Located in Torres Vedras, Moinhos da Capucha—produtos tradicionais takes its daily inspiration both from the strength of the landscape and the traditions perpetuated by the people that inhabits it. It’s from these traditions that the owner and master confectioner Ana Duarte, with an immense sweetness and a spark in the eye, so characteristic of those who put all their love in what they do, creates, manufactures and reinvents her own selection of signature products.
Those who visit her space, inaugurated on 15th November 2018, are surprised and touched with the love and dedication that Ana has put in it, as well as with the products that she presents, each one with a history and stories to tell as one tastes them.
Where did the Moinhos da Capucha project came from?
It came from the question I asked myself one day concerning what would feel natural and easy for me to do. The answer was two-fold because I like everything related to food, but I also love writing. Add to this the fact that the region I live in is a source of inspiration to both. The Moinhos da Capucha—produtos tradicionais brand appears in a period in my life in which my sons, after the academic, are already pursuing professional carriers and I choose to quit teaching. Fifty, a good age to start a new professional challenge. Step by step I reflected, I shared, I created, I stepped back also, finding that while will alone might not enough, but it gives strength to carry on. This project has its heart in tradition and the teachings of the past, its reason in the present and its eyes in the future. It is also very much what we are as a family, where everyone lends a hand according to what they do best, even if it’s only the tasting...
When and how did you discover your liking for culinary?
My most striking memories carry with love them smells and tastes, always in a family context. From the paternal grandparents, the aroma of freshly cooked bread was an alarm-clock one could not resist. Bakers and farmers, everyone at home – nine children – were skilled in the art of making bread and what one could put in the oven once it was baked: fish, chicken, cod, ‘horseshoe’ cakes, apples, potatoes, onions... everything had its place inside that immense oven! The smell that came from it was so stimulating that I can’t remember ever feeling a lack of appetite... Other times the smell was acre, strange, not pleasant to me. Smell of grape harvest, of distillation pulp, of fermentation of must, of brimstone, and a cellar with immense barrels where men entered sideways through a tiny door and went out dizzy, soaked and stinky.
From the maternal side, different experiences and teachings; the matança do porco (pig killing) was a big thing! I think even the pig guessed something was going to happen, such were the preparations. Always the smells, the flavours, the people, each one’s particular skills, and the sharing, because only through sharing it all made sense.
In child’s play the birthdays of the dolls were a constant and, one day, the cakes stopped being made of flowers and leaves and became real. Remnants of water cake dough, a classic at the time, put inside a mini frying pan and taken to the oven; and marvel, my doll’s birthday cake was a success among my girlfriends. None of them had ever managed to talk their mothers into giving a small portion of cake dough for our games. Thus, step by step, experiences, curiosities, stubbornness, and I was discovering and learning. My masters were all those who around me were making food, cakes, sweets. In the books, another passion I carry with me since I learned how to read, I consolidated the knowledge I carried with me and learning about what was being made in other kitchens. With the family and friends this path finds all its meaning, but also through the compromise of surprising them.
‘The taste of the present lies in the flavours of the past’ is the motto that guides you and seems to take you always beyond. Which flavours best define Moinhos da Capucha?
Those we wouldn’t want to lose and connect us, in the affective memory, to people, to places, to events, to periods of time. Those flavours we identify by their authenticity, which are justified by the artisanal way they are made and are valued by the richness of natural products and of local origin that we are keen to acquire. Flavours that adapt to the times and personal tastes of our clients, who know they find at Moinhos da Capucha the artisanal taste of homemade sweets, even if they have restrictions in their food choices. Vegan birthday cake? But of course! Those are the flavours that characterize the Torres Vedras region and its gastronomical traditions.
Of all your products, which have more acceptance and demand from your clients?
I believe that the fact that I have developed products associated with local eras and facts has contributed to their dissemination and sale. The ‘Licor do Caraças—O mata-bicho da Matrafona’ is associated to the Carnival; the Uvada, to the town festivities; the chocolate cake, to the Lines of Torres Vedras, and the Trincas, crunchy and with a Mediterranean flavour, are excellent to go with the tasting of a good wine of the Lisbon region. All the above, as well as others, are already a part of our image. To create original products was always my aim, even if grounded in the rich local gastronomical traditions. I believe this to be one of the ways to reach a position in the market and also, in a way, to bypass the competition.
The Lines of Torres Vedras assume an important role in the territory where they are inserted, so you decided to reference them in your products. How did you become interested in this thematic and what products do you have that are associated with the Lines?
When I started idealizing the concept that I wanted to imprint on Moinhos da Capucha, I decided that one of the main themes would have to be local history, and the Lines of Torres Vedras are arguably an excellent source of inspiration. History is one of my academic subjects of election, it contains in itself the day-to-day of the people, their stories, as well as the ability to place us in different times and realities. It widens horizons by making us step out of ourselves. And I also love stories very much. The chocolate cake of the Lines of Torres Vedras carries with it a love story: the love of a French soldier, wounded on the battle-field, sheltered in secret by a young woman, a maid at the house of a wealthy family where she had learned how to make a chocolate cake that would contribute to the physical recovery of ‘her’ protégé. The cake would later be taken by the faithful soldier to Napoleon himself, who, also as a token of love, the emperor offered to his beloved Josephine. The recipe to this cake? It really is a well-kept secret, and the story goes on... The Tarte do Desassossego (Pie of Disquiet) and the people’s lives in hard times... another story that might as well have happened. The scorched earth policy imposed by general Wellington to the population of Central Portugal, which left even poorer those who already had so little and that, bundle in hand, went drifting God knows where... A mother, of her own sons and of others who had lost theirs in the war, is burdened with the task of preparing a bundle for departure. She is unable to collect much but she knows that hunger is a reality as certain as the lack of knowledge of their fate. They depart and experience constant restlessness: the Winter and intense rain, little clothing and shoes, many people and lots of robbers, a never-ending number of soldiers, children lost in the midst of the multitude. A disquiet, those many days they take to get to the Fort of S. Vicente, the unknown shelter. One nice day, at dawn, a ‘French goodbye’ is reason to celebrate. Out of the bundle came some chickling vetches kept in there for even worse days... in truth, the party was made, and the Tarte do Desassossego was made, because there’s no wrong that can last forever nor... a sweet that doesn’t come to an end. Toscas de Galinha (chicken ‘roughs’) could have been the nightfall repast, after a peaceful day for everyone, except for the chickens at the henhouse... the day when the general shared the meal with his ‘galos de briga’ (‘fighting roosters’), the name he gave the Portuguese soldiers. Improved meal, for sure! Chicken pot pie, rough (tosca), for there was little time, skill and refinement were limited as well, but the taste and the aroma, ah, yes! Those are all in there.
Looking at the Napoleon Bonaparte puppet that decorates your space, no doubt an inspiration for some of your products, I wonder if Ana agrees with the following saying attributed to the emperor: “An army marches on its stomach”.
A saying that, coming from Napoleon, a man with such a complex personality, has certainly a lot to be said about. That hand inside the jacket is emblematic and it is even said he suffered from chronic heartburn – could that be the reason for his expression? Truth is that the end of the possibility of getting supplies through looting was crucial to the defeat of his army. To feed ourselves is such a serious thing, so important, vital even, that one has to conclude that if do it in a correct, balanced way we will become more proactive, efficient, healthy and happy. I believe, I promote, and I do it!
Apart from the products carrying the Lines of Torres Vedras theme, what other delicacies can we find that equally give a good portrait of the region?
As I said, this is a fertile and inspiring region, and it is difficult sometimes to keep focus and not to go much beyond, because one runs the risk of not being able to get to everything. The Uvada, the fruit jams with wine of single varietal type, like Pera Rocha with Touriga Nacional, Maçã Reineta with Arinto, and wild fruits with Cabernet Sauvignon, the liquor made with wine of the region and that was dedicated to the Torres Vedras Carnival with the name Licor do Caraças—Mata-bicho da Matrafona® and yet another variety dedicated to the Lines of Torres Vedras and its protagonists, in an association with the Vinho dos Mortos (Wine of the Dead). The line of biscuits dedicated to emblematic places of the city of Torres Vedras and Santa Cruz beach, the Morenas de Uvada, small tarts made with uvada, cheese and nuts and which bring us the local flavours, or the Bicas, perfect marriage between the city, with its bean tarts, and the countryside, with its wine production, for to the recipe of the traditional bean tart I added the wine liquor. All I do has to mean something to me and to the region I live in, as well as the possibility to add something good to an already very good thing.
Moinhos da Capucha can be defined by the use of unique recipes and the best regional ingredients; however, you also run a service of catering and events. Can you tell us something about your Catering-Boutique service?
Yes, unique recipes that sometimes are based on existing ones, but also some that I experiment from scratch, testing as I go. The Bolo de Vinho (Wine Cake) is a good example: it derives from the sopas de cavalo cansado, which, with some extra ingredients, made it into an extraordinary cake of rural flavour. The Catering-Boutique, an on-demand service, is arguably something that gives me immense satisfaction, not the least for the possibility it gives me to adapt what I do to the event itself. Everything, once again, has to make sense. I remember a corporate coffee break, men only, it was Saint Valentine’s Day and I made on purpose some biscuits in the shape of a heart that I randomly spread over the centre of the table, like if it was a part of the decoration. Someone more attentive denounced the fact and it became, from then on, an icebreaker. This is how I like to work, in a dedicated and personalised way, because the elegance that simplicity carries within first reveals itself to the eyes. To eat is always a social and relational performance that is best kept simple, tasty, authentic. My contribution goes also in the sense of revealing, through the presentation of the table and the food placed on it, the feeling or motivation meant to be communicated. Family parties, corporate or institutional coffee breaks of small to medium dimension, these are assignments that come by ever more often and which we happily fulfil, with satisfaction to the client.
Do you have novelties planned for the near future?
At the current time it is crucial to dedicate ourselves to what is already established. We recently concluded the infrastructure works that allowed us to have a more efficient kitchen and open a shop to the public. As great a creative impetus I might feel, the truth that I impose on myself is that this has to become a cost-effective and self-sufficient space in a reasonable amount of time. To explore, advance and join tourism-related partnerships can, I believe, be a way to go and to which I consider having an answer in the products of Moinhos da Capucha. I want very much to contribute to local development but also to the sustainability of my business and project. Effective partnerships, focused on mutual interests and in the certainty that what is best for me is best for my partner, are certainly welcome.
Where can Moinhos da Capucha products be found?
Our own space of manufacture and sales is located in Torres Vedras, at the Rua Zeca Afonso, Nº 9—Bairro Vila Morena. Otherwise, we are present at the Loja Torres Vedras, run by the Tourism department of the Torres Vedras City Hall, and in other wine shops.
In a few words, how would you define Moinhos da Capucha?
To put forward the Moinhos da Capucha—produtos tradicionais motto, ‘The taste of the present lies in the flavours of the past’, is to put forward the certainty of its essence, for the rest are mere add-ons.
Would you like to leave a message to our readers?
Many times I find myself thinking about everything they went through, ever single person, without exception, who lived in the times of the French Invasions, and I know that my understanding will be insufficient to encompass so great a reality, but I retain the ability to resist the adversities and the suffering; the mental and physical strength needed to carry on the mapped out goal; the creative dynamics generated under the greatest difficulties and that so many times lead to personal overcoming and the removal of barriers. This is a testimonial that should impel positively in life and inspire us as human beings. A war testimonial, indeed, but also an opportunity to make a better today.
