AnnaOne of our quests with Anthony for the trip is to try as much new (vegetarian) food from the countries we visit, as much as we can. So we were looking forward to hitting Brazilian food places from day 1. No more words, here’s my toplist from Brazil.
No. 5
Acarajé
It’s a street food typical in Salvador de Bahia. The structure is like a kebab, there’s a deep fried dough paste made of beans that is filled with spring onions, coriander, tomato and a yellow paste. We ate the vegetarian version, since the original contains shrimps filling. It was very good but too small haha. Read about it more here.
No. 4
Chuchu
Chuchu doesn’t usually feature on any list of best Brazilian food. But here, read about all the merits.
I wanted to try all fruits and vegetables that I’ve never seen / eaten before, that was one of my little projects for the trip. Chuchu attracted my eyes first in a supermarket with its pear shape but green and sliced structure. It was love at first sight and we bought 2 pieces right away, as it’s very cheap. It’s difficult to peel it, once it’s peeled it’s very slippery, it has to be washed and it tastes like zucchini. So basically it’s like zucchini with a price benefit and a cuter name.
No. 3
Palmito
Palmito is considered a delicacy in Brazil, it’s a vegetable made of the core of the trunk of certain palm trees. It’s possible to buy it in jars like we did, cut into small pieces or left as bigger chunks, and as uncooked version. It has an outer ring that is slightly harder than the very soft inside. The jar version was a bit pickled. First I added it into our morning salad, but then I just ate the sticks one by one without anything. I find it hard to compare the taste to anything I’ve eaten before, so if anyone has an idea, please comment below. Palmito is also available in Spain and probably other (Mediterranean?) countries in Europe.
No. 2
Goiabada
It’s a hard jelly made of goiaba fruit. Goiabada can be used as a substitute for jam. It originated from the colonial times when they used this fruit as a basis, instead of the proper ingredient for jams in Brazil. It’s sold either in a rectangular pack or in a pot. I ate it with a sort of fatty cream (called requeijão) on bread…it was that yummy that we tanked up with it before exiting the country, and ever since I really miss this delicious Brazilian food!
No. 1
trrrrr…..
My very favourite Brazilian food: açaÃ
Açaà is a type of berry that grows in rainforests in South America. It is considered as a super food due to the high amount of vitamins that it contains, and there are a lot of health benefits that you can read about here. In Brazil açaà is prepared most commonly as a bowl: on top of the deep purple / chocolate colour purée of fruit, one can choose 3 additions, eg. granola, kiwi, banana, condensed milk (this latter is very sweet and very popular in Brazil), honey, among others. The best topping combination that I’ve found: banana, honey, granola. Yummm!!! Apparently a hype around it started a few years ago, but I think in Europe people are not as crazy about it as in Brazil. (It might be because açaà needs to be fresh so it’s more available nearer to the source.)
+1 the odd one out
A great company for Brazilian food: guaraná
It’s a soft drink in the line of Coke and Fanta etc, with the taste resembling of a mix of tutti frutti and cherry. It originates from the guaraná fruit that is typical in Brazil and it has an energizing effect (I didn’t feel this). When I drank anything else than water, juice or beer, it was guaraná. Lucky me, it’s also sold in Portugal!
What is your favourite exotic fruit? Do you find it easily where you live? Maybe you’ve got your own favourite Brazilian food? Tell us about it in the comments section!
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Super cool article! Acarajé looks amazing!
you’d never had palmito before? My parents very often put some in salads, you can find it everywhere in France! (we call it “heart of palm tree”)
No, I didn’t know palmito before. Anthony said it’s available in Spain, but I’ve never seen in those countries where I lived.
Actually, now I realised that the palmito consistency can be compared to pickled asparagus in jar!