Yemas de Santa Teresa

Yemas de Santa Teresa are small sweets of egg yolk and sugar made in Ávila, Spain. “Yema” means egg yolk in Spanish. Each yellow piece is coated in sugar, and its soft center retains the rich flavor of egg yolk. They are placed one by one in small paper cups and are also arranged in boxes as gifts.

Turning egg yolk into small balls

In one example of yemas de Ávila presented by the Spanish national tourism office, sugar is dissolved in water and a syrup is made with lemon peel and cinnamon. Once their aroma has infused, the peel and cinnamon are removed, and the syrup is combined with strained egg yolks, then returned to the heat and stirred. Because boiling would make the yolks set, the mixture is cooled once it has come together enough to pull away from the pan.

The cooled mixture is rolled into a thick rope, divided into equal portions, rolled into balls and coated with powdered sugar. The key is to take it from a runny cream to a firmness that allows each piece to be shaped by hand. Even among sweets sold under the same name, the strength of the lemon and the finer details of the proportions differ from shop to shop.

Ávila’s shops and the saint’s name

Ávila, a town enclosed by walls, is associated with Teresa de Jesús, a 16th-century nun. A manufacturer connected to the long-established La Flor de Castilla states that a family confectionery founded in Ávila in 1860 made yemas de Santa Teresa and began selling them. Bearing the name of the saint, the sweet is also known as a souvenir that visitors to the town take home in boxes.

The manufacturer’s boxes carry a rebus that combines pictures and letters to spell out the name of the sweet and the shop: “Yemas de Santa Teresa, La Flor de Castilla.” It is read by linking elements such as the figure of Saint Teresa, the musical note “la,” a flower and a map of Old Castile. There is also a story that the picture was once drawn on a paper napkin in a tavern in the town.

On the other hand, there are differing accounts of how this sweet began: some link it to a convent, while others say it came to be made in confectioneries. Ávila’s tourism materials also state that its origin is unclear. A shop’s history conveys the history of that shop; it does not prove when egg yolk sweets were first made or any direct connection with Saint Teresa herself.

Portugal also has many sweets that combine egg yolk and sugar. Whereas encharcada is made by setting eggs in folds in sugar syrup and served on a plate, yemas are shaped into balls and placed one by one on paper. Even when the ingredients are similar, cooking and finishing change the form of the sweet.

Glossary