One of the nicest side-effects of an active holiday spent walking, hiking or cycling is a whopping calorie deficit at the end of the day. Also, when you’ve been climbing hills and trekking trails in the great outdoors all day, presumably you’ve worked up a healthy appetite. And let’s face it, if you’re doing all this in another country, trying the local cuisine is part of learning about the culture, right? In Portugal, one of the tastiest ways to address all of these points is also the sweetest, because desserts are a revered part of life here.
It is practically a responsible adventure traveler’s duty to belly up to the bakery bar. I’m just sayin’.
You’ve probably heard by now of the Portuguese egg custard tarts (pastéis de nata, or Pastéis de Belém, if they are from the eponymous Lisbon bakery near the Monastery of Jerónimos where they originated). If you don’t try one of these when you’re in Portugal, can you really even say you were there? Bonus points if they are warm from the oven, sprinkled with cinnamon and powdered sugar.
While pastéis de nata may be the most famous, nearly every town and region in the country has a sweet that it is known for, based on centuries-old recipes and often hard to find in other places. You should definitely sample them all (calorie deficit, remember?). But be warned: Traditional Portuguese sweets are almost all based on egg yolks. The good monks and nuns who came up with these devilish concoctions had an excess of yolks on their hands, because the whites were used to starch habits and to clarify and stabilize red wine. To this bounty they threw in a LOT of sugar and sometimes some almonds. With this basic combo of ingredients they somehow managed to come up with pastries in a dazzling array of shapes and textures. The resulting “convent sweets” often have funny names, like “angel’s chin chub” (papo d’anjo) or “nun’s bellies” (barrigas da freira), and are intensely sweet and dense.
These are the ones everyone talks about, but if you didn’t grow up with these flavors, they are so rich and so very sweet and eggy that you may find you can only eat a few bites. What’s a hungry active traveler to do? You’re putting in kilometers a day; you’re going to need some energy. Here are some popular but less-publicized Portuguese treats to look out for:
1) Mousse is a favorite here. Chocolate is ubiquitous, but mango or passion fruit (maracujá) might also be on the menu.
2) Camel’s Drool (baba de camelo) doesn’t sound appetizing, but it is a condensed milk caramel pudding that will make your eyes roll back in your head, if you like that kind of thing.
3) Chocolate salami is a fudgy roll studded with broken bits of a plain Maria cookie, usually wrapped in silvery foil and served in round slices. There’s no lunchmeat involved; it only looks like its namesake. Apparently it originated in Sicily, but don’t tell the Portuguese. Sometimes it contains nuts and/or alcohol (Port wine, HELLO!), so check ingredients if that is a concern.
4) Bolas de Berlim (Berlin balls) are plump doughnuts with no hole, which came to Portugal from Germany with World War II refugees. These were typically sold by vendors on the beach in the summer, so they have nostalgic appeal for the Portuguese. Traditionally they were rolled in sugar, and came plain or filled with pastry creme, but nowadays you can find them with all kinds of fillings. Think (or, since they are also known as sonhos, dream about) apple, Nutella, chocolate, strawberry jam….
5) Fruit. Didn’t expect that one, did you? Traditional Portuguese restaurants usually have fresh exotic and seasonal fruit on the dessert menu, and it is such a pleasure to have fruit served already expertly peeled and sliced, not to mention chosen at its peak of ripe perfection. It’s amazing that something so healthy can feel so decadent. Mango is particularly incredible. Strawberries and raspberries are served with or without chantilly (whipped cream), as you like it. Two Portuguese fruit specialties deserve an extra shout out: First, the fruit salad here is a revelation. It bears no relationship to the canned, institutional fruit cocktail some unfortunates might be familiar with. It’s fresh, and in fresh juice, not syrup. And second, Portuguese baked apples are so good. They are usually made with Reineta apples, a bit of an ugly duckling when you see it in the produce aisle, but baked with a little sugar, cinnamon and a dash of Port, mmmm…. No ice cream needed.
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By Holly Blades