Custard egg tart or “Pastel de Nata”

Traditional Portuguese custard egg tart

Maybe the most iconic Portuguese cake. The custard egg tart, or in Portuguese “Pastel de Nata”, is one of the cakes available in all pastry shops in Portugal every day.

The custard egg tart it’s one of the favorite cakes of the Portuguese, but not only of the Portuguese people, but also of all tourists who visit us daily.

Traditional Portuguese Custard Egg Tart 60g
Traditional Portuguese Custard Egg Tart 60g

We have available a full line of breads and pastries, prepared through industrial processes that always respect the quality, aroma, taste and textures of the traditional recipes.

The incorporation of technological innovations permits us to deliver to you premium quality products deep-frozen and pastry products.

We have a line of products for the: Horeca Channel, Hyper and Supermarkets and Vending. The second line of products allows us to deliver the products directly for the client / consumer, the Homemade Moments line

Our Strategy:

Improve innovation in products and organization.

Ensure the quality and food security of the products at all stages (from the raw material reception to the delivery to the client), transmitting confidence to the clients and consumers.

Focus on customer loyalty, supplying products with “traditional” characteristics and making available assistance services to the client.

Diversify the distribution channels for the products of the organization.

Assist our clients in the fabrication methods implementation and promoting the products next to their consumers, ensuring their success in the market.

We export our products worldwide in refrigerated trucks / containers.

Ask us for our catalog full of delicious products!

About the custard egg tart:

“Pastéis de nata” or custard egg tart were created before the 18th century by Catholic monks at the Jerónimos Monastery (Portuguese: Mosteiro dos Jerónimos) in the civil parish of Santa Maria de Belém, in Lisbon. At the time, convents and monasteries used large quantities of egg-whites for starching of clothes, such as nuns’ habits. It was quite common for monasteries and convents to use the leftover egg yolks to make cakes and pastries, resulting in the proliferation of sweet pastry recipes throughout the country.

Portuguese Traditional Custard Egg Tart 360g (6x60g)
Portuguese Traditional Custard Egg Tart 360g (6x60g)

Following the extinction of the religious orders and in the face of the impending closing of many of the convents and monasteries in the aftermath of the Liberal Revolution of 1820, the monks started selling “pastéis de nata” at a nearby sugar refinery to secure some revenue. In 1834 the monastery was closed and the recipe was sold.

Today, the custard egg tart, they can be purchased in many places all over the world, in bakeries, and sold in many hotels etc.

“Pastéis de nata” were introduced in China after gaining their popularity in Macau when this Special Administrative Region was under the Portuguese government. In Chinese they became known as 葡挞 (simplified) or 葡撻 (traditional), which in pinyin can be read as pútà (with the similar ending sound of the Portuguese word nata), meaning Portuguese tart. This is different to 蛋撻 , or dàntà, which is referred to Hong Kong style egg tarts, which is also enjoyed widely in Hong Kong style bakeries and restaurants. Fast food restaurants chains (such as Kentucky Fried Chicken and McDonald’s) include the dàntà as desserts since the 1990s, which facilitated their acceptance in other Asian countries: Cambodia, Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan (popularized by franchises) and the other Chinese SAR, Hong Kong.

Nowadays “Pastéis de Nata” can be learned through pastry classes in the Portuguese capital or cooking schools.

The “Pastéis de Nata” were mentioned by The Guardian as the 15th most tasty delicacy in the world.