snacks

Lupini / Tremoco Beans

Lupini / tremoco beans

We enjoy placing a bowl of these tasty little yellow beans in front of guests who have not visited Portugal before.

Lupini / tremoco beans

Lupini / tremoco beans

Frequently served free of charge in bars alongside a glass of beer these are lupini / tremoco beans. These salty, buttery beans make perfect beer-munchies and are an awful lot healthier than salted peanuts!

The outer skin is thick and not something you want to try and chew, although our guests often place the whole thing in the mouth just as we did the first time!

The thing to do is nip the corner of the skin with the teeth before squeezing the soft bean from inside, or pull a tiny corner off and squeeze the bean out with the fingers as we used to before being taught the correct way by a Portuguese friend. The bite and squeeze method certainly results in less of the tasty beans bouncing over the floor of the bar.

Available in tubs, jars and huge vacuum seal packets, these lupini beans have become part of our life since we moved to Portugal. In fact I think I may have to pop to the kitchen and restock the bowl next to me 🙂