Have you ever eaten a pastry that was 300 years old? Perhaps not, but the recipe for Portuguese custard tarts used by the famous bakery Pastéis de Belém in Lisbon (Capitals answer for September 29) dates back to the 18th century. These tarts, called pastéis de nata, were invented by monks in Santa Maria de Belém at Jerónimos Monastery. The story goes that nuns at the monastery used egg whites to starch laundry, leaving a surplus of egg yolks that were baked into delicious tarts.

Years later, in 1820, the Liberal Revolution shut down monasteries and convents across Portugal. To support themselves, the monastery began selling the tarts at a nearby sugar refinery. The owner of the sugar refinery bought the tart recipe from the monastery in 1834 when the monastery closed, and the owners built Fábrica de Pastéis de Belém in 1837.

The original recipe for the tarts is kept top secret, and tarts from the original bakery are called pastéis de Belém, while replicas from other bakeries are called pastéis de nata. The shop sells over 20 000 tarts a day.

According to an old Portuguese saying, “A bride who eats a pastry will never take off her ring,” so it's not uncommon to see newlyweds picking up tarts for good luck. Pastéis de nata have made their way around the globe, and one 2019 article by Bloomberg predicted they would be as ubiquitous as croissants one day. They are one of the most popular dishes in Portugal, and were named one of the country's Seven Wonders of Gastronomy. Even if you can't make your way to the original bakery in Lisbon, next time you come across a pastéis de nata, try it for a sweet taste of Portuguese history.

https://www.portugal.com/location/pasteis-de-belem/

https://pasteisdebelem.pt/en/history/

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