Portugal

Portugal brings Portuguese specialties from Matosinhos to the Algarve

At nur Gutes, Portugal means only the best: sardines from Matosinhos and Lisbon, olive oil and sea salt from the Algarve. Add to this ceramics from Olhão, stoneware in the colors of the Atlantic, as well as soaps and room fragrances from Porto. Portuguese specialties for the kitchen, table, and bathroom, from companies that have been working by hand since 1912, 1920, or just a few years ago.

Portuguese specialties at nur Gutes start with the sardine—in olive oil, with lemon, in tomato sauce, or smoked—placed in the tin by hand in Matosinhos and Lisbon. This is joined by extra virgin olive oil and salt from the Algarve. Because Portugal also lives by craftsmanship at the table, we stock Portuguese tableware made of ceramics and stoneware, as well as soaps, scented candles, and diffusers from Porto, collected in Nordhorn since 2002.

From the sardine in Lisbon to the cataplana in the Algarve

Portugal eats from the sea, and the ocean is ever-present on the plate, whether as freshly grilled sardines or dried bacalhau.

For the stockfish, it is said there is a recipe for every day of the year. It is served with potatoes and egg as bacalhau à Brás, gratinated with cream, or as fritters to accompany a beer. In June, when Lisbon celebrates Saint Anthony, sardines lie on the charcoal in every alley of the Alfama. In the north, caldo verde made from potatoes, kale, and chouriço provides warmth.

Porto presents the francesinha, a sandwich covered in cheese and beer sauce, while the Alentejo region cooks pork with clams. The Algarve closes its cataplana—the copper clam pan—over fish, tomatoes, and cilantro. Things get sweet in Belém, where pastéis de nata emerge from the oven with their signature caramelized crusts.

A proverb sums up the attitude towards this: "quem não arrisca, não petisca" (he who does not venture, does not snack), and the "petiscos"—Portugal's small plates—are the perfect invitation to do just that.

Douro, Vinho Verde, and a cup of Bica

Portuguese wine grows on terraces, and the most famous rise in steps from the Douro river.

This is where port wine is born, fortified with brandy, aged in the cellars of Vila Nova de Gaia, and bottled as Ruby, Tawny, or Vintage. From the same grape varieties, Touriga Nacional and Touriga Franca, the "quintas" (estates) today also produce dry red wines. The Minho region in the north pours Vinho Verde, young and light with a fine effervescence, made from Alvarinho and Loureiro. The Alentejo region cultivates soft reds, while Madeira produces its heated wine for eternity.

People also drink in smaller portions: "ginjinha" made from sour cherries in Lisbon, or "medronho" distilled from arbutus berries in the Algarve. And at every hour, there is the "bica," the short espresso known by that name in Lisbon. From this drinking culture, it is primarily the cup that lands with us. The Grespresso cups from Costa Nova in blue, yellow, and aqua are meant for exactly this short coffee.

Sardines from Matosinhos, oil and salt from the Algarve

Portuguese sardines are the chapter we open most frequently, and the entire range is gathered under Sardines from Portugal.

In Matosinhos, the old canning town outside the gates of Porto, the Pinhais cannery has been placing each sardine into the yellow tin of Nuri by hand since 1920. This requires 37 steps, after which olive oil is added—pure, with lemon, spicy, or in tomato sauce. Briosa Gourmet has been working in the same town since 1912 and prints azulejo patterns on their tins, while Porthos from Porto puts the seafarer on the tinplate.

From Lisbon comes A Banca da Sardinha, which has been filling brightly illustrated tins since 2007 with smoked sardines, or ones with oregano or in escabeche sauce. José Gourmet has its tins designed by artists and, alongside sardines, also cans mackerel and octopus. The Nuri sardines in olive oil are the tin with which most people here get started.

In the Algarve, Monterosa harvests Picual, Verdeal, Maçanilha, and Cobrançosa olives by hand in Moncarapacho, seven kilometers from the sea, and presses them on the same day, keeping the varieties separate. In the salt pans of the Ria Formosa, Marisol rakes the sea salt together in summer with a wooden rake, three to five times per season, dried by sun and wind.

Striped ceramics, stoneware in Atlantic blue, and the sardine as soap

Portuguese tableware bears the colors of its coast, and it is still shaped in workshops today that handle every single piece by hand.

Casa Cubista comes from Olhão, where the flat, cubic houses of the old town are reminiscent of North Africa. There, bowls, jugs, and plates with bold stripes and lines are created in teal, terracotta, and black—handcrafted and each one slightly different. Costa Nova carries the name of the beach town near Aveiro, whose striped fishermen's houses can be recognized from the water. The stoneware in blue, turquoise, and green is ovenproof and made for everyday use.

In Porto, Castelbel has been crafting soaps, scented candles, and diffusers since 1999, wrapped in printed paper. Because the sardine is part of everyday life in Portugal, it is available there as a fish-shaped soap and as a room fragrance. A guest soap with verbena, a "Gold & Blue" diffuser, and the bathroom smells like a summer in Porto.

A gift from Portugal packs itself almost automatically. Two tins of sardines with artist labels, a bottle of oil from Moncarapacho, salt in a cotton bag, plus the stoneware espresso cup. Anyone choosing the wooden box from Porthos with five tins has the packaging already taken care of.

Who has their hands at work in Matosinhos and Olhão

Two companies show how Portugal understands craftsmanship—one with a hundred-year head start, one from the year 2000.

Pinhais was founded in 1920 in Matosinhos and has carried the name Nuri on its tin since 1935. Since 2016, Jakob Glatz has led the company, one of the last canneries in Portugal where almost everything is done by hand. Experienced hands head, clean, and pack the fish one by one, and anyone who has watched the process will open that yellow tin a little more slowly afterwards.

Andrea Siebert and Hans-Nico Böer founded Marisol in 2000 in Tavira. Andrea leads the company today, from Olhão since 2006, on the edge of the salt pans of Ria Formosa and Castro Marim. The harvest takes place between June and September; the salt dries in the sun and wind, is sorted, and is filled by hand.

In Lisbon, A Banca da Sardinha began in 2007 to bring Portugal's coastal craftsmanship into the tin, with each container brightly illustrated and featuring the sardine as the main character. The fish are precooked the traditional way and preserved either pure or seasoned.

When Portugal belongs on the table

The sardine has its season in Portugal in the summer, when it is at its fattest. In the tin, it is available all year round and even continues to mature in its oil.

In summer, it belongs on toasted bread with tomatoes; in autumn, with the first oil of the new harvest; in winter, as a pâté on a table shared with friends. At Christmas, the fish-shaped soap makes its way into every small parcel as a greeting. You can find pre-packed Portuguese specialties in our gifts section, from the sardine crate to the gourmet box.

Anyone traveling further can browse through our regions to the next country, where our neighbor shares the Atlantic with Portugal. To the east lies Spain, which harvests bonito and anchovies from the same sea, while Portugal held onto the sardine. Open a tin, add some bread, and the evening is by the Atlantic.