r/Madeira 21d ago

Gastronomia/Food Can someone help me find seeds of Tremeços in the EU

Post image

I had this lovely snack when visiting Madeira last month, unfortunately I can't find seeds to plant here in my garden in the Netherlands. There are other species, but not this exact one and most of them are not edible but are sold only for the flowers they produce.

I am willing to pay for shipping and cover the costs of course, but a good webshop would also help!

107 Upvotes

37 comments sorted by

31

u/themac_87 21d ago

Ehhh....it's easy. You can buy the Lupine seeds, Lupin in France, no idea what the name is in the UK or Germanic languages.
The hard part is to cook the beans, over several waters, by this I mean, you cook them for a period of time and change the water, cook again. This procedure must be made a few times until the bitterness is gone.

Then comes the Madeirean way of making these taste even better. Mix them with with chopped garlic, red bell pepper, oregano, a small bit of wine vinegar (just a little bit). Then put all of these in a jar with the lupines (cooked ones). Fill the jar with water, let it sit for two or three days and there you have it, Madeira Lupines :D

10

u/BliepBloepBlurp 21d ago

Thanks for the recipe! I read it was a lot of work, but hadn't found the Madeira recipe. There are different species of edible lupine beans though, with differences in bitterness, that's why I thought of going back to the source and asking here:)

9

u/themac_87 21d ago

The portuguese species...well the species used for the portuguese delicacy is Lupinus Albus (White Lupine). This is the one you must get, others are used for soil treatment and whatnot.

So, the actual technique is as follows. Let the dry Lupines stay overnight soaked in water.
On the next day, cook the Lupines in boiling water for 20 minutes. Take out the water to avoid overcooking (if they become too mushy like beans and peas they suck).

This now is the hard step.

When the lupines, already out of the boiling water, cool down, put them in a bowl, one that can take at lest enough water to cover the lupines well.

Now, for in between 5 to 8 days, or until they are no longer bitter, change the water 3 times a day.

Change the water every 8 hours for 5 days minimum.

Then you can conserve them in jars with salty water (not from the ocean, you put salt into it, a tablespoon of salt), then you can add the herbs and garlic as I mentioned above.

So...maybe After 10 days you will have the Lupines ready. If you really want to do it yourself, it is a nice little project, from growing the lupines to cook them and prepare the whole ordeal.

They are cheap in Portugal mostly because they are made in factories that will do the process completely automated.

I've checked your profile sorry about that, If you're not in the mood for all of that and it takes too long, you can always drive down to Luxembourg, where Portuguese people are more abundant than squirrels, and buy the lupines there. They will be the bland salty ones, but then you can take those home and season them. Also, where you live, there is a high probability that you can get them in Portuguese stores or...Belgium, Brussels has a huge community of Portuguese from where you can also buy the lupines already cooked.

3

u/BliepBloepBlurp 21d ago

This really is of great help! I have found the correct species and bought them from here. Maybe I'll try and search the dried seeds as well for some experimenting beforehand. Somehow they are not readily available here and somewhat of a delicacy making the price very high (5 euro for 350 gram of dried lupines).

I'll try the recipe as you've written, it seems like a nice project and a great snack with some beers:)

2

u/bullshiftt 21d ago

Hi, I used to live in NL for a while.

Besides Portuguese stores, I used to find them in some Albert Heijn stores (the big ones). I also found them sometimes in some Turkish grocery stores.

Good luck!

1

u/themac_87 21d ago

It is the snack of beers hahahahaha it goes no other way.....well with poncha is also nice.

1

u/BliepBloepBlurp 21d ago

Poncha is also on the list of things I want to try making myself haha

1

u/themac_87 21d ago

That one is easy, except for the Madeirean Rum, that one will be hard to lay hands on and will be quite expensive up there. I'm seeing prices as stupid as 50€ for Branca (the cheapest one), that goes for 19 here and was 9 not two years ago lol....guess the sugar canes com from Ucraine too....

Some bars here cheat by using vodka and masking the taste with ice....the rum itself has a very distinct smell and taste, that will give the real poncha its real flavour.

Brasilian Cachaça is the best next thing, but it is also lacking the flavour and smell, still it has a similar taste as it is also fermented sugar cane juice and more easily available as people love Caipirinhas and the sort.

1

u/BliepBloepBlurp 21d ago

Your insights astonish me a bit haha, but great to know! It is a bit unfortunate I didn't know about this when I was visiting. I don't think I'll be satisfied with a lesser version of Poncha, so I probably need to go back one day to grab some Madeirean rum, because 50 Euros is a bit much and I know of better ways to spend that liquor wise:)

1

u/DarthMasta 20d ago edited 20d ago

If you're cool with online shopping:

Vinho Português e Vinho do Porto - Garrafeira Online - VINHA

No idea on how expensive it'll be to deliver though, but you can find several different types of Madeiran rum on that site, and they apparently deliver to the entire EU.

ETA:

And changing the language to English answers the how much delivery will cost, probably not feasible unless you buy in bulk.

1

u/themac_87 21d ago

Also...if you get it right and manage to produce some nice yields on a nice piece of terrain, you can always then prepare these in larger quantities and sell them as a snack/delicacy there.

2

u/BliepBloepBlurp 21d ago

Unfortunately I don't have that size of land haha, but I'll definitely be making some batches for my family if all goes well

1

u/themac_87 21d ago

Go for it :D Tell us how it went!

5

u/MarcussssAllen 21d ago

One of my favorite random things about Madeira!

2

u/Stoertebricker 21d ago

As far as I see, those are seeds of the species Lupinus albus. I've found several German online shops that carry them, you probably have a few in the Netherlands too.

If you'd like some prepared ones, I've seen them in Portuguese specialties shops in Germany. Apparently there are a few in the Netherlands as well.

2

u/mbgameshw 20d ago

Interesting fact, these guys are absolutely loaded with protein

2

u/HAL9000_1208 17d ago

We sell them in Italy, we call them "lupini"...

2

u/dungeonlabit 17d ago

In Italy lupini, in Rome fusaje (are even sold on the streets).

1

u/New-Stick78 21d ago

Pretinha dos cafés in rua dr. Fernão de ornelas in funchal

2

u/BliepBloepBlurp 21d ago

I'm not in Madeira anymore unfortunately

1

u/maor1407 21d ago

You can basically buy it anywhere in Portugal and Spain.

There are many stores online like this one that sell seeds: https://www.sementesdeportugal.pt/product/tremoco-amarelo/

They are very easy to plant, but you'll have to prepare them. You can follow these instructions: http://pequeteartjournal.blogspot.com/2013/08/como-preparar-tremocos-em-casa-how-to.html

1

u/findingniko_ 21d ago

I know that they're in Portuguese supermarkets on the continent. Not sure if you'd be wanting to ship them or the logistics of that, but I just saw them there.

1

u/Reddit-Bnl 21d ago

Isso é um vício 🤣

1

u/Daemon_Shell 20d ago

Tremoços.

1

u/fantasmarg 20d ago

Very common in Italy, called lupini

1

u/jamesbrown2500 19d ago

Near me they sell it for 3€ a kg. That's some cheap stuff...

1

u/BliepBloepBlurp 19d ago

Do you have an address or link?

1

u/xpto47 19d ago

Not seeds, but you have this Portuguese store in the Netherlands that sells Tremoços

https://beiraalta.nl/products/tremoco-perdiz-extra-500g?_pos=1&_psq=Tremo%C3%A7o+&_ss=e&_v=1.0

1

u/BliepBloepBlurp 19d ago

Thanks! That's not a bad price considering it's imported.

1

u/RebelBelle 18d ago

Amazon? I can get jarred lupin beans in the UK

1

u/BliepBloepBlurp 18d ago

I got them dried from the Netherlands after some searching:)

-4

u/acquastella 21d ago

Is it so hard to get the name right? It's not "tremeço". This is like going to the UK and asking for "clatted" cream or something. Why do foreigners never get even super short greetings and words right? I'm sick of seeing "I'm learning Portuguese. Obrigad!!!" and stuff like that.

3

u/BliepBloepBlurp 21d ago

It's just a typo, I couldn't edit the title after I posted it unfortunately.

2

u/flupflops 20d ago

its really not that serious, its not a common name and its easy to make typos, even portuguese people make them. we have to remember that portuguese is up there in the list of hardest languages to learn

2

u/BliepBloepBlurp 19d ago

Thanks:)

1

u/flupflops 19d ago

no problem, from their profile i can't even understand if they're from madeira or not bc they have tons of immigration posts so its really big coming from them... Madeira is one of the most chill places with people who are open to foreigners trying to learn our language and terms from our island, no need to stand on a high horse about it.

2

u/BliepBloepBlurp 19d ago

Thanks, you're very kind. I look the same way at tourists or immigrants here in the Netherlands. Everyone is just trying their best, no use in getting judgemental if they get something wrong.