From

Patoleo

To Muttleo, Goan Sweets That Define The São João Festival

Quick Summary

The Goan São João festival marks the beginning of the monsoons, with the grand feast featuring mouthwatering aromas of jaggery, jackfruit, coconut, and rice. The kitchens in this coastal location get quite busy using the best of seasonal ingredients, especially jackfruit, which ripens just as Goa's monsoon arrives. There are also steamed turmeric-leaf parcels and rolled coconut pancakes, all of which are niche sweets of Goa that carry centuries of Goan Catholic tradition with Portuguese influence. To know more about such sweets and the festival itself, you will have to read on. 

Deep Dive

The São João festival, observed every year on June 24, is a Goan Catholic feast that honours Saint John the Baptist. People are seen jumping into ponds and wells, which carry deep symbolism associated with the said religious figure. It is said that the unborn John is said to have leapt for joy in his mother Elizabeth's womb upon hearing the pregnant Mary's greeting. This leap is replicated by devotees who jump into said water bodies. 

For such an occasion as goes Indian tradition, sweets are common, and you will find the feast filled with delicious Goan sweets, which are taken as a gift while visiting friends and family, celebrating newlyweds, welcoming the family’s son-in-law with a feast, and babies with lots of singing. Groups of singers wearing flower crowns (kopels) visit homes during this season, accompanied by Goan percussion instruments, and families offer them alcohol, fruit, and sweets, including patoleo, before everyone reconvenes at the village cross for a closing prayer.

1. Patoleo

The São João festival entails a ritual of house visits, and Indians seldom arrive empty-handed. The patoleo Goan sweet is usually carried and is perhaps the most iconic sweet of this entire season.

• Patoleo is made with a filling of grated coconut and palm jaggery.

• The sweet filling is encased in a rice batter.

• The sweet is wrapped in fresh turmeric leaves before steaming. 

The turmeric leaf might seem like a decorative wrapping, but it is not entirely so, as the leaf infuses the rice parcel with a distinct aroma that is scarcely found in other sweets around the country, especially among the many Goan coconut-jaggery sweets.

2. Ponsache Holle

Some just call it ‘holle’ or ‘pansache donne’; this confection is a cone-shaped rice dumpling that is close to the patoleo in technique, but the filling and the leaf used to wrap the sweet are different. 

• Holle’s filling is made with a mixture of coconut, palm jaggery, and chana (split gram). The filling is nuttier and denser than any simple coconut-jaggery mix. 

• Instead of turmeric leaves, Holle uses jackfruit leaves.

The leaves are folded into a cone and steamed until the leaves themselves change colour, which signals that the Holle is done.

3. Muttleo

Here’s a look at the heart of Goan sweets: muttleo, also spelt muthli or muthali, is patoleo's simpler, leaf-free cousin. 

• It uses the same rice dough and the same coconut-jaggery-cardamom filling as the patoleo.

• There is no leaf wrapping, and instead, the dough is hand-rolled, filled, and sealed into small balls or half-moons before steaming. 

This makes muttleo a quicker preparation for homes that want the best of monsoon flavours without having to source fresh turmeric leaves. It’s commonly made for feast occasions across Goa, including the boat-parade celebrations associated with São João itself.

4. Jacadá

Jacadá derives its name from the Portuguese word for jackfruit, ‘jaca’, combined with ‘doce’, meaning ‘sweet’, making jacadá literally ‘jackfruit sweet’. It is also called doce de jaca. The monsoon brings the best ripe jackfruit, available for a brief window, so many Goan festivities, like the São João festival, include this sweet. 

• It is made with ripe jackfruit pulp, fresh coconut, sugar, ginger juice, and cardamom.

• The concoction is reduced to a sticky, dense, fragrant sweet.

Jacadá is like a well-set halwa that can be sliced into pieces and passed around during the celebrations or gifted. It carries the richness of the ripe jackfruit's flavour.

5. Alle Belle

What might be reminiscent of the Hindi word ‘albele’ is not so, but the meaning (unique) is quite fitting to this Goan sweet. Alle Belle is something you might have seen before, even if you might be unfamiliar with the name. 

• The sweet is a thin pancake made from a batter of flour, milk and ghee.

• The pancake is then rolled around a filling of fresh coconut, salt, and palm jaggery, and scented with cardamom. 

Some cooks like dying their alle belle, mostly in shades of green, pink and yellow. While this sweet is best known for Shrove Tuesday, the last day of indulgence before Lent, it is also present at the São João festival, where sweets made with coconut jaggery are plentiful.

6. Filles

Also spelt filos and pronounced closer to ‘fee-lohz’, the name comes from the Portuguese word for ‘fios’, meaning ‘threads’, a reference to the thin, delicate nature of the dish. 

• Filles are rice or jackfruit-batter pancakes.

• The pancakes are rolled around a filling of coconut and jaggery.

• The sweet is then pan-cooked rather than steamed. 

Some homes prefer making Filles by pureeing ripe jackfruit kernels and adding them to the batter, tinting the pancakes with the subtle taste and sweetness of jackfruit even before the filling is added.

7. Figadá

This one might sound like it was derived from the Portuguese word for liver or ‘fígado’, but this Goan sweet Figadá contains no liver. Figadá is made with figs, unlike the many coconut or jackfruit sweets here, making it a unique Goan sweet on this list. It is often included in the vojem, which is the festive hamper sent by a bride's family to the groom's family during São João celebrations.

• Figadá is made from dried figs, crushed almonds, and reduced milk. 

• The ingredients are reduced to a dense, fudgy treat.

The sweet is rich and dense, and tastes quite different from the coconut-based sweets that dominate the season. Figadá is a reminder that Goan sweets carry flavours from far beyond the Konkan coast and show Goa’s centuries of trade and Portuguese influence.

8. Chunn

Chunn, sometimes spelt chun, isn't exactly a sweet like you would consider the Goan bebinca or even patoleo. This one is the foundational coconut-and-palm jaggery filling, with a cardamom flavour, that underpins many of Goa's festive preparations. This same chunn mixture is rolled into Alle Belle, folded into filles, and stuffed into neuris and patoleo, making it the heavy lifter for most of the Goan sweets associated with the São João festival. The taste of the chunn is linked to the quality of the palm jaggery used, which separates the exceptional from the average.

9. Toucinho do Céu

Another misunderstood Goan sweet is the toucinho do céu, a Portuguese term meaning ‘bacon from heaven’, but it contains no meat whatsoever. It’s an almond cake made with ground almonds, sugar, and egg yolks, with lime zest. The cake is dense, with a rich crumb that is reminiscent of Portuguese baking styles fused with Goan sensibilities. It is among the rarest sweets on this entire list, reserved for significant celebrations. This sweet is increasingly difficult to find outside the homes of specific families.

An Overview of the São João Sweets

Goan Sweets are Central to São João Festival

These Goan sweets are the cultural pride of the São João festival, with many of them prepared from memory rather than from a cookbook. With singing and merrymaking part of this festival, some sweets are needed for a quick energy boost to enjoy the day. Make sure to sample the figadá, toucinho do céu, and ponsache holle, many of which you will not find outside Goa or Goan homes.