Hello, dessert lovers! Today we're talking about a treat that's sure to be a favourite for many of you: the egg tart. Let's dive into its story.
Egg tarts attract plenty of attention thanks to their deliciousness, distinctive flavour, fragrant aroma and crisp pastry. They're also easy to eat: being small and bite-sized, they're a snack that's hard to resist. Today egg tarts are easy to find in markets everywhere, and even 7-Eleven sometimes sells them, which is why they're so popular right now.
Since our topic today is a treat everyone loves, let's tell the story of where egg tarts came from and how they came to be. Curious? Let's find out.
The Origin of the Egg Tart
Egg tarts are delicious, sweet treats with crisp baked pastry and an egg custard on top that adds wonderful flavour. But did you know the egg tart is Portuguese, where it's called pastel de nata? We can't pin down exactly when this delicious treat was born, but from our research, the egg tart appeared around 300-odd years ago, around the year 1700, in the time of the nuns and monks in Portuguese monasteries. In Portugal, egg whites were used to make starch for clothes. Yes, you read that right: they didn't use egg whites for baking, they used them on clothes as part of the laundry process. Naturally, using so many egg whites left huge quantities of yolks, so the best way to make use of them was in food and sweets. By happy coincidence, the sugar trade was booming at the time. In their spare time, the nuns and monks of the Jerónimos Monastery in Belém, Lisbon, gradually developed recipes using egg yolks.
From Monastery to Tourist Favourite
In 1820, after the Liberal Revolution, the Portuguese government stopped paying the monasteries. Without funding, many monasteries had to close, and the monks of Jerónimos, who used to make egg tarts casually for themselves, began making them to sell to support the monastery so it could keep going. Because Belém is not far from central Lisbon, tourists often passed through or made day trips to admire the beauty of the Jerónimos Monastery and other architecture in the area. This is how egg tarts became known among visitors to Belém and the monastery, and then spread throughout Portugal.
Egg Tarts Around the World
Later, egg tarts became known not just in Portugal but almost all over the world, especially in Hong Kong and Macau. The egg tart became famous in Asia because Hong Kong and Macau were once colonies of the European powers Britain and Portugal.
