Alghero's Catalan blancmange, a set almond cream scented with lemon and cinnamon, spooned into pastry cases or served plain. The recipe survives in Alguerès rather than Italian.

Menjar blanc, literally white food, is a medieval Catalan preparation that crossed to Alghero with the Aragonese resettlement of 1354 and stayed. Made from almond milk thickened with starch and perfumed with lemon peel and cinnamon, it belongs to the same family as the blancmanges of medieval Europe, but Alghero kept it as a feast dessert while the Italian mainland largely forgot it. The town's pastry families still hold the recipes, and in some households the working notes are written in Alguerès rather than Italian. It shows up filled into small tarts and as a filling for the Alghero Easter and Christmas sweets.

1 editor pick for Menjar blanc in Alghero, ranked by editorial score. All Alghero signature dishes · Menjar blanc across every city.

Bon Bons ★ 4.6

€BakerySant'Agostino

Bon Bons keeps the Catalan sweets of Alghero alive, baking menjar blanc and ous de butxaca to recipes written down in Alguerès by the family.

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