Easter and Holy Week pastries and confectionery

Bep Al·lès/Ciutadella - On our island, as in most regions and countries of Christian tradition, there are specific pastry and confectionery preparations associated with Holy Week and Easter.

Formatjades and crespells

Traditionally, formatjades and crespells, which have Hebrew origins —or, according to some, Nuragic or Talayotic— were prepared following Sephardic culinary traditions.

Therefore, lard was not used in the dough; instead, olive oil was used in lamb-filled pastries and crespells, while butter was used in cheese and cottage cheese pastries typical of Ciutadella.

With the conversion of Jewish communities —notably present in Mahón and Ciutadella— and to demonstrate adherence to Christianity, pork fat was introduced into the dough. Lamb formatjades began to include pieces of bacon and sobrasada, and crespells filled with sobrasada also appeared. Until then, crespells were sweet, filled with cottage cheese, jam, fig paste, almond paste, quince paste, pumpkin jam or “suquet”.

Over time, especially from the last third of the 20th century onwards, pork-filled formatjades became more common and are now widely available in bakeries. Other varieties have gradually disappeared, such as fish-filled pastries (made with dogfish, cod and peppers) or vegetable versions with raisins and pine nuts. Today, those still produced are usually filled with tuna and vegetables such as chard or spinach, or with chopped hard-boiled egg.

Casques

Casques are one of the traditional pastries of Lent and Holy Week, traditionally eaten as a snack on Palm Sunday. The Archduke referred to them as “rotlos” due to their cylindrical, ring-like shape. They are made with coca bamba dough.

In Ciutadella, the Panificadora has revived their production, and recently, together with the Island Council, workshops have been held to reintroduce them into households.

Casques, like coca bamba or the Menorcan ensaimada —called ensaimada de Sant Joan in Ciutadella— were eaten dipped in hot chocolate as an afternoon snack.

There are also references to casques filled with sweetened cottage cheese and cinnamon, decorated with candied fruit or hard-boiled eggs. Could they be the origin of modern Easter cakes?

Easter sweets

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Another Easter tradition in Menorca is sweets. From those distributed during Good Friday processions to the traditional long “Easter candy” given by grandparents and godparents to children.

There is also the “candy tree” tradition, where children water a tree with sugar and water during Lent, and on Easter Sunday it appears covered with hanging sweets.

This tradition was widespread until a few decades ago. In shoe factories, workers were given bags of sweets before Easter holidays. Municipalities and many families still maintain this custom.

The most typical sweets are long, red candies wrapped in golden paper, made by boiling sugar with water and glucose, adding coloring during boiling, and later strawberry essence, shaping them into cylinders.

These candies, unique to our island and not found in the rest of the Balearic Islands, may have British origins, as very similar ones are made in Blackpool. This would be another of the gastronomic legacies left by the British in the 18th century, when the island of Menorca belonged to the British Crown.

Lexical notes:

Sèu: lard, porc fat
Formatjades: savoury pastries similar to empanadas (in Mallorca called panades)
Crespells: lard-based pastry shaped like a star or sphere, with various fillings. Not related to Mallorcan crespells
Casca: pastry made from coca bamba dough in a ring shape