26 Portuguese fruit and honey sweets
Preserves, fruit pastes, stuffed dried fruits and confections whose identity is defined by fruit, grape must or honey.
Before refrigeration, sugar, honey and slow cooking extended the life of a harvest. Marmalades and preserves concentrated fruit; arroubo reduced grape must and seasonal produce without added sugar; dried figs, almonds and pine nuts turned surplus crops into portable sweets.
The family spans Portugal: Odivelas White Quince Paste preserves a convent legacy, Elvas plums keep whole fruit in syrup, reinetada gives new value to Colares apples, and Algarve confectioners shape figs and almonds into cheeses, stars and small confections.
Four ways into the family
Catalogue image Colares Reineta Apple Paste
A concentrated Colares Reineta apple product whose formula is unpublished.
Sintra
Catalogue image Odivelas White Quince Paste PGI
An almost-white convent quince paste, firm enough to slice and protected by PGI.
Lisbon
Catalogue image Elvas Plums
Protected Rainha Cláudia Verde greengages sold fresh, dried or candied—the sweet form requires at least seven days of slow candying.
The Alentejo
Catalogue image Arroubo Grape-Must Preserve
Must reduced slowly—alone as syrup or with fruit as uvada—in terminology that varies among sources and localities.
Lisbon26 Portuguese fruit and honey sweets
Open each record for origin, ingredients, flavour, history, variations, season, where to try it and sources.
Catalogue image Régua Ferreirinha Bonbons
Gila, raisins, almond and pine nuts scented with Port beneath a thin chocolate shell.
The North
Catalogue image Bravo de Esmolfe Apple Preserve
Beira Alta's intensely fragrant native apple transformed into a golden cinnamon preserve.
The Centre
Catalogue image Portuguese Sour-Cherry Preserve
Pitted sour cherries cooked with sugar into a vivid, bittersweet ruby preserve.
The West Catalogue image Colares Reineta Apple Paste
A concentrated Colares Reineta apple product whose formula is unpublished.
Sintra Catalogue image Arroubo Grape-Must Preserve
Must reduced slowly—alone as syrup or with fruit as uvada—in terminology that varies among sources and localities.
Lisbon
Catalogue image Cascais Boat Tarts
Fine pastry boats with Rocha pear, almonds, seaweed and Carcavelos wine.
Lisbon Catalogue image Odivelas White Quince Paste PGI
An almost-white convent quince paste, firm enough to slice and protected by PGI.
Lisbon
Catalogue image Portuguese Água-mel Syrup
Water that recovers honey from combs after extraction, filtered and reduced for hours to 70–77° Brix.
The Alentejo
Catalogue image Alcomonias
Toasted coarse wheat flour, honey and pine nuts spread and cut into diamonds.
The Alentejo Catalogue image Elvas Plums
Protected Rainha Cláudia Verde greengages sold fresh, dried or candied—the sweet form requires at least seven days of slow candying.
The Alentejo
Catalogue image Alcácer Pine-Nut Pinhoada
Alcácer honey and pine nuts spread into a thin slab, cut into diamonds and protected by folded paper.
The Alentejo
Catalogue image Algarve Orange Preserve
Algarve orange flesh, juice and fine peel concentrated into a sunny, bittersweet preserve.
The Algarve
Catalogue image Fig Stars
Two dried figs opened into stars, held with almonds and toasted.
The Algarve
Catalogue image Stuffed Figs
A whole dried fig filled with almond, sugar, chocolate and spices, then toasted.
The Algarve
Catalogue image Portuguese Strawberry-Tree Jelly
Strawberry-tree fruit, water and sugar in a jelly studied by the University of Algarve.
The Algarve
Catalogue image Fig Morgado
Toasted dried fig and almond bound with sugar and chocolate, shaped as a cheese or other figures.
The Algarve
Catalogue image Silves Fig-and-Almond Sweets
Small moulded dried-fig and almond sweets, distinct from Queijo de Figo.
The Algarve
Catalogue image Fig Cheese
No cheese at all: dried figs and almonds, pressed into a dark wheel.
The Algarve
Catalogue image Azorean Capucho Jam
An Azorean preserve of capucho, the golden berry locally known as rebuçado.
The Azores
Catalogue image Portuguese Pumpkin and Walnut Preserve
Pumpkin and sugar cooked into a preserve, with walnuts added before filling the jars.
Nationwide
Catalogue image Portuguese Fig Preserve
Ripe figs cooked with sugar, lemon and cinnamon into a dark, seeded, aromatic preserve.
Nationwide
Catalogue image Portuguese Tomato Jam
Ripe tomatoes, sugar and cinnamon transformed into a glossy, ruby, unexpectedly fruity preserve.
Nationwide
Catalogue image Portuguese Quince Jelly
A translucent ruby jelly made from pectin-rich quince peel, cores and cooking liquid.
Nationwide
Catalogue image Portuguese Baked Apples
Cored apples baked whole with sugar and an aromatic liquid.
Nationwide
Catalogue image Portuguese Quince Paste
Quince and sugar slowly cooked into a firm, sliceable ruby paste.
Nationwide
Catalogue image Portuguese Red-Wine Poached Pears
Whole pears gently poached in red wine, sugar and spices.
NationwideQuestions about this family
What are fruit & honey sweets?
Preserves, fruit pastes, stuffed dried fruits and confections whose identity is defined by fruit, grape must or honey.
How many sweets are in this category?
The catalogue contains 26 specialities in this family. Every record includes origin, ingredients, flavour, history, variations, season, where to try it and sources.
Where should I begin?
A useful first selection is Colares Reineta Apple Paste, Odivelas White Quince Paste PGI, Elvas Plums, Arroubo Grape-Must Preserve. The complete collection below also reveals lesser-known local specialities.