Food in Brazil: Sweets, Desserts & Fruits

This list gathers popular sweets, desserts, and fruits you find all over Brazil, at bakeries, cafes, local markets, and street vendors, and some of them are even easy to make at home. I love to eat these sweets while drinking coffee, and I recommend doing it. If you have the chance to experience a birthday party in Brazil, especially for children, you will see all these sweets at least. Some of the traditional sweets in Brazil are made of sugarcane, a commodity that was the national export product until the 18^th century.

Brigadeiro

Brigadeiro is maybe the most popular Brazilian dessert around the world for being so easy to prepare. You just need condensed milk, butter, and chocolate to prepare a brigadeiro wherever you go.

Beijinho

Translated literally as “little kiss”, beijinho is the coconut version of the brigadeiro, also popular at birthday parties and celebrations. It’s made with condensed milk and grated coconut rolled over caster sugar, topped with a clove.

Cocada

Cocada is one of the most popular desserts in Brazil, one of my favorites, prepared with grated coconut and sugar, sold in the streets in many cities, as well as bakeries, cafés, local markets. Similar coconut candies are also found in other Latin American countries.

Pé-de-Moleque

Pé-de-moleque is a sweet prepared by combining brown sugar and peanut after being peeled and roasted. There are also varieties of pé-de-moleque made with condensed milk. One of my favorite sweets, I like to eat it while drinking coffee.

Paçoca

Paçoca is a sweet made of baked ground peanuts, sugar, salt, and cassava flour. It’s one of the most popular sweets in the June Festival (Festa Junina as we say), and relatively easy to make at home using a blender, that’s how I make it at home. It’s consumed in the form of flour or as a solid candy.

Rapadura and Puxa-Puxa

Rapadura is a sweet that remembers the ‘piloncillo’ from Mexico, made from unrefined cane sugar that is called melado, a broth that is also consumed as a sweet or to add on a slice of bread, for example. Another sweet made of sugar cane is the puxa-puxa, boiling the melado until becoming a strong solid pasta by pulling it.

Pamonha

Pamonha is a paste made with corn and milk that is boiled wrapped in corn husks and turned into a dumpling. It can be served as sweet or saved depending on the region and on family recipes. For me, it has always been sweet.

Doce de Leite

If you have traveled to Argentina and Uruguay, you may have tasted the dulce de leche, which in Brazil we call doce de leite, one of the highlights of the state of Minas Gerais. So why not add a doce de leite to the bread while having a breakfast?

Cajuzinho

Cajuzinho is a popular candy at celebrations and birthday parties in Brazil, also found at bakeries, cafes and pastry places. This cashew shaped sweet is prepared with cashew nuts, sugar, and peanuts that strongly remarks its taste.

Tapioca

Tapioca is typical from northern Brazil, consumed as a dish for breakfast, as a dessert or for dinner. Basically, it’s prepared with starch extracted from the cassava root, and the recipes can be sweet or salted.

Bananada or Doce de Banana

Bananada or doce de banana is a candy made of banana combining the pulp of this fruit with sugar, consistent like a solid jam. It dates back to the colonial period when it was usually prepared by the slaves.

Goiabada

Goiabada is a guava dessert brought by the Portuguese immigrants, who used to use guavas to make marmalade instead of the quinces. You can find goiabada packages at the supermarkets.

Maria Mole

Maria mole is a dessert made of gelatine, egg whites, and sugar, usually covered with grated coconut. It remembers the marshmallow by its texture and taste. Found at candy stores and bakeries, normally.

Fruits in Brazil

The variety and number of fruits found in Brazil are huge, and here I just mention a few examples. Visiting local markets is the best way to find the local fruits in the region you are visiting. If you travel to São Paulo, go to Mercadão, where you find exotic fruits from all over the country and other parts of the world.

Açaí

Açaí is a small purple berry native from the Amazon region and famous around the world for juices, ice creams, and shakes. In major cities, you find cafes serving desserts and juices made of açaí.

Pinhão

The pine nuts, ‘pinhão’, are popular in southern Brazil during the winter from June to August, usually cooked on the pressure cooker and served as a snack on occasions like get-together and barbecue. Other dishes are prepared using the cooked pine nuts with other ingredients such as meat and vegetables.

Passion Fruit

Passion fruit in Brazil is called ‘maracujá’, very used for making juices and desserts, so as liquors. Passion fruit juice is something I recommend for every traveler to taste when visiting the country.

Nuts

Castanha as said in Portuguese, the seeds of Brazil nuts are very common in the northern region, and found at local markets all over the country. For being delicious, these nuts are also used for desserts.

If you look for more tips about what to eat in Brazil, I also share a list of main course dishes, beverages and drinks, and snacks and sandwiches to taste during your holiday.

Originally posted 2020-09-12 03:00:47.

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