Calling any portugese mumsnetters....

[GettingFiggyWithIt]

Hello!
My dd has to do a talk about Portugal. I cannot get hold of any belem pasteis don't ask me to make them! But i did find a portugese shop which sold us some solid looking jam made of fruit and no other info. Hmmm.
Said lady told us that in her experience portugese families often ate this jam with bananas.
I have since googled and aside from finding things about actual banana jam and even carrot jam i cannot find any reference to serving jam on/in bananas. Any ideas or has she just offloaded some portugese jam onto me and i am that gullible?!
Dd won't entertain making marzipan fruit nor does her class eat olives or almonds apparently
So i need to go with the jammy banana thing. What would that be in portugese?!

[GettingFiggyWithIt]

Hopeful bump

[GettingFiggyWithIt]

Noone from portugal or with portugese in-laws? Or any ex pats?

[GettingFiggyWithIt]

Morning bump
Asked mods to move to living overseas/title change
Maybe no one moves to the UK from Portugal
Ah well

[Rockdoctor]

I suspect that what you have is quince paste. In Portuguese it is known as Marmelada, from which we get the English word marmalade. In Spanish it is known as Membrillo. Quince grows abundantly in the Mediterranean countries and you boil it up with sugar, as you would any fruit to make jam, but the thing with quince is that it sets into a very thick jelly that you have to cut with a knife.

I'm not sure about bananas but I can see that would work for children especially. More traditionally, people eat it with hard cheese or spread on bread/toast (hence "marmalade").

[Hoppinggreen]

Yes, sounds like quince to me. It goes with cheese particularly well.
Can you make custard tarts? They have those a lot in Portugal, in fact you can buy them in Nandos if you are feeling a bit Lazy!!

[baabi]

Hi, I am Portuguese, maybe I can help? Is the jam you are talking about quince jelly by any chance? Is the only jam I can think that is really solid. It is called Marmelada and is made with the pulp of a fruit called marmelo (quince fruit) hence the name. That is where the word marmelade comes from apparently. Regarding the spreading on bananas I have never heard such a thing so I can't help you there. If you need any recipes for any Portuguese food let me know. By the way you can buy the custard tarts (pastel de nata same as pastel de Belem) online or if you have a Nandos nearby they sell them also. Not as amazing as the ones sold in Portugal but acceptable. Gosh, I could murder one of them now...

[BeccaMumsnet]

Hi everyone - we've just going to pop this into Living Oversees for the OP to get the best response.

[GettingFiggyWithIt]

Hello
Thanks for your replies. You are all correct. It is indeed marmelada with pulp from marmelo.
I have never ever eaten quince. I now need to find the German for it. Sadly am not in UK so no Nandos. I could murder a nandos. Tschibo do the tarts but seasonal only. So this paste I should cut up? Is quince very sweet? I am a bit sceptical about the bananas but the lady was really nice. And there was no cheese. At least it isn't just mixed fruit jam. I should have googled marmelada and marmelo instead of mistranslating not such a cunning linguist after all

[GettingFiggyWithIt]

I really did think it was jam. Contents: jam!
Reminds me of a comic who did a skit about dog food. Contents: stuff! And something about the spice girls, posgh fella he was, did a cider ad. Damn, may need to goohle him too later.
Baabi what was the online shop please? I looked at the airport shop online but only found biscuits and portugesefoodonline couldn't find them either. That said, I suspect it is too late for delivery now. Thanks anyway.

[LaCerbiatta]

Not very helpful, but I have never seen or heard of marmelada being eaten with bananas...
have heard of people eating cheese with bananas though (again not very helpful...)

[Rockdoctor]

Hi Figgy. Yes, we cut up the paste and then "smear" it on bread/toast. The paste is v sweet but the fruit itself is pretty well inedible in its uncooked state (as far as I know).

[woolshortage]

Quince in German is Quitte so it would be Quittengelee.

[baabi]

The online supplier is galeta.co.uk theyvare vased in London I am not sure they supply outside the UK. Marmelada is quite sweet and is delicious on fresh bread. I have seen it served in restaurants with cheese in the UK but in Portugal is just eatenwith bread as far as I know. By the way quinces can and are indeed eaten raw but I think they are an aquired taste. They taste sweet but are not very juicy. Most people use the pulp to make marmelada and use the skin and pips to make Geleia a diferent jam with a runny texture that tastes even better. Hmm I must ask my mother to send me dome :)

[TinyTear]

is it Marmelada?
then i have never eaten it with banana, but marmelada and cheese sandwiches are AMAZING!

[GettingFiggyWithIt]

Thanks all.
I am now quitting worrying about it (zis eez ganz lustig because as woolshortage points out Quitte is quince, thanks wool).
Sadly with 33 kids in the class i won't get to purloin the marmelada for a cheese sarnie. Dd is now obsessed with bananas because the woman told her it would be a lovely dessert so won't let me get her 3 dozen fresh rolls instead. Kids.
And is marzipan really universally disliked? I love marzipan and could easily have made fruit. Kids.
But I am helicopter parenting anyway...simply put, the other pairs all bought a speciality ranging from irish soda bread to wiener schnitzel so I did not want to let her down. She won't entertain making a poster, playing music, doing who wants to be a millionaire or any of that crap, but if dhd buggers this up has even nore chance of sitzenbleiben. Hell, maybe resitting the year might teach her something !
Anyway thanks again to you all Xxx

[GettingFiggyWithIt]

Sorry my typos are getting worse. Sausage fingers on a Stupid. Bloody. Kindle.

[GettingFiggyWithIt]

Well she got through it.
The quince jam was not well received but what the hey.
I tasted a bit and it was a bit meh. Prefer raspberry myself
They ended up having it on rolls. She gets credit for making an effort, mind.
Thanks again X