The food of Madeira

Molluscs of the coastal rocks, grilled in their shells with garlic, butter, parsley and lemon, served as a starter in the very pan they cooked in, with garlic-butter bolo do caco.

The island's most celebrated drink, born in the 18th century from the adaptation of the "panche" brought from India by the English: sugar-cane spirit, honey or sugar and lemon whisked with the "mexelhote", the traditional wooden tool. The original "fisherman's" poncha warmed the fishermen of Câmara de Lobos; passion-fruit, tangerine, English-tomato or mint variants, served with a "dentinho" snack.

Cooked cornmeal makes a creamy porridge; cooled, it firms up and is cut into cubes and fried — the classic side to espetada all over the island.

A creamy, rich soup with many variants, whose ingredient list almost always includes pork, vegetables and wheat — hearty country cooking.

Tuna is plentiful in the archipelago's waters: its steaks marinate for hours in seasoning before being fried in hot oil, the marinade turning into the sauce.

A tender steak tucked into a garlic-butter bolo do caco: the most Madeiran light meal there is.

Small pieces of meat coated in sauce, served on a platter to share with chips — the dish of a table of friends.

Pork marinated for several days in garlic, white wine and spices, then fried and served on a plate or in a bread roll: the Christmas Eve dish that became the star sandwich of the Christmas markets and the Noite do Mercado.

The Christmas cake inherited from the 15th century, when Madeira was one of the leading cane producers: a leavened dough rich in butter, lard, walnuts and cane honey, with spices, Madeira wine and candied peel; fermentation can take up to three days and the cake keeps for months.

Small biscuits crunchy outside and soft inside — flour, cinnamon, sugar, butter, lard, egg, lemon zest and cane honey — perfect with a glass of Madeira wine or a coffee.

A smooth, creamy texture lifted by the refreshing tang of passion fruit: the tropical dessert of Madeiran tables.

Fried doughnuts with a golden crust and a fluffy inside, drizzled with cane honey — the sweet of Carnival.

Handmade yellow-orange sweets flavoured with fennel, a plant abundant on the island, also valued as a throat soother.

A moist, dark cake with cane honey, Madeira wine, beer, cinnamon and candied fruit.

Crunchy, mildly sweet broas whose recipe includes, surprisingly, beer — a Christmas treat.

Roasted in the street or cooked in sweet and savoury dishes; at Curral das Freiras the Chestnut Festival, held for more than thirty years, usually takes place between October and November. The magusto of 1 November, linked to Pão-por-Deus, gathers families and friends around a fire.

The engine of the economy in the 15th and 16th centuries — the "white gold" that placed Madeira at the centre of European trade — cane is still grown for cane honey and agricultural rum; the Engenho da Calheta keeps the processing alive.

Small, sweet and creamy, introduced in the 16th century by Portuguese navigators and grown mainly on the south coast; the Protected Geographical Indication guarantees its authenticity. Fresh, in desserts or with scabbardfish fillet.

Introduced in the 17th century, white creamy pulp with a sweet, delicate taste, grown in the island's milder areas. Protected Designation of Origin.

Intense aroma and exotic taste; several varieties on the island (purple, Brazilian yellow, F1 hybrid). Fresh, in poncha, in Brisa, in desserts and even in fish sauces.

The fruit of Monstera deliciosa, grown on the warm southern slopes: sweet flesh with notes of banana, pineapple and cherimoya, rich in potassium and vitamin C — eat it only when fully ripe, as it is toxic before.

Born in Câmara de Lobos: ice cream, pineapple, pineapple juice and lager blended into a creamy tropical drink; an alcohol-free version uses a soft drink.

Created in Madeira in 1872, one of the world's oldest soft drinks, with an orange-peel taste; at festivals it is mixed with wine or Coral beer.

Created in 1970, the world's first soft drink made with pure passion-fruit juice, from the island's purple passion fruit and lightly carbonated water.

Made exclusively from the fermentation and distillation of cane juice, minimum 37.5 % vol. certified by the regional wine, embroidery and crafts institute: from white agricultural rum — the base of poncha — to rums aged in oak casks. The first stills appeared at the end of the 19th century.

A fortified wine exported from the first decades of settlement, chosen to celebrate American independence on 4 July 1776: Sercial (dry), Verdelho (medium-dry), Boal (medium-sweet) and Malvasia (sweet), plus Terrantez and Tinta Negra, on about 500 ha of terraced "poios". See the Wine theme.

Vegetables and sausages simmered together, close to the Portuguese cozido, the winter dish par excellence; the Festa do Panelo, one of the Region's oldest traditions, gathers the people of Seixal at Chão da Ribeira on the first Sunday after Santo Antão, the penultimate weekend of January.

Corn flour cooked in water: served hot it is creamy; once cooled it sets firm, so it can be cut into cubes and fried — the milho frito that goes with espetada across the island. Two dishes from one preparation, depending on when it is served.

Pork marinated for several days in white wine, garlic and spices, fried and then slipped into a papo-seco or into homemade bread: the sandwich of the night of 23 December, at the Mercado dos Lavradores, and of every end-of-year celebration.

A small flat cake of curd cheese, eggs and sugar: soft texture, well-balanced sweetness, its characteristic flattened shape. It is the afternoon pastry, the one taken with a coffee.

A fresh, light dessert built around the cherimoya, the white, creamy fruit that grows abundantly on the island and carries a protected designation of origin. The mousse keeps all its sweetness; it is served very cold at the end of a meal.

The original poncha. Born in the 18th century in Câmara de Lobos, a fishing village, it warmed the men through long nights at sea — hence its name. It descends from the «panche» brought from India by the English and adapted here: cane spirit, honey and lemon, whisked with the mexelhote.

The most widespread of the poncha variations: passion fruit, grown on the island, replaces or joins the lemon and gives an exotic, refreshing drink. The two non-negotiable elements remain the cane spirit and the mexelhote.

Over time the list has grown: tangerine, English tomato (tamarillo) and mint are among the variations found in the island's bars. The principle does not change — cane spirit, a fruit, honey — and the drink comes with a «dentinho», the small snack offered by the house.

Two details that make poncha what it is. The mexelhote is the grooved wooden stick used to whisk the mixture vigorously: it is what gives the drink its texture. The dentinho is the small snack that comes with the glass — peanuts, lupin beans or a portion of a house speciality.

A traditional liqueur from Curral das Freiras: ginjas — a fruit close to the cherry — steep in brandy with sugar for three months. The result is a sweet, fragrant liqueur, served in a small glass, sometimes with the fruit at the bottom.

The island's beer: a lager brewed with Czech malts and hops, fermented and matured at low temperature. Golden colour, light body, smooth taste — the glass that goes with espetada and limpets, and the one mixed with laranjada at the arraiais.

The grape of the dry wines. Pale colour, light and clean on the palate: Sercial is drunk as an aperitif, well chilled. It is one of the four noble grapes of Madeira wine, alongside Verdelho, Bual and Malvasia.

The grape of the medium-dry wines. Golden colour, delicate flavour: Verdelho holds its place at the table, with fish or a starter, standing between the dry Sercial and the medium-sweet Bual.

The grape of the medium-sweet wines. Smooth and velvety, dark gold, with a slightly sweet finish: Bual goes with roasts and desserts, halfway between Verdelho and Malvasia.

The grape of the sweet wines. Full-bodied, intensely perfumed, deep in colour: Malvasia — the English «malmsey» — is drunk between meals or with dessert. It is the sweetest of the four noble grapes.

A rare grape, for a long time nearly gone from the island's vineyards and replanted since: it now stands, with Tinta Negra, among the varieties most used after the four noble ones.

The island's most planted grape, present in most Madeira wines. It lends itself to all four sweetness levels and makes up the bulk of the blends; old bottles of a noble grape are rare and expensive.

Madeira's vines hold on poios: small stepped plots, retained by dry-stone walls on very steep slopes, planted by hand. The archipelago has about 500 hectares of vineyard, from sea level up to 700 m — one of the few regions in the world producing mountain wines.

Beside the fortified wine that made the island's name, the region produces still wines under the protected designation of origin «Madeirense» — whites, rosés and reds from the same terraced slopes.

The region's third official mention: the protected geographical indication «Terras Madeirenses», looser than the two designations of origin, completes the trio PDO Madeira, PDO Madeirense and PGI Terras Madeirenses.

Madeira rum comes from the fermentation and then distillation of cane juice, at a minimum of 37.5% vol. Natural, white rum is the raw material of poncha; the aged versions rest in oak casks. All are certified. The first cane stills appeared on the island at the end of the 19th century.