Artisanal Products - Mamão com Coco

The local, seasonal and sustainable food philosophy of the Slow Food Movement is not as developed in Brazil as it might be in Europe, North America or Australia, but Slow Food, and its philosophy, are present and expanding in the Brazilian consciousness. Slow Food Brasil has a number of local chapters throughout Brazil, and its website is a good guide to its activities and pursuits.

In Fortaleza, where I live, supermarkets are filled with industrially-manufactured foods, just as they are in most of the rest of the world. In some smaller food shops and markets, however, I'm beginning to notice that artisanal products are starting to become available. As I'm a long-time subscriber to the philosophy of Slow Food, and was an active member for many years in Canada, I search out these products, and purchase them - first, because I'm always curious to try out new foods and food products, and second, because I want to support the local food producing community by purchasing its products.

Today, while I was out doing some food shopping, I discovered a local food producer that was unknown to me. I was immediately attracted to it, as it was from a line of jams and preserves called "Sabores", which if you look at the title banner of this blog, means "Flavors" as in "Flavors of Brazil." I purchased a jar of a fruit compote labelled "Mamão com Coco" which translates to English as "Papaya with Coconut." The label indicates that the product only has three ingredients - papaya, coconut and sugar. It was made without any sort of preservative on August 21, 2009 and has a shelf life of 6 months. It claims to be 100% artisanal. The name of the producer is Joacy Lima Sales, and she lives at Rancho Dourado (Golden Ranch) in the city of Horizonte, about 40 kms. outside Fortaleza. With that sort of information on the label, I don't think any product could be more Slow Food than Sra. Lima Sales' Mamão com Coco.

After taking the photos in this post, I opened the jar just to sample the conserve. It's marvelous. The consistency is like a soft fruit spread, without pectin, and the taste combines the buttery tones of ripe papaya with the tropical creaminess of cocunut. Softened flakes of dried coconut give the spread some textural variety. It would be perfect as a flavoring agent for plain yogurt, served with white cheese for dessert, or spread between layers of a sponge cake. I'm looking forward to the remainder of the jar, and to more products from my neighbor at Sabores.