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FijiFlavors · Évora
Almond paste sweet shaped like a loaf of bread, filled with egg sweet, chila and egg threads, served with marzipan olives. Created by the nuns of the Convento de Santa Helena do Calvário, in Évora.
Traditional sweet from Évora, Évora
Also known as: pão-de-rala
Illustrative images. The pictures in this guide are illustrations based on the real place, not photographs, and may differ from it.
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Pão de rala — Évora, Portugal
Pão de rala is shaped like an Alentejo loaf of bread, but it is a sweet. The dough is made from grated almond mixed with sugar syrup, with flour used as a handling aid. Inside it has layers of egg sweet, chila (pumpkin jam) and egg threads. On top it is browned in the oven.
The official catalog of Portuguese traditional products registers pão de rala as a sweet of Évora. The recipe is attributed to the Poor Clare nuns of the Convento de Santa Helena do Calvário in the city, and it is part of Alentejo conventual pastry, rich in eggs, almond and chila.
Legend has it that in the 16th century the young King D. Sebastião visited the convent on a hot June afternoon. The nuns, with nothing else to offer, supposedly served thin bread, olives and water. The king liked it and left a pension to the convent. In gratitude, the nuns created a sweet that imitates that snack: pão de rala, accompanied by marzipan olives darkened with cocoa. It is an origin story without documentary proof.
The marzipan olives continue to accompany the sweet in several pastry shops in Évora and are one of the marks of pão de rala. The sweet also appears in other parts of the Alentejo, with small variations.
It is served in slices, at room temperature, as a dessert or with coffee.
Évora , Évora
Conventual sweet created by the nuns of the Convento de Santa Helena do Calvário, in Évora; registered in the official catalog of traditional products.
Grated almond, sugar, egg yolks, chila (pumpkin jam) and egg threads. Flour as a handling aid. Marzipan olives with cocoa to accompany.
In slices, at room temperature, with the marzipan olives on the side. As a dessert or with coffee.
All year round.
Your questions
A conventual sweet from Évora shaped like a loaf, made with almond dough and filled with egg sweet, chila and egg threads.
The olives are marzipan, darkened with cocoa. According to legend, they recall the simple snack of bread and olives that the nuns served to King D. Sebastião.
The recipe is attributed to the nuns of the Convento de Santa Helena do Calvário, in Évora.
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