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Description: Pumpkin jam and sugar. It is a sweet sold in jars traditionally covered with cellophane paper.
Region: Alentejo.
Other denominations: Sweet of Xila. Chila Jam.
Particularity: Jam that comes in the form of white, translucent filaments, and with sugar syrup.
History: It is a sweet widely used in traditional sweets of this region, entering as a filling in numerous desserts (pão de rala, sweet pig, puff pastry, tiborna, azevia, etc.). In the past, it was widely used in informal snacks, being served in small saucers decorated with grangeia or silver pearls.
Use: Consumed as a dessert as it is a jam with a very decorative appearance, and as an ingredient in sweets and desserts of the regional sweets of the Alentejo.
Know-how: Gila pumpkin is the common name for the fruit (ellipsoid peponium, large, white in colour, tainted with green) of Curcubita ficifolia Bouché. The secret of this sweet lies in the preparation of the pumpkin which, if not done properly, gives a fishy taste to the sweet, making it very unpleasant and totally useless. Thus, the pumpkin is broken by throwing it to the ground and reducing it to pieces without the use of any metallic object. It is cleaned of the seeds, the adherent yellow parts (casings) and most of the peels and most of the core is used. Bring to a boil with salted water, let it boil, remove some pieces of peel that are still adherent and soak in cold water for a while. Drain it, weigh it, add an equal weight of sugar and bring it to the heat until it reaches a point.
Source: Produtos Tradicionais Portugueses, Lisboa, DGDR, 2001
