour and quality. It's perfectly possible to spend very little and still get a very decent cava to mark the passage of Balthazar, Casper and Melchior this coming Friday.

One of Spain's leading consumer organisations, the OCU, gives its verdict every year on which are the best supermarket-bought Roscones de Reyes and cava – and, as these differ annually and prices vary, it is always worth checking which makes the cut before purchasing.

The group analysed nine Roscones and 25 brands of cava, and has revealed which are its top two of the former and the best two for under €3 among the latter.

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com