Fruit!

When people found out we were going to Brazil - everyone said how much we'd love the fruit.  And I thought - yes - I'm sure Brazil has great fruit - pineapples, mangos, etc.  But we have all those in California - and many other exotic fruits that the rest of the US isn't aware of.  After all - Berkeley does have the famous Berkeley Bowl.

And of course I thought there would be some fruits that hadn't made it to the US yet - but not a lot.  It seems as though each week, there's some new "fruit from the Amazon" that has all sorts of health properties.

But the reality is far different.  There are tons of fruits I'd never heard of and they're very common here.  Brazilians make them into sucos or juices and they're just wonderful.  At the wonderful place we often go for a lazy weekend brunch - I always ask what the juices of the day are and try a different one each time.

Some of my favorites are pitanga and cupuaçu - wonderful flavors.  I had a wonderful mousse do cupuaçu the other day.  Pitanga reminds me of how candy necklaces tasted as a child and cupuaçu is like a lighter, more wonderful version of a pina colada.

In the fruit and vegetable store today (Fruitaria) I decided to make my own juice using my liquificadora (blender).  I had the most wonderful conversation with a fellow shopper and got all her recommendations for best fruits there and the various methods of preparation - all in Portuguese!  I love being able to interact with people on such random and everyday types of living.  Interacting through food shopping and cooking is a wonderful way to learn about a culture. 

Brazilian blenders are different than those in the US in order to facilitate the whole "juice" or "suco" lifestyle.  There is a fine strainer that goes in the middle that strains out all the seeds, etc. so that juice is easily (more or less) done.

There is graviola

and pinha (great flavor - kind of pear like, but to juice it you have to remove those seeds . . .)

acerola (sour - but yummy)

and then there's caju.  It's the fruit of the cashew tree.  Notice the cashew shaped green stem at the top. The cashew nut is very toxic to harvest so when you're dealing with the fruit, you just throw it away and discard it.  Leave the nut harvesting to the experts!














There are many other fruits to try - too many for just one blog post.  More to come later!