Olive oil in Portuguese sweets: Abrantes fair 2026 puts it centre stage

In Portugal, olive oil is a table habit: a drizzle on bread, a drop in the soup, a bottle set beside the salt. When the talk turns to doces, we think first of eggs, sugar, almonds or cinnamon. Olive oil stays discreet in cakes, as if it belonged to another kitchen.

A fair, a theme, a town on the Tagus

The XXIVth Feira Nacional de Doçaria Tradicional takes place in Abrantes, a small town in the Ribatejo region on the banks of the Tagus, from 23 to 25 October 2026. It sets up on the Esplanada 1º de Maio in the historic centre, and entry is free. This year's theme is “O Azeite na Doçaria Portuguesa”: olive oil in Portuguese sweet-making.

More than thirty exhibitors come from across the country, from the islands and from Madeira. Broas fervidas are the highlight, alongside the palha de Abrantes and the tigeladas de Abrantes, two local sweets. You will also find ovos moles from Aveiro, pastéis de Tentúgal, queijadas, pão de ló from Ovar and Margaride, and the convent sweets of the Alentejo: fidalgo, morgado and pão de rala.

The stalls do not sell cakes alone. You will find compotes, marmalades, honey, liqueurs, ginjinha, wines and poncha from Madeira. There will also be carob ice cream and medronho juice, made from the fruit of the strawberry tree.

Olive oil across the whole programme

The theme does not stay on the stalls. Cooking workshops offer sweet recipes that use olive oil. A mountain bike ride follows landmarks of olive culture, including the Oliveira do Mouchão, and stops at producers, cooperatives and craftspeople in the sector, such as the makers of capachos and the esparteiros.

Local associations have been invited to present traditional doces from their villages that include olive oil in the recipe, in a space called “Doces Tradições”. Pupils from nursery and primary school are to design labels for bottles of oil, displayed during the fair. The comic-strip character Palhinhas guides the children: from olive to oil, and from oil to broas fervidas.

The programme also includes fado, traditional music, singing, contemporary dance, children's activities, yoga and exhibitions. Full timetables are published on the websites of the Abrantes town council and of TAGUS, the association that organises the fair with the municipality.

Why olive oil in sweets is intriguing

Portuguese doces rest on ingredients you find all over the country: eggs first, then sugar, almond, honey and cinnamon. The convents turned these recipes into heritage, using the egg yolks left over after the whites were used to starch linen. Olive oil has a very different place in those recipe books.

A fair that makes oil its theme forces you to look again at recipes you think you know. The theme does not give pride of place to Lisbon or Belém: the fair highlights the sweets of the town, the Palha de Abrantes and the tigeladas d'Abrantes, and invites local associations to present their own recipes. Entry is free, so a visit can be a simple afternoon out.

And in Brussels?

No time to make the trip to Abrantes? Portuguese pastry is also within reach in Brussels. Wooly runs shops in Etterbeek, in Woluwe-Saint-Pierre (the Stockel district), in Uccle and in Waterloo. Our pastéis de nata have their product page on the site, and addresses, opening hours and directions are on our shops page.

Want to read on? Two blog articles follow the same routes: the story of the broa de Avintes, the bread women carried across the Douro to sell, and that of the pastéis de Tentúgal, which are on the Abrantes stalls this year.

Our pastéis de nata, in seven flavours, can also be ordered online, with home delivery in Brussels and to neighbouring countries.

Sources: TAGUS, “XXIV Feira Nacional de Doçaria Tradicional”; Médio Tejo, “Azeite dá sabor à 24.ª Feira Nacional de Doçaria Tradicional em Abrantes”.