Fig Stars
Also known as: Fig and Almond Stars · Algarve Fig Stars · Portimão Fig-and-Almond Stars
The cotio fig split into a star, almonds gleaming at its points.
- Origin
- Folk confectionery of the Algarve · tied to All Saints' Day
- Region
- Lagos
- Season
- All Saints' Day (1 November); now year-round
Fig Stars are among the most pared-back and honest sweets of the Algarve: nothing but dried fig and almond, with no sugar, no flour and no eggs. A flattened cotio fig is given four cuts from the edge inwards, opening it out into a star; a whole almond is set at each point and the whole thing is capped with a second fig cut the same way. The little parcel, some four to five centimetres across, then goes into the oven to roast slowly over a low heat.
The heat concentrates the fig's natural sugars and toasts the almond, giving each star a dark-golden colour and a deep aroma of caramelised dried fruit. They are sometimes scented with aniseed, which lends a discreet liquorice-like note.
They are eaten by hand as an afternoon or festive nibble, often with a small glass of aguardente. In Lagos they have been, for generations, a sweet for giving and for festival days — a modest luxury made from what the land had already laid by for winter.
- Dried figs of the cotio variety
- Whole almonds
- Aniseed (optional)
Intensely and naturally sweet, with the concentrated flavour of roasted fig and the toasted bitterness of almond; the texture is dense and chewy on the outside, crisp where the nut sits, with a faint aniseed edge when it is used.
Closely related versions are made right across the Algarve, the sibling sweet being Figos Cheios ("stuffed figs"), where the fig is filled with almond — and sometimes chocolate or cinnamon — and closed into a ball rather than opened into a star. Some scent them with aniseed, while others prefer blanched almonds.
Look for them in the Algarve's traditional grocers and confectioners, at markets and fairs, and in regional hampers, especially around All Saints' Day; Lagos and the fig-growing inland Algarve are where you are most likely to taste them freshly made.
Traditionally with a small glass of aguardente or medronho; they also sit well with a sweet Algarve wine or a strong coffee.
The fig and almond trees, planted side by side across the Algarve's fields, yielded long-keeping fruit that quickly became a prized food in lean seasons, above all in winter. Once the harvest was in, fig and almond came together in these simple treats, given to family and friends and tasted on All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day with a glass of aguardente. On the 1st of November it was also the custom for children to go door to door, cloth bag or little basket in hand, asking "for the Saints" or for the souls of the dead, and receiving these stars among other sweets.
In Lagos the tradition has stayed alive among local confectioners. Traditionally made and eaten around All Saints' Day, Fig Stars are today prepared and sold all year round, and are listed in the inventory of Traditional Portuguese Products.
Sources: tradicional.dgadr.gov.pt · fototeca.cm-lagos.pt · algarveimaterial.wordpress.com · iguaria.com · files.core.ac.uk
Pastries from here — The Algarve
Portuguese icon Aljezur Sweet-Potato Pillows
A long pillow of crisp pastry leaves wrapped around Aljezur sweet potato.
The Algarve
Portuguese icon Almond Spiky Biscuits
Bristling peaks of almond, slow-baked until they sing of bittersweet.
The Algarve
Portuguese icon Silves Almond Sweets
Colourful hand-modelled almond miniatures filled with sweet egg cream.
The Algarve
Portuguese icon Algarve Nut Sweet Bread
An upland sweet bread enriched with olive oil, spices and walnuts or almonds.
The Algarve