Showing category "food and recipes" (Show all posts)

The Nêspereira or Loquat Tree

Posted by Marianne Hoesen on Tuesday, April 10, 2012, In : food and recipes

In São Marcos da Serra people just love their Nêspereira (loquat tree). This evergreen, easy to grow, tree (Eriobotrya japonica) originates from China and Japan and is not only ornamental, but it also has wonderful tasty fruit. You can find these trees in every garden, no matter how small.

The fruit of this tree is called the loquat (nespera in Portuguese) and is related to the apple and the pear. It is the first fruit to ripen in the springtime. It is rich in beta...

The Chestnut Of The South

Posted by Marianne Hoesen on Tuesday, November 15, 2011, In : food and recipes

In Portugal the acorn is so important that they have a different name for each type of acorn. The acorn of the cork oak (sobreiro) is called a lande (or landre) and the acorn of a holm oak (azinheira) is called a bolota (or boleta). The acorns mainly serve as food for the pigs, but the bolota also used to be a very important source of food since the ancient Lusitanian people populated Iberia. It was a welcome addition to the shortage of cereals in the w...

Time for harvesting olives - things you need to know

Posted by Marianne Hoesen on Friday, September 30, 2011, In : food and recipes

The olive tree is the oldest cultivated tree in the world and also the people of São Marcos da Serra love its fruit. They have been milling it for decades to obtain a high quality rich oil. There were 3 olive oil mills (lagar de azeite) in the village, but unfortunately they all had to go for environmental reasons. Now you have to bring your olives to the mill in Messines.

The olive tree flowers in May and the fruit can be picked around October (depe...
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Alfarroba - About Chocolate, Gold And Cola

Posted by Marianne Hoesen on Sunday, August 28, 2011, In : food and recipes

The carob tree or St. John´s bread tree, is typical for the Algarve. In Portuguese the tree is called Alfarrobeira and the fruit of this tree is called Alfarroba (al-harruba in Arabic).

The carob tree is a member of the legume (pea) family. It is a large tree and grows to 15m in 50 years. It produces no fruit for the first 15 years of its life, but will fruit well into its old age. A large tree can produce one ton of beans in one harvest. Contrary to the orange trees, carob tree...

about honey and água-mel

Posted by Marianne on Thursday, July 21, 2011, In : food and recipes

The area of São Marcos da Serra belongs to the protected region of "Mel da Serra de Monchique". The honeybees of the serra produce a very high quality honey because of the great biodiversity and the pure and clean air here. The bees visit the flowers of rosemary, eucalyptus, heather, orange tree, lavender, cistus, etc. One hive gives on average 25 kg of honey per year. Did you know that 1 honeybee makes about 1 twelfth (1/12) of a teaspoon of honey in her entire life?

In July the honey is ...
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Há caracóis !

Posted by Marianne on Monday, May 23, 2011, In : food and recipes

Now we are in the middle of the caracóis season! Between April and July you can find signs everywhere around the Algarve: "Há caracois", also in São Marcos da Serra. You either love them or hate them, but if you are brave enough to give it a try, this is the way to make them yourself.

Buy or search for 1 kg of fresh caracóis. The ultimate thing is of course to get up early and walk the countryside yourself in search of the small snails.

First you have to get the slippery snails ready ...

Make your own Easter Folar

Posted by Marianne Hoesen on Wednesday, April 13, 2011, In : food and recipes

Folar de Páscoa - traditional Easter cake

The folar is a fancy bread, decorated with 2 or four boiled eggs.

400 gr flour

15 gr fresh yeast

45 gr caster sugar

90 gr butter

1 large egg

300 ml milk

1 teaspoon powdered aniseed

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

for decoration: 2 hard boiled eggs, 1 beater egg for brushing

Combine the crumbled yeast with 1/4 of the flour and 1/3 of the (warm) milk in a warm bowl.

Make a dough of these ingredients, cover the bowl and leave it to rise for 1/2 hour in a wa...

São Marcos Blog

Showing category "food and recipes" (Show all posts)

The Nêspereira or Loquat Tree

The Chestnut Of The South

Time for harvesting olives - things you need to know

Alfarroba - About Chocolate, Gold And Cola

about honey and água-mel

Há caracóis !

Make your own Easter Folar

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