At Christmas time, sharing good times is more important than presents!
Horto do Campo Grande didn’t want to miss out on celebrating this special season with its customers and partners, so it invited them to join its team on the 14th of November between 6pm and 8pm at the Campo Grande garden for the official opening of the 2024 Christmas exhibition.
For this celebration, it has the support of two emblematic Portuguese brands, Confeitaria Nacional and Quinta da Lagoalva, which will make this moment even more special.
Confeitaria Nacional
The history of Confeitaria Nacional, founded by Balthazar Roiz Castanheiro in 1829, goes hand in hand with the history of the city itself. Since its foundation in Praça da Figueira, Confeitaria Nacional has endeavoured to bring all its customers the best in national and international confectionery. Every product that leaves the hands of their pastry chefs is a celebration of flavour, quality and tradition, which makes every occasion memorable and creates memories through taste, so ‘we couldn’t help but challenge them to share some of their delicious products with our customers and friends, especially the Bolo Rei, which was introduced in Portugal around 200 years ago by the founder of Confeitaria Nacional and has become the traditional cake of the Christmas season in Portugal”, shares Pedro Pulido Valente, Marketing Director, Horto do Campo Grande. Find out more here.
Bolo Rei – Portugal’s traditional Christmas cake
The king cake, which is typically eaten at Christmas time and on Kings‘ Day, originated in its current form at the court of Louis XIV in France for the New Year and Kings’ Day celebrations. According to this French tradition, the cake included a dried bean and a porcelain gift, usually a figure of the nativity from the crib. Whoever got the gift, synonymous with good luck, was considered the king or queen of the party, entitled to wear a crown, while whoever got the bean had to pay for the next cake.
The cake, popularised in Portugal in the 19th century, follows a recipe that originated in the south of Loire, a crown-shaped cake made from yeast dough, enriched with eggs, and often liqueurs or wines, mixed and decorated with raisins, dried fruit and candied fruit.
It was Confeitaria Nacional that introduced the Bolo Rei to Portugal around 1869-1870. The man responsible was the famous French confectioner Gregoire (Gregório, as he became known), recruited in Paris by Baltasar Roiz Castanheiro Júnior, owner of Confeitaria Nacional at the time, who adapted and used a recipe brought from the French capital. The recipe, which remains unchanged to this day, is only known to two people – the current owner and the oldest pastry chef in the house – so it remains a secret.
Take advantage of the Christmas season and treat yourself to Bolo Rei from Confeitaria Nacional, recognised by CNN as one of the nine oldest and most renowned pastry shops in the world.
Quinta da Lagoalva wines and sparkling wines
Quinta da Lagoalva de Cima stretches along the south bank of the Tejo river and its history dates back to the 12th century, when, 50 years after the Treaty of Zamora (1143), the king of Portugal D. Sancho I signed a commendation donating various territories in this region to the Order of Santiago de Espada, after their heroic deeds in the conquest of Santarém. Among the various properties was Quinta da Lagoalva, which belonged to this order for six centuries, dating back to 1193 when it was first registered. In 1834, Lagoalva was bought by Henrique Teixeira de Sampayo, 1st Count of Póvoa. Between 1841 and 1842, all the property passed to Maria Luísa Noronha de Sampayo, who in 1846 married Domingos António Maria Pedro de Sousa e Holstein, 2nd Duke of Palmela. From that time on, the property reverted to Casa Palmela and passed by succession to their descendants until the present day.
With 660 contiguous hectares, Quinta da Lagoalva de Cima is the largest and most emblematic – not least because of its historical and cultural dimension – of a collective of several properties belonging to the Lagoalva Group. Find out more here.
It is with these very special nectars, Lagoalva Espumante Bruto and Lagoalva Reserva Arinto & Chardonnay white 2022, that we will have the opportunity to toast and celebrate friendship, the Christmas season and the official opening of the Horto do Campo Grande Christmas exhibition in 2024.
© Companhia das Cores para Horto do Campo Grande
