Beja Marzipan Pigs
Also known as: Beja Marzipan Pig · Beja Sweet Pig
A chocolate-marzipan pig sculpture filled with egg sweets and gila.
- Origin
- Beja · Alentejo
- Place
- Beja
- Region
- The Alentejo
- Category
- Convent Sweets
- Season
- Year-round; especially as a Christmas gift
- Evidence
- Well documented
Porquinhos de Doce are large sculpted sweets from Beja, modelled as reclining pigs. A smooth shell of chocolate-brown marzipan encloses layers of egg threads, sweet yolk cream and gila squash preserve; some versions also include trouxas de ovos.
They normally weigh between 1 and 2 kilograms and may be decorated with leaves and acorns made from the same paste. More elaborate versions show a sow with piglets and are presented on lace paper or in a box as a gift centrepiece.
- almonds
- sugar
- chocolate
- egg threads
- sweet yolk cream
- gila squash preserve
- optional trouxas de ovos
Very sweet and rich, with chocolate marzipan, silky yolk and moist strands of gila and egg.
It may depict a single pig, a sow with piglets, or include acorns and festive messages; size varies widely.
By order from traditional confectioners in Beja, with greatest availability at Christmas.
Strong espresso or an Alentejo dessert wine.
A Beja pastry shop began shaping them for Christmas many years ago, during the Alentejo pig-slaughter season. Chocolate colouring imitated the native Alentejo pig. DGADR also records a description of the sweet as a mimo associated with the Convent of Paradise.
Well documented
Identity supported by institutional, specialist or corroborating sources.
- tradicional.dgadr.gov.pt/pt/cat/doces-e-produtos-de-pastelaria/210-porquinhos-de-doce (opens in a new tab)
- nowcanal.pt/portugal/detalhe/pastelaria-mais-antiga-de-beja-luiz-da-rocha-confecciona-tradicional-porquinho-doce-ha-mais-de-130-anos (opens in a new tab)
- lidadornoticias.pt/beja-porquinho-doce-a-um-passo-da-final/ (opens in a new tab)
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