RECIPE - Tangerine and Mango Mojito (Mojito de Tangerina e Manga)

In Brazil, we're now well into February, normally the hottest month of the year in this very hot country. These are the dog days of summer in Brazil, when the mercury boils over and so do many Brazilians. Checking Climatempo, the Brazilian equivalent of the Weather Channel, today Rio de Janeiro is expecting a high temperature of 34C (93F) with lots of sun and the occasional shower. In São Paulo, it'll go up to 32C (90F) and be sunny, humid, with afternoon thundershowers. Fortaleza, where Flavors of Brazil comes from, should be a relatively pleasant 29C (88F) with lots of sun and a strong breeze. But in the interior of the state, where there are no trade winds to cool one off, the temperature is expected to reach 35C (92F). It seems that Brazil's hottest city tomorrow will be Cuiabá, the capital of the state of Mato Grosso and always one of the hottest spots in Brazil. There it's predicted to go up to 36F (96F).

With temperatures like these during the summer months, Brazilians are perennially desperate for a chilled drink . Icy beer is always an option, fruit juices are popular, and the traditional cooling cocktail, the caipirinha, remains a popular option. However, some Brazilians are now finding that the caipirinha, even though it has lots of ice cubes, doesn't have a lot of water and has a high level of alcohol which doesn't aid cooling. Because of this, when it's really hot many Brazilians are turning to variations of the Cuban drink, the mojito. It's becoming increasingly popular in bars, restaurants, nightclubs and at the beach because a mojito's CQ (cooling quotient) is inhanced by the addition of refreshing fresh mint and plenty of chilled soda water, and if only natural fruit juices are used, cooling isn't inhibited by an excess of sugar.

The following recipe is typical of one of the new generation Cubo-Brazilian mojitos. Or should that be Brazo-Cuban? However it's described, it's wonderfully refreshing, light and not overly-alcoholic, and absolutely delicious. Even if you have to wait until July or August for a really hot day to hit your northern hemisphere neighborhood, remember this drink and try it out then. It'll cool you right off.
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RECIPE - Tangerine and Mango Mojito (Mojito de Tangerina e Manga)
Makes one drink

1/2 small ripe mango, peeled and cubed
1/2 tangerine, peeled, seeded but left in segments
6 or 7 fresh mint leaves, thoroughly washed
1 oz (2 Tbsp) white rum
ice cubes
soda water or bubbly mineral water
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Process the mango cubes in a blender or food processor until you have a smooth pulp. Reserve.

Combine the tangerine segments and the mint leaves in a tall tumbler. Using the handle of a wooden spoon or a glass stirring rod, lightly mash them together. Do not over-mash. You want them to be bruised so that the flavors are released, but not completely mashed.

Add the rum, and then enough mango pulp to fill the glass no more than halfway. Add 3/4 cubes of ice, then fill with soda water. Stir gently to mix, being careful not to over-stir the soda water.

Let stand for a minute or two to chill, then serve.

Recipe translated and adapted from Gula magazine.

RECIPE - Tangerine Caipirinha with Biquinho Peppers (Caipirinha de Tangerina com Pimenta-Biquinho)

Following last Friday's article about the unusual biquinho chili pepper, our plans were to publish a typical recipe which uses the pepper not for its spiciness (for it has no hotness) but for its fruity and pepperish flavor, then to move on to something else.

When we were researching recipes for the biquinho on the Internet, we came across a very informative site from a nursery and seed source from the coastal town of Ilhéus, Brazil in southern Bahia state. Yesterday, we published their recipe for preserving whole biquinho peppers.

On their site there was also a recipe for a cocktail which caught our eye. It was one more variation on the Brazilian national cocktail, the caipirinha, and though Flavors of Brazil has already published various caipirinha recipes, we couldn't resist this one. We're publishing it untested, but it looks so good and so unusual that we'll be testing it out this weekend, and promise to report back on it next week. Meantime, here's how to make one:
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RECIPE - Tangerine Caipirinha with Biquinho Peppers (Caipirinha de Tangerina com Pimenta-Biquinho)
Makes 2 drinks

3 fresh biquinho peppers
2 - 4 Tbsp granulated white sugar, to taste
3 oz. (200 ml) cachaça (can substitute tequila or vodka)
2 medium tangerines, peeled and seeded
cubed ice
2 tangerine segments, for garnish (optional)
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In each of two old-fashioned glass, add one-half of the tangerine segments (reserving two segments for garnish if desired), the sugar and 1/2 of a biquinho pepper. Using a pestle or the end of a wooden spoon, crush the mixture to extract all the juice and mix the ingredients.

Add 1 1/2 oz. cachaça to each glass, mix well, then fill the glass with ice. Add one whole biquinho pepper and an optional tangerine segment to garnish and serve immediately.

FRUITS OF BRAZIL - Rangpur/Mandarin-Lime (Limão cravo)

A few weeks ago, in Fortaleza's Friday-morning market, the Mercado dos Pinhões, Flavors of Brazil happened across a totally unfamiliar citrus fruit at one of our favorite vendor's stand. Naturally, we had to ask the vendor what it was, and just as naturally, we had to buy some to try it out. The vendor told us that the fruit was called limão cravo, which translates into English as clove-lime (clove as in the spice). We found the name strange, as it really didn't look like a lime at all, although in Portuguese the concept of what constitutes a lime (limão) is much broader than it is in English - for example, what we know as a lemon is called a Sicilian lime (limão siciliano) in Portuguese. The fruit was larger than most limes, and the color was a bright orange, not the green that one would expect. What it looked like, in fact, was some sort of tangerine or mandarin. Here's a photo of the fruit to give an idea:

When we got back home, we peeled one immediately. The fruit was easy to peel, though the skin didn't come away from the flesh as happens with mandarins and tangerines. The skin was thin, with little of the white pulp characteristic of oranges and lemons. The flesh of the fruit looked very much like a tangerine, too, although the segments were more closely bound than tangerine segments usually are. When we popped one in our mouth we were hit with a acidic wallop - with a taste of tangerine. The fruit was as tart and acidic as a lime, but with characteristic flavors of mandarins and tangerines. It certainly wasn't something that one would peel and eat.

A bit of botanical research led us to the scientific name for this fruit (Citrus limonia Osbeck ) and its names in English. In English it's known as either the mandarin-lime or the rangpur. the mandarin-lime name comes from the fact that it is a hybrid between the mandarin and the lime, and the rangpur name comes from the city of Rangpur, Bangladesh, famous for this and other citrus fruits. So our initial taste sensation of mandarin flavors with lime acidity and tartness wasn't off the mark - those are the two parent fruits of the limão cravo.

The  limão cravo grows almost anywhere in Brazil, and although it originated in China, it has become completely naturalized in this country, and grows wild in many areas. In the USA it can only be grown in Florida, but it is used commonly there as an ornamental tree. Outside of Brazil, the only commercial use of it that we were able to find was in a brand of gin produced by Tanqueray called Tanqueray Rangpur Gin. Which got us to thinking - a caipirinha made with limão cravo would probably be delicious. And guess what? It was.

RECIPE - Tangerine Caipirinha "Veloso Bar"

This sophisticated, and daringly different take on a caipirinha, Brazil's "national cocktail" is the creation of Deusdete de Souza, bartender at São Paulo's Veloso Bar and four-time winner of "bartender of the year" award in the  Veja São Paulo Guide to Eating and Drinking. In addition to the expected cachaça and tangerine, the intensity of the drink is punched up with bits of hot chili pepper - specifically the pepper known in Brazil as dedo-de-moça (meaning "little girl's finger" in English).

One of the most interesting recent trends in mixology here in Brazil is the expansion of the caipirinha vocabulary, using the traditional cocktail as a platform for inventive and innovative flights of fancy. Sometimes these creations "crash and burn", but this one works out very well indeed. Delicious.
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RECIPE - Tangerine Caipirinha "Veloso Bar"
Makes 1 drink

1 small tangerine or mandarin, unpeeled, carefully washed and with extremities removed
2 Tbsp. granulated sugar (or to taste)
ice cubes
1 small dedo-de-moça pepper (or other small hot red pepper), split down the middle, seeded, and cut into fine strips (quantity can be adjusted up or down depending on preference)
2 oz (50 ml) golden cachaça

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With a sharp paring knife, cut the tangerine in half horizontally, then into slices. Remove seeds. Place the tangerine slices in a tall tumbler, add the sugar, then macerate with a pestle or handle of a large wooden spoon. Add ice cubes, then cachaça. Fill glass with additional ice if needed. Using a bar spoon, mix the drink from bottom to top, then serve.

Recipe translated and adapted from Claudia magazine, Abril Editora

INGREDIENTS - A Tangerine By Any Other Name Would Taste As Sweet

Amidst the wonders that is the fruit section of a Brazilian market or supermarket - between the stacks of sapoti, acerola, buriti, and other fruits with names that are unknown or unpronounceable - usually sits a nice selection of tangerines. For a North American or European visitor to Brazil the sight of tangerines in the market brings a sense of comfort - "here's something familiar, delicious, easy to handle and eat, and dependable" - and often leads to buying a bagful. Usually it's a good purchasing decision, for the tangerines in Brazil are most often juicy, sweet and delectable.

Tangerines, like all citrus fruits, are not native to Brazil, but they have adapted well to growing conditions in this country and are one of the most commonly available fruits year round. Brazil is the third-largest tangerine-producing country in the world, being surpassed only by China and Spain. The annual harvest is about 1.2 million tons per year, and most of the production is consumed domestically.

Tangerines were brought to Brazil by Portuguese colonists early in the colonial period, and have been consumed in Brazil for centuries. In early colonial times transportation between various settlement areas in Brazil was difficult if not impossible due to topography and ocean currents and consequently there was little contact between the colonies of what is now the north, the northeast, the southeast and the south of Brazil. Due to lack of contact and trade, colonies went there own wayin many things, and developed local differences, preferences and terminology. Because of this, what we know in English as the "tangerine" goes by a large number of names in Brazil, and the name used varies principally by region.

Today, the tangerine has at least the following names in Brazil (there are probably more):

• In the south of Brazil, in the states of Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina, it's called bergamota or vergamota
• In the southeast, in the states of Minas Gerais and Espírito Santo, it's known as mexerica
• In the northeast, the local name is laranja-cravo (clove orange in English)
• In the states of Piauí and Maranhão, it's a tanja
• In the city of Curitiba be becomes a mimosa
• In the central-western states of Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul, it's called poncã

All of which makes the English-language nomenclature - tangerine, mandarin, clementine - quite simple and straightforward, doesn't it?

However you call it, and wherever you eat it, though, an easy-to-peel, cold, sweet tangerine is one of the most refreshing fruits on earth, in Brazil or anywhere else. It's no wonder that million-plus tons of tangerines cultivated every year in Brazil never makes it to the export market.