Tremoços de Verão
Tremoços de Verão·(treh-moh-soos deh veh-rown)
A Festa: Summer Feasts & The Holy Ghost Tradition
In the old country, transforming raw, bitter lupini beans into an edible bar snack demanded a week of soaking them in a running river. For the modern first-generation American, buying them pre-brined in a jar is the only practical move, but the work doesn't stop there. That industrial brine tastes of sterile nothingness. To resurrect the true communal taste of an Azorean summer festival, you have to wash away the factory water and drown the beans in a fierce, unapologetic marinade of raw garlic, coarse sea salt, and the earthy heat of fermented pepper paste. Serve them cold with a beer, tear the tough skins with your teeth, and pop the beans straight into your mouth.
Ingredients
- prepared lupini beans24 oz
- garlic4 med
- pimenta da terra1 1/2 tbsp
- coarse sea salt1 tsp
- olive oil1 tbsp
- dried oregano1/4 tsp
- cold filtered water2 cup
Method
- 01
Purge the factory brine.
Pour the jar of commercial beans into a colander in the sink and rinse them vigorously under cold running water for a minute or two to wash away the harsh, flat saltiness of the industrial processing.
- 02
Build the tempero.
Transfer the rinsed beans into a large, clean glass jar or a spacious container with a tight-fitting lid. Add the sliced garlic, pimenta da terra, sea salt, olive oil, and oregano directly over the beans.
- 03
Hydrate and agitate.
Pour fresh, cold filtered water into the container until the beans are completely submerged by about an inch. Seal the container tightly and shake vigorously to distribute the pepper paste, salt, and garlic evenly throughout the water.
- 04
Let the flavors marry.
Place the container in the refrigerator and leave it completely alone for at least 24 hours. A 48 to 72 hour rest will yield a significantly deeper, more authentic flavor as the beans fully absorb the garlic and the earthy heat of the pepper paste.
Notes
Eating technique is everything.
Do not chew the whole bean because the fibrous outer skin is tough and considered unpalatable. Bring the bean to your lips, use your front teeth to make a small tear in the edge of the skin, and squeeze so the inner bean pops directly into your mouth. Discard the translucent skins on a small side plate.
Sourcing the pepper paste.
Pimenta da terra, or massa de malagueta, is a traditional Azorean fermented pepper paste and the cornerstone of island cooking. If you cannot find it at a Portuguese market or online, substitute one tablespoon of finely minced sweet red bell pepper mashed with a half teaspoon of coarse salt and a quarter teaspoon of crushed red pepper flakes to mimic the sweet, salty heat.