Browsing Archive: September, 2014

Alfarroba - About Chocolat, Diamonds and Gold

Posted by Marianne Hoesen on Monday, September 29, 2014, In : nature

The carob tree or St. John´s bread tree, is typical for the Algarve. In Portuguese the tree is called Alfarrobeira and the fruit of this tree is called Alfarroba (al-harruba in Arabic).

The carob tree is a member of the legume (pea) family. It is a large tree and grows to 15m in 50 years. It produces no fruit for the first 15 years of its life, but will fruit well into its old age. A large tree can produce one ton of beans in one harvest. Contrary t...

Acorns - The Chestnuts Of The South

Posted by Marianne Hoesen on Monday, September 29, 2014, In : food and drink

In Portugal the acorn is so important that they have a different name for each type of acorn. The acorn of the cork oak (sobreiro) is called a lande (or landre) and the acorn of a holm oak (azinheira) is called a bolota (or boleta).

The acorns mainly serve as food for the pigs, but the bolota also used to be a very important source of food since the ancient Lusitanian people populated Iberia. It was a welcome addition to the shortage of cereals in the winter. ...

Some Like It Hot ! Piri Piri, The African Devil

Posted by Marianne Hoesen on Thursday, September 18, 2014, In : food and drink

Thanks to Columbus you can now enjoy the famous chicken piri piri here in the Algarve. He was the one that brought this fiery pepper from South America to Europe and the Portuguese then took it with them to Mozambique and Angola, where it became an important fruit to the natives as well as Portuguese.

Piri Piri is Swahili for "pepper pepper", but this cultivar of Capsicum frutescens is also know as peri peri, African birdseye Chili, or African Devil. It is a rela...

Medronho, Much More Than A Drink

Posted by Marianne Hoesen on Tuesday, September 9, 2014, In : food and drink

These are some Medronho berries. They grow on the Strawberry Tree - Arbutus Unedo - and are mainly used to create the famous Algarvean Aguardente de Mendronho.

The berries have an acquired taste. Maybe that is why it has "Unedo" in its Latin name, which means: eat only 1. The fruit and the pretty little flowers can be see all at the same time, between October and December. It takes a complete year for the berry to develop from flower to ripe fruit. First they are gr...

Fado, The Portuguese Blues

Posted by Marianne Hoesen on Friday, September 5, 2014, In : way of life

Anybody who visited Portugal before will certainly know it - the melodramatic sound of a Fado song.

Fado (fate) is a musical style that developed originally in Lissabon around 1800. A singer (fadista) is usually accompanied by a Portuguese gitar and the subject of the song is often grief, sadness, poverty and loneliness. In 2011 Fado was added to the Intangible Cultural Heritage List by UNESCO.

Word goes that the origin of Fado even goes back to the 15th century,...

How To Order Coffee In Portugal Just The Way You Like It

Posted by Marianne Hoesen on Tuesday, September 2, 2014, In : food and drink

The Portuguese are proud of their coffee. And not without reason! Some of the richest coffee growing countries in the world are ex-colonies of Portugal. Although the sound of the coffee grinder and the espresso machine can be annoying at times, it also promises a great quality coffee is nearby.

The Portuguese generally do not drink their coffee at home, but rather have one in the local café or pasteleria. Here they can order their beloved coffee, just the way they like it. If you want to ha...

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About Me

Marianne Hoesen

SãO Marcos Da Serra

Born in the deep south of The Netherlands, I moved to the central Algarve in 2007, together with my partner and 2 dogs. In the meantime we added some goats and chickens and are living a peaceful life in the rolling hills of the rural south of Portugal. I invite you to read a bit in my blog and to leave a comment afterwards. Also check out the holiday accommodations mentioned elsewhere in this website.