Régua Cassava-Flour Pudding

Also known as: Régua Cassava-Flour Pudding · Manioc-Flour Pudding

A golden, dense Douro baked pudding bound with fine cassava flour.

Origin: Peso da Régua · contemporary Douro version of a Portuguese recipe documented in 1913 · exact local chronology unknown
Place: Peso da Régua
Region: The North
Category: Puddings & Spoon Sweets
Season: No documented seasonality; current availability unconfirmed
Evidence: Well documented

Sweetness

Richness

Difficulty

Régua’s Pudim de Farinha de Pau is an oven-baked sweet presented, in the version publicised by Doces do Céu, in small round earthenware dishes. Its surface becomes golden with irregular toasted patches; beneath it, cassava flour produces a moist, dense and finely granular crumb.

Farinha de pau is a Portuguese term for cassava flour, as confirmed by a University of Coimbra food-history study. A recipe published in the newspaper O Radical on 5 July 1913 combines fine sifted flour with warm milk, sugar, four yolks, two beaten whites, butter and lemon zest before baking. The Régua version adds Port wine according to its producer; the two formulas should not be treated as identical.

Ingredients

Farinha de pau (cassava flour)
Milk
Sugar
Egg yolks and whites
Butter
Lemon zest
Port wine in the Régua version

Taste & texture

Milky sweetness with a citrus lift, a moist dense centre, a very fine cassava grain and toasted notes on top.

Variations

The 1913 recipe is baked in a buttered mould and does not mention Port; the contemporary Régua version is presented in individual earthenware dishes and its producer says it includes the regional wine. Complete proportions and other differences in the commercial formula are not published.

Where to try it

Production was documented at Doces do Céu in Peso da Régua during the 2019 competition entry and a later demonstration on Porto Canal. The sources reviewed do not confirm that either the shop or pudding remains currently available; contact the producer or local tourism office before making a dedicated trip.

Pairs well with

Not documented in the sources reviewed.

History

The 1913 record proves that both the name and recipe circulated in Portugal in the early 20th century, but it does not establish a Régua origin. University of Coimbra bibliographical research also identifies Pudim de farinha de pau in António Maria de Oliveira Bello’s Culinária Portuguesa, reinforcing the dish’s continued appearance in print.

The specific connection to Peso da Régua is documented through Doces do Céu. In its entry for the 2019 Seven Sweet Wonders of Portugal, the producer said she learnt the recipe from her godmother and described more than a century of transmission among descendants of emigrants who returned from Brazil. The pudding was among 21 sweets selected in the first Vila Real district round. Its exact local chronology remains unknown: that family genealogy and Brazil–Douro route are producer testimony, not facts confirmed by an independent historical source.

Documentary basis

Well documented

5 sources

Identity supported by institutional, specialist or corroborating sources.

How we assess sources and uncertainty →

Well documented

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