Pastel de feijão de Torres Vedras

Appearance & taste

The tartlet has the shape of an inverted truncated cone: the base is narrower than the round, slightly domed top with clearly defined edges. It weighs 60 to 75 g, is 25 to 34 mm high and measures 30 to 45 mm in diameter at the bottom and 60 to 70 mm at the top. There is also a miniature version a quarter to half the usual size.

The case, called forra, capa or lençol in the region, is straw-yellow, matt and so thin that the filling shows through. It is short and crisp but not flaky, because it is not made of puff pastry. The surface is golden brown, matt and rough, because the sugar in the mixture rises and crystallises. Inside, the filling is yellow to orange-yellow, grainy and moist; you can taste the ground almonds and the soft beans. Aroma and taste are at first clearly marked by almonds, sometimes also by egg yolk, and almonds remain in the aftertaste.

Production

The case is made from type 65 or 55 wheat flour, water, butter or vegetable fat and salt. The filling, called espécie in the region, contains white Fidalgo beans, freshly blanched almonds, fresh and/or pasteurised egg yolk, white sugar and water. Additives, processing aids, chickpeas and other pulses, and liqueurs or spirits containing almonds or almond essence are prohibited.

The almonds are blanched beforehand or on the premises and always ground on the same premises so that no aroma or flavour is lost. The case is laid like a sheet over the greased moulds and pressed in and folded with a pastry tamper so that it does not overhang the edge and the filling cannot escape. All steps up to the finished pastry, including freezing where applicable, take place in the area. One to four hours after cooling, the pastry is wrapped in grease-proof plant-based paper bearing the mark of the producer; according to the specification, this paper has been the usual packaging material for a hundred years.

Origin & history

The area corresponds exactly to the municipality of Torres Vedras. According to the specification, the pastry has been made there since 1840. Since at least 1894, local newspapers have named the “Pastel de feijão” as a local speciality, sometimes already as “Pastel de feijão de Torres” or “de Torres Vedras”. In 1896 it was listed in the programme of the Ethnographic Exhibition of Portugal, held for the 400th anniversary of Vasco da Gama’s first voyage to India, among the 38 “characteristic local baked goods”. In 1927 a press article denounced counterfeits and misuse of the name. In 2001 the Portuguese Ministry of Agriculture mentioned the pastry in its work “Produtos Tradicionais Portugueses”.

According to the specification, the knowledge of how to make it is passed down from generation to generation in families and businesses, with only small differences from one business to another. In 2015 there were about 20 producers, both factories and patisseries, with 150 employees; they made about 1.5 million pastries. The tartlet is sold throughout Portugal, including at petrol stations and motorway service areas, and exported, especially to the USA.