BLOGS

It’s one of our required tasting stops in our tours and probably one of the most popular pastries in Portugal’s gastronomy– it’s the pastel de Belém. Crunchy on the outside and creamy on the inside, there’s only a chosen few who can resist it. In this small article we propose a small dive into this pastry’s history.  

Pastel de Belém its a popular specialty in portuguese confectionary, from conventual inspiration. It was created by jerónimos monks in Mosteiro de Santa Maria de Belém. The original recipe is called Pastel de Belém, produced exclusively at Fábrica dos Pastéis de Belém, and has as ingredients egg, milk, sugar, lemon and cinnamon.  

Its very difficult to point out the origin of the pastel de belém, but the first record of a very similar sweet dates the century xvi in the Kitchen Book of Princess D.Maria, granddaughter of King D. Manuel I. The first written reference to the name Pastel de Belém and with the reference closest with the present one, was registered for the first time in the convent of Odivelas, in the notebook of abbess D. Bernardina da Conceição. In this notebook, the first page is dedicated to Pastéis de Belém and it introduces a version to serve hot and other cold.  

The origin of Pastel de Belém returns to the imaginary of monks and nuns of Jerónimos Monastery in Belém, situated in Lisbon, in Tagus estuary, that were perfecting the recipe throughout the second half of the xviii century; taking advantage of the monastery’s proximity to a small refinery of sugar cane. During the Napoleonic wars (1807-1814), the monastery was damaged by english troops. It was then, that by raising funds to restoring the cloister and the church, the monks and the nuns started selling these pastries in the neighboring shop – known since then, as Antiga Confeitaria de Belém.  

In 2009, “The Guardian” listed the Pastéis de Belém as one of 50 “best things to eat” in the world. In 2011, after the result of public voting, the bakery was announced as one of the Seven Wonders of Gastronomy of Portugal, consolidating it still more as one of the most popular national pastries of the country.  

Want to try one? Book a tour with us and we’ll take you to where the original recipe is still being recreated to this day!