Jelly of Love and Jam for Lovers

Monchique. She calls it Jelly of Love and Jam for Lovers. A small jar holds 250 grams and costs four euros. The mixture is at once wonderfully sweet and spicy, with piri-piri chilli. Two versions, two flavours, both with 60% fruit and 40% sugar, one with red forest fruits and the other with lemon and almonds. Maria Julia Inácio harvests the fruit in her own garden and the nearby uplands of the Algarve: handmade jams, a few hundred jars a year. Once they’re sold, that’s that. Julinha is 43, and she works for the local town hall, where she drives the little street-cleaning truck. She makes jams because she enjoys it and it’s an old family tradition.

Further information: docesdajulinha@hotmail.com; contact 966 173 015