The Priest Who Resurrected an Island’s Cider Tradition

Photo caption: Father Rui Sousa in the parish orchards. Photo credit: Teresa Vivas. Article by Rafael Tonon. Atlas Obscura – August 5, 2022.

Father Rui Sousa saw opportunity in the parish orchards.

What first struck Father Rui Sousa was the abundance of fruits in the church’s countryside orchards: different varieties of pears, passion fruit, raspberries, and apples, often abandoned and left to rot. It was the late 1990s, and as the new head of the parish of Prazeres, in the middle west region of Madeira, the famous subtropical Island of Portugal, he decided that the farm could do better. […]

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