Casca Rija was born in October 2016 in an apartment kitchen in Lisbon. Patrícia Contreiras, trained in molecular biology and genetics, had been making nut butters for herself for years, with no oils, no preservatives and no refined sugar. Her brother Tiago kept telling her they were good enough to sell. Jorge Moedas, a designer, built the brand with her and became her partner.
They entered Acredita Portugal, the country's largest entrepreneurship competition, and reached the top three of their category out of some 13,000 ideas. The first butters went on sale that same October. In April 2018 they opened their own 300 square metre factory in Fátima, and a shop in town on Rua Santa Isabel.
The principle has not changed since the apartment kitchen. Their line is "Less is more. Less ingredients, more real food": only what is strictly necessary goes in the jar. Eleven nut butters now, alongside granola, roasted nuts, dried fruit, seeds, flours, gluten-free pasta and loose-leaf tea.
Most of the range is sold loose, by weight, which is what makes it work for a kitchen that refills rather than reorders packaging.