Pastéis de Belém

The history of this treat originally starts in the Mosteiro dos Jerónimos, where the pastry was produced only for the clerics. Because of the liberal revolution of the 1820, all convents and monasteries of Portugal were closed and its staff expelled. To save the delicious pastry, someone started selling them in a shop nearby, associated with a sugar cane refinery, and it gained the name of Pastel de Belém. In the beginning of the XIX century, the zone of Belém was already a place that attracted many visitors, and soon the people became used to the delicious pastel that came from the Monastery. In 1837, in a new plant near the refinery, the prodution of the Pastéis de Belém begins, following the secret recipe of old. It has been transmited exclusively by the pastry masters that follow a craft production of the pastel and it has remained unchanged from its origin.