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Description: Pastry product consisting of a "cartridge" or cone-shaped wrapper, made from wheat flour, butter, eggs and almonds, and a filling based on eggs, sugar and almonds.
Special characteristics: The "Cartuchos de amêndoa de Cernache do Bonjardim" are distinguished from other sweets, with a similar shape, produced in other regions of Portugal, due to the use of almonds in the cartridge dough that is baked in the oven (instead of fried, as is more usual in other sweets).
Region: Center.
Ingredients used: White Sugar, Wheat Flour, Eggs, Almond and Butter.
Preparation: Cartridge: Add the flour, butter and eggs (one by one) and knead the mixture. Roll out the dough and cut into squares. The molds are lined on the outside in the shape of a cartridge, brushed with egg and sprinkled with coarsely grated almonds. Bake in the oven. Filling: Take the sugar to the point of espadana. Add the grated almonds. Let it boil, until it thickens. With this filling, the cartridges are filled.
Know-how: The existence in the region of raw materials necessary for conventual sweets, the establishment of religious institutions in Sertã and the need to use all available resources motivated the emergence of a sweet with conventual characteristics, but quite different from other sweets produced in other regions of the country.
Forms of marketing: In pastry shops and other commercial establishments.
Product availability throughout the year: All year round.
History of the product: They appeared at the end of the nineteenth century, although their origin is not known exactly. The existence in Cernache de Bonjardim of several religious institutions, such as the Seminary of the Missions (former seminary of the missionaries of the Royal College of Overseas Missions), the Convent of S. José (founded by Friar Pedro de S. Paulo in 1699) or the Third Order of the Servants of Mary (installed in this village in 1805) and the characteristics of this product, leads to the strong possibility that its genesis is conventual.
Representativeness in local food: The "Cernache do Bonjardim Almond Cartridges" are currently a reference product in the municipality of Sertã, being a mandatory presence on feast days (weddings, baptisms and other important commemorative dates).
Source: DGADR, based on elements provided by the Association of Producers of the Municipality of Sertã – AProSer and in the Livro Receitas e Sabores dos Territórios Rurais
Photo: Sertã Turismo
