Food in Brazil | Tripster Panda

When traveling to a new country, you may be wondering what types of foods you will encounter. This is especially true if you are heading somewhere tropical where they grow fruits and veggies that you can’t find in your home country! Brazil is a beautiful tropical country filled with many unique and tasty fruits and vegetables, including açaí berries, cupuaçu, and caju. In addition, guaraná and Carambola are also native to Brazil. However, these five are just a few of the popular produce found in Brazil. Before heading to Brazil and encountering a market filled with unfamiliar foods, keep reading to learn more about the fruits and vegetables you can expect to encounter within the country of Brazil. Açaí Berries Over the past few years, Açaí (pronounced like asa-ee) berries have become a common fruit in several American smoothies and fruit bowls. But what you probably didn’t know is that açaí berries are known as the ‘Brazilian blueberry’ and are grown within the country in abundance. Açaí smoothies and bowls are very popular snacks in Brazil, and you will be able to find them almost anywhere in the country! - Credit: Dreamstime | Martinmark You’ll be able to find these delicious berries everywhere around the country. A local favorite is açaí ice, which is where they make an açaí sorbet. But you can find açaí in everything from fruit bowls to smoothies and even traditional ice cream! Although these sweet berries may seem like a forbidden treat, açaís are loaded with antioxidants and fatty acids that help lower blood pressure and cholesterol. Guaraná Have you heard the word guaraná (pronounced guaranA, emphasis on the last a) before? It’s highly likely to find this fruit in other countries, but almost always made into a beverage, and you will be unable to find it as fresh fruit. This is because the seeds of the fruit contain twice as much caffeine as coffee seeds! This cute red fruit is called the Guaraná, the main ingredient of one of Brazil's most popular soft drinks! - Credit: Dreamstime | Rodrigo Arena This fruit is red on the outside, white on the inside, with black seed in the center. If you give a fresh fruit a try, you’ll enjoy its sweet taste. Although you can find fresh guaraná around, most people prefer to drink this fruit as a beverage. Guaraná has long been prized by the local tribes in Brazil and is consumed regularly to help boost metabolism and help with weight loss. Cupuaçu Don’t worry if you have trouble pronouncing this fruit's name (coo-po-a-soo), as its name can be quite a struggle! The cupuaçu is a distant relative of the cocoa bean but is surprisingly classified as a fruit. However, you probably won’t know what to make of these when you see them because they look like massive kiwis and can weigh in at almost 1kg each! While its exterior is pretty hard, the insides are soft and sweet, tasting a little bit like chocolate! - Credit: Dreamstime | Fabio Salles The inside of a cupuaçu is white, but the flavors you encounter will shock you. Because this fruit is part of the cocoa bean family, it will have a slight chocolatey taste to it. Otherwise, most people report that the flavor reminds them a bit of pineapple but with a much more sour taste. Like most fruits on this list, it’s very healthy to consume a cupuaçu as it is filled with all sorts of vitamins and minerals that can’t be found in other fruits. Caju The word ‘caju’ means cashew in Portuguese. And before you think of the tasty nut that is served all over the US, you have to know that cajus are much different in South America. The caju fruit is incredibly sweet and has been one of my favorite juices ever since I was a child! - Credit: Dreamstime | Maffboy They are often referred to as "fake fruit," which is a bit confusing because they look a lot like a pear. Orange in color, this fruit is sweet and very juicy — leading to many people consuming it as a juice. Unfortunately, you can’t find the caju abroad because the skin of this fruit is very delicate, making it almost impossible to transport. Besides just being a tasty snack, cajus are loaded with vitamins and minerals and can help when it comes to pesky stomach issues. So if you find yourself suffering a few unpleasant stomach upsets while in the country, give eating a caju a try. Castanha Do Pará Whether you realize it or not, you’ve most likely tried Castanha do Pará before, and this is because it is the Portuguese way of saying Brazil nut! This nut grows on trees in pods that look very similar to a coconut. They are known for their delicious buttery and smooth texture. Castanha do Pará is another famous fruit in Brazil, and it goes very well with the açaí sorbet we talked about earlier in the post! - Credit: Dreamstime | Pixabay These nuts can be found all over Brazil and are known worldwide for their unique health benefits. Enjoy as many of these nuts as you can while in the country as they have been shown to help reduce inflammation, assist in thyroid regulations, and support heart health. Not to mention they are dense in energy and will keep you feeling full for hours! Jabuticaba The jabuticaba is another dark berry that looks very similar to a blueberry, though they get to be about the size of a plum! Strangely enough, these fruits grow from the tree trunk itself. You won’t find this fruit in the supermarkets at home, because jabuticaba fruits perish very quickly after being picked. The darker the berry, the more vitamins and nutrients it has! While in Brazil, try having a few jabuticabas; they are delicious and can be found almost anywhere in the country - Credit: Dreamstime | Grondin Franck Olivier When trying a jaboticaba, the entire fruit is edible, although you may find that the skin is a bit sour for your taste. The inside portion of the fruit is tasty, however, and this is another fruit that is great for detoxing, just like the fabulous açaí berry. Carambola Carambola is a fruit commonly grown in Brazil that can be found in some specialized American markets. Carambola is also known as starfruit, and is called such as slicing it will leave you with a collection of star shapes! Widely known as starfruit outside Brazil, the carambola is another popular fruit in the country, having its best crop in March and April - Credit: Dreamstime | Donkeyru The taste of a carambola might throw you for a loop, as it is sweet and sour at the same time. However, typically the fruits are yellow or green, and the entire fruit, including the skin, can be consumed. Carambolas have some health benefits, just like most fruits, but they are known specifically for their ability to help reduce cholesterol and a fatty liver. Graviola Graviola is a Brazilian fruit that can be called one of many names. Some people know it as the Brazilian pawpaw, while others know it as soursop or guanabana. Either way, the trees this fruit grows on are known to doctors worldwide because of their properties that assist with cell regeneration. The graviola's white pulp has a slightly sweet but sour flavor, being used in the preparation of vitamins and desserts - Credit: Dreamstime | Drewrawcliffe This fruit is typically green in color, with an outside that will appear to be spiky. However, once it is cut open, you will find the edible white pulp interior and some black seeds that are indigestible to humans. You’ll be able to find this fruit fresh in the markets, as well as in the form of candies, beverages, and desserts like sorbet. There is another fruit very similar to the Graviola called Fruta do Conde, they are both from the same family. They can also be found in the US (California), Spain, Mexico and Chile. Sugar Cane Sugar cane is a common crop in numerous places all around the globe, but did you know that it grows in Brazil too? Although this plant isn’t native to the country, it was brought there so many centuries ago that most locals now consider it a native plant. Although not originate in Brazil, sugar cane is also very popular in the country, with a lot of Brazilians consuming it raw or in the form of sweets and desserts - Credit: Dreamstime | Kittikornphongok Sugar cane is a type of grass that is refined to make sugar. But when you are in Brazil, don’t be afraid to buy a bit to try for raw consumption. Typically, you will see natives biting off pieces of the end of a sugar cane, chewing it until the sweetness is gone, then spitting out the woody parts. Although this may seem a bit gross, there are several health benefits to consuming sugar cane this way, most notably that it helps with inflammation, liver problems, and urinary tract problems. So when you see this food in a Brazilian market, don’t be afraid to give it a try! Mango Mango is another fruit that is usually associated with countries that aren’t Brazil. But like the sugar cane, it was brought to the country so long ago that Brazilians can’t imagine life without it. In the modern-day, mangos can typically be enjoyed seasonally in American grocery stores. The mango is most definitely one of my favorite fruits; its thick and sweet pulp makes for a perfect snack during the summer, especially when cold! - Credit: Dreamstime | Shawn Jackson Yellow, orange, green, and red in color on the mango's exterior can be sliced to reveal a deep orange fleshy inside that can be as sweet as candy. Unfortunately, a large inedible seed can make the mango difficult to cut, therefore leading it to be a fruit usually served in chopped chunks. Even though you’ll find mango served commonly as a dessert, it is a fruit that has many antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals that can help boost your health—so don’t be afraid to indulge! Final Thoughts When venturing to a new country, it’s important to try the local cuisine, and in a country like Brazil, you simply can’t miss out on trying all the amazing tropical fruits! So when you find yourself in a Brazilian market, faced with several fruits you can’t name, grab a few and give them a taste, because you never know when you might find your new favorite food! While you are here, I think we might interest you with these: Brazilian Steakhouses: Why Are They Popular? - Brazil is very well-known for its rich BBQ buffets and if you wanna know why, we have everything you need to know right here! Just don't read if you're hungry! Tired Of BBQ? The 8 Places And Food To Eat In Rio (By A Local) - Now that you have all the info on Brazilian BBQs, how about we move on to other tasty subjects and courses? Check out these 8 awesome places to eat in Rio de Janeiro! 11 Great Reasons To Move to Brazil - Paradisiac landscapes, beautiful people, great food...I mean, I could keep going on how you should definitely move to Brazil, but for now, I'll just give you 11 great reasons! Cover Photo: Brazilian fruit Fruta do Conde with a Brazilian flag - Credit: ID 137145630 © Ludmila Haikal | Dreamstime.com