Another day, another delicious opportunity to have a taste of the Festival of Food offerings in the Alentejo. Before leaving the Portalegre area, I spent my morning at the family-run Almojanda farm sampling a variety of products from its own Diterra range (under the brands of Almojanda and Fadista) as well as items from Terrius, another food producer from up the road about 20 kilometres in Marvão.
Both Diterra and Terrius use locally sourced ingredients to make simple and healthy regional foods. Everything I got to try was excellent. My faves were the sweetly picante mostarda de pimento (pepper mustard) from Terrius and an irresistible black olive pâté from Diterra’s Almojanda brand. What made these two standout? For the most part, it was just my own personal palate, as in most regards they weren’t too different than all the other products I got to sample: comprised of minimal stuff all from the Alentejo with no preservatives or additives yet still boasting long shelf lives and maximum yumminess.
My host during the tasting was Teresa Mendes,who’d given up a career as an architect in Lisbon to return to the family farm and help run it with her sister after their father died. At the moment, they welcome visitors to tour their farm and its shop and have plans to provide overnight accommodation by the end of the year. Speaking of her transition back to the farm, Teresa explained with a warm smile and her cheerful baby snuggled up to her chest, “It’s a big project for life.”
Be sure to check back soon for future instalments of my Portugal Please miniseries.
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