São Martinho Honey Broas
Also known as: Honey and aniseed broas · All Saints' broas · São Martinho broas
The honey-and-aniseed cookie that smells of bonfires and autumn.
- Origin
- Popular sweet of the Lisbon and Tagus Valley region and central Portugal, tied to the autumn feasts (All Saints', São Martinho and Christmas)
- Region
- Lisbon
- Season
- Autumn and winter — especially São Martinho (November) and Christmas
Honey broas are small, rustic, dark and fragrant biscuits that appear on tables around Lisbon when the cold sets in and the first chestnut bonfire is lit. They have none of the polish of shop-window pastry: they are irregular and flat, with the matte sheen of honey and a deep aroma of aniseed and cinnamon.
They come straight from the autumn larder — honey, spices, dried fruit and nuts — and are made in batches to last the season. This is the sweet that goes with roast chestnuts and the year's new wine, more for nibbling out of hand than for serving on a plate.
Every bite releases the warm scent of aniseed, their unmistakable signature and what sets them apart from Portugal's many other regional broas.
- Wheat flour
- Honey
- Sugar
- Aniseed (fennel/anise seeds)
- Cinnamon
- Olive oil or butter
- Egg
- Walnuts or almonds
- Raisins
Sweet without ever cloying, with the rounded sweetness of honey tempered by cinnamon and, above all, by the fresh, faintly liquorice bite of aniseed. The texture is firm and crisp on the outside and denser within, with the rustic crunch of walnuts and the moist note of raisins.
There are almost as many recipes as there are kitchens: some use olive oil and turn out more rustic and longer-keeping, others use butter and come out softer; some add orange or aguardente, and many swap or add almonds or pine nuts to the walnuts — pine nuts being the hallmark of the broas de Almeirim. The constant is the pairing of honey and aniseed.
They are rare in shop windows and live mostly in homes, autumn fairs and the neighbourhood and school magustos around 11 November. Look for them in traditional bakeries and pastry shops and in the markets of Lisbon and the Ribatejo at that time of year, or ask the recipe from someone who still makes them at home.
The classic match is água-pé or the new wine of the magusto and a handful of roast chestnuts; out of season, they go well with black tea or a strong coffee.
Honey broas belong to the family of traditional broas of the Lisbon and Tagus Valley region — such as those of Almeirim, Torres Novas or Abrantes — made with flour, honey, olive oil, dried fruit and nuts, and spices. They are sweets of the autumn and winter feasts: eaten above all at Christmas and, in many areas, on All Saints' Day (hence the name "broas dos Santos") and around São Martinho on 11 November, when the magusto brings together roast chestnuts and the year's wine.
They should not be confused with Madeira's broas de mel de cana, a Christmas biscuit made with cane molasses and of a different history. The Lisbon-region ones are humble fare, largely home-made, passed from house to house and from village to city, which is why they vary so much from one recipe to the next.
Sources: tradicional.dgadr.gov.pt · en.wikipedia.org · pt.wikipedia.org · iguaria.com