In Andalusia, most gazpacho include stale bread, tomato, cucumbers, onion, capsicum, garlic, olive oil, wine vinegar, water, and salt. Northern recipes often include cumin and/or pimentón (smoked sweet paprika). Traditionally, gazpacho was made by pounding the vegetables in a mortar with a pestle; this more laborious method is still sometimes used as it helps keep the gazpacho cool and avoids the foam and completely smooth consistency created by blenders or food processors. A traditional way of preparation is to pound garlic cloves in a mortar, add a little soaked stale bread, then olive oil and salt, to make a paste. Next, very ripe tomatoes and vinegar are added to this paste. In the days before refrigeration the gazpacho was left in an unglazed earthenware pot to cool by evaporation, with the addition of some water.
Gazpacho may be served alone or with garnishes, such as hard-boiled eggs, chopped ham (in the salmorejo variety from Córdoba), chopped almonds, cumin crushed with mint, orange segments, finely chopped green capsicum, onion, tomato or cucumber. In Extremadura, local ham was added to the gazpacho itself rather than as a garnish, this is called gazpacho extremeño. Andalusian sources say that gazpacho should be slightly chilled, but not iced.