Morgado de Figo

Description: Morgado de Figo is prepared with a dough of roasted fig, toasted almonds, sugar and chocolate powder (you can take fennel, lemon zest and cinnamon). It has a dark color and variable weight and dimensions depending on the format. When in cheese form, it is about 10 cm in diameter.

Region: Algarve.

Special feature: Cheese-shaped cake, made with fig and almond. It can be presented in other forms (boat, fish, viola, chicken, book, etc.).

History: Silva Lopes writes: «... as well as several figures tinted with the same fig, pine nut kernels and almonds...», which we believe to be a reference to the fig and almond paste from which Morgado de Figo is made. Thomaz Cabreira writes that this, like the other fig jams — with the exception of Morgado de Figo — seems to us to be of popular origin and is justified by the traditional production of figs in this region. The Morgado de Figo, considered to be the best, is the one made by M. Conceição Cabral».

Use: As a treat, at any time of the day.

Know-how: Roast the figs and almonds and grind them separately. A sugar syrup is made on the road to which cinnamon, lemon zest, fennel and chocolate powder are added. Add the almond and bring to a boil a little. Then add the fig, stirring constantly. Pour the dough onto a board covered with pilé sugar and let it cool. Then, the cakes are shaped with the shapes that the imagination dictates (but traditionally with the shape of cheese) and allowed to dry.

Source: Produtos Tradicionais Portugueses, Lisboa, DGDR, 2001