As we are counting down to Easter, a season that, even if it’s impossible to get the whole family together, we cannot miss the sweets — traditional Folar and Amêndoa Portuguesa (Portuguese Almonds).
Besides the religion, there are other Easter traditions in Portugal most of them are related to food, of course.
Generally, families gather for a celebration during lunch time and enjoy some quality time.
In Portugal and some other countries, in addition to the traditional Easter eggs, people treat themselves to candied Portuguese almonds.
One of the meanings of Easter Almond is like Easter eggs, an icon of fecundity and renewal, coming from traditions from different parts of the country and the world that signifies birth and life, thus being related to the Resurrection of Jesus.
In Portugal, one of the Easter traditions is the exchange of sweetened almonds between Godparents and Godchildren.
Coated in sugar, covered in dark or white chocolate, colourful, shaped: there are almonds for everyone out there!
THERE IS A LARGE VARIETY OF ALMONDS BUT THE MOST COMMON ONES ARE:
- French style: the classic almond coated in sugar (about 33% almond, 67% sugar), known as sugared almonds or Jordan almonds in other countries. This variety is usually white & pink. Just to blow your mind a little bit: you can also get miniature versions of these, containing pine nuts instead of almonds – delicious!
- Chocolate Almonds (also known as Cláudias): Like the above, the almonds have a coating, but this time, made of chocolate.
This variety comes in white chocolate, milk chocolate, or dark chocolate. At one point, some chocolate genius came up with the idea of combining all three varieties into a single box, thereby creating a little box of chocolaty, nutty heaven.
- Toasted: These traditional almonds have been coated in caramelized sugar. They have that brown, uneven, rustic look to them.
- Chocolate Dragee (Belgium Style): Technically, these don’t actually contain any almonds but they’re one of the most common varieties around Easter because not everyone likes nuts.
These sweet almonds are entirely made of chocolate with a sugar shell, and basically look like a big, almond-shaped M&M. They come in lots of fun pastel colours.
- There are also recent and differentiated flavours such as Exotic Almonds, Ruby, Passion Fruit, Coconut, and much more.
It’s not Easter every day. So, enjoy some almonds typical of the season, offer the best selections to your customers, but be sure to enjoy this dried fruit, naturally, throughout the year.