Society & Culture
I have much for which to thank the nuns of the Catholic Church. After all, one of them taught me how to read. But I’m almost equally grateful to Roman Catholic nuns for their role in inventing and perfecting some of the most heavenly pastries on earth. Collectively called convent sweets because they originated in the convents of Italy, Spain, and particularly Portugal as far back as the 15th century, they ultimately made their way far beyond the Iberian peninsula. The best of these creations relied on egg yolks, of which there were plenty available. Egg whites were used variously to clarify wines, as part of the building material for church walls, to starch nuns’ habits, and in sugar refining, so the remaining yolks were sent to the convent kitchens. Faced with this profusion of yellow leftovers, the sisters hit upon the idea of combining them with sizeable amounts of sugar and heating them, thereby raising the making of custard to an art form. The most famous of the Portuguese convent