The history of Traditional Portuguese Desserts can be likened to a poem composed of words as simple as the ingredients used in the major- ity of recipes included in this rst philatelic issue devoted to this sweet theme. Water, eggs, sugar, milk and wheat our are a starting point for many creations, transforming, in the experienced hands of our pastry chefs, into sumptuous desserts, prodigious in shape, delicate in texture and surprising in avour. Like the best poems of simple words, through the alchemy of cooking, be it a simple chemical interaction or beautiful divine inspiration, the bringing together of these ingredients results in exceptional desserts that do not allow us to forget the places they were created and the people who made them or with whom we savour them. They penetrate our beings and we are never again able to escape from the memory of how they tasted. Just like the most beautiful poems that cause us to over ow with emotion, traditional Portuguese desserts ll our hearts with sweetness transformed into happy feelings.
Pastéis de Tentúgal, Pastéis de Belém, Ovos-Moles de Aveiro, Queijadas de Vila Franca: these are the names of the desserts looked at in this rst adhesive issue from Correios de Portugal, paying tribute to the genius, creativity, expertise and soul of our pastry chefs and the authenticity of our desserts. They celebrate what sets us apart in an area in which Por- tugal has distinguished itself. An authentic journey through the country, these desserts form part of a legacy of recipes that allows us to discover our villages, towns and cities as something more than small black dots on the map of Portugal. A journey into the history of the dessert with humble beginnings, sweetened by honey and by the beauty of wanting to honour break-times in a frugal way of living, happy occasions within the family, within the community, but becoming the protagonist of a rich history of both modest and great circumstances where eggs and sugar are lord and master of many stages.
This is the start of a voyage through desserts that unfold in a thousand textures and avours. More than just ennobling our recipes, giving them breadth, giving them vigour beyond the publicity, this is an opportunity to discover the uniqueness of each of them. As well as the avour, it is important to understand the how, why, where and who. To comprehend how the sweet ballet that the pastry chefs of Tentúgal dance around a simple ball of dough results in a ne, delicate lm with which to make the famed Pastéis de Tentúgal. To discover the ovo-mole in the context of its history, the avour of its wafer-enclosed lling in the shape of conches, shells and sh from the enormous mirror of water that is the Aveiro lagoon. To discover Pastéis de Belém and the stories accompanying them in the legendary bakery where they soar between cinnamon and co ee in the urry of demand from so many fans. To try Queijadas de Vila Franca do Campo and appreciate the delicious taste of a recipe that takes us back to one of the oldest ways to sweeten the end of a meal and thus nd grateful welcome among us.
In this series of adhesive stamps, showing images that whet the appe- tite, we will discover not only the desserts, but also the hands that create such beautiful poetry and sing so serenely, peacefully and with such de- termination, the recipes known by heart, the rhythmic actions, conscious but involuntary, a permanent legacy of the knowledge they possess and the pleasure with which they give it.
As in the most beautiful poems, we discover that beauty starts with sim- plicity. The words are short, the ingredients are simple, the hand is ex- pert, the action is delicate, the poem gleams with emotion, the dessert leaps out with its avour and warms our hearts like a love poem.
Olga Cavaleiro
