Stuffed Figs
Also known as: Figos cheios de Olhão · Filled figs of Olhão
The Algarve's dried fig, split open and packed with almond, chocolate and fennel, then toasted in the oven.
- Origin
- Olhão, the Algarve · a sweet of oral, seafaring tradition; registered as a Traditional Portuguese Product by DGADR
- Region
- Olhão
- Season
- Year-round, peaking at Christmas
Figos cheios are one of the most characteristic sweets of Olhão: dried figs, split lengthways and filled with a dense paste of ground almonds, sugar, chocolate, cinnamon and fennel, before going into the oven for a light toasting. The heat concentrates the sugars of the fig and perfumes the skin, leaving it almost caramelised on the outside and soft within.
Each fig weighs around 40 grams and is presented wrapped, one by one, in white fringed paper that mimics a clove of garlic — a detail that sets them apart at a glance in the windows of confectioners and at the markets of the Algarve.
They are eaten by hand, at any hour of the day, as a sweet and sustaining nibble. They are a fixture at Algarvian festivities and Christmas tables, alongside morgados, dom-rodrigos and the rest of the south's almond-and-fig confectionery.
- Dried figs
- Ground almonds
- Sugar
- Chocolate (or cocoa)
- Cinnamon
- Fennel seed (anise)
- Lemon zest
Intensely sweet and concentrated, the chewy, resinous dried fig wrapping a dense, grainy almond filling. Cinnamon and fennel lend a warm aromatic depth, the chocolate rounds out the flavour, and the toasting adds a faint roasted edge.
The balance of chocolate, cinnamon and fennel shifts from household to household, giving more or less spiced versions. They should not be confused with the region's fig-paste sweets — such as morgado de figo or queijo de figo — in which the fruit is ground into a paste rather than stuffed whole.
Look for them in Olhão and along the eastern Algarve, in traditional pastry shops, municipal markets and regional sweet fairs, especially around Christmas. They are often sold loose, wrapped in their fringed paper, or in gift boxes.
They call for a fortified southern wine — a Setúbal moscatel or a port — or simply a strong espresso, or an Algarve medronho spirit alongside.
Dried figs and almonds have long been the foundation of Algarve confectionery, a legacy of the region's lengthy Moorish presence and the intensive cultivation of both fruits along the coast and the limestone barrocal. Figos cheios grow out of that pairing, marrying the local dried fig to a rich filling of almond and spice.
According to the oral tradition recorded by DGADR, seafarers carried figos cheios as a source of energy when setting out for coastal or deep-sea fishing. For a long time they were not made in pastry shops at all: these acted merely as intermediaries between the home cooks who made them and the people who bought them. Today they remain a recognised speciality of Olhão, listed in the inventory of Traditional Portuguese Products.
Sources: tradicional.dgadr.gov.pt · pt.wikipedia.org · cozinhatradicional.com · iguaria.com · lifecooler.com
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