RECIPE - Watermelon Caipirinha (Caipifruta de Melancia)

It's been a rough start to winter in Europe and North America recently, but Brazil is currently suffering one of its hottest and driest summers on record. This past Wednesday (26 December), Rio de Janeiro experienced its hottest day in almost a hundred years - since 1915 to be precise. The official temperature, as measured by the municipal weather department was 43.2 degrees celsius, which translates to 110 degrees fahrenheit. A friend of ours who lives in Rio reported that one of the large time-temperature signs on Rio's beachfront was reading 51F (or 124F) though he did say that the sign was in the sun. Whatever the official numbers were, it was a scorcher, and though the temperatures have moderated slightly in the past few days, these are Brazil's dog days.

At such extreme temperatures, nothing really relieves the heat, though air conditioning, fans, a dip in the sea and a cold drink all help. Brazilians love icy cold fruit drinks in the summer, and although alcohol doesn't really aid in heat relief, a splash of cachaça, Brazil's national spirit, is a traditional addition to fruit drinks.

The most traditional fruit employed is lime, and the most traditional cocktail is the caipirinha, which Flavors of Brazil has covered extensively in the past. But, increasingly, Brazilians are mixing up their fruits and creating new variations on the caipirinha theme. This one, from one of Brazil's best-selling food and wine magazines, swaps cubes of chilled watermelon (melancia in Portuguese) for the traditional lime.

One of the unique things about the caipirinha is that the whole fruit is used in the drink, not just juice. In this case, though the watermelon rind, thankfully, is not included, the cubes of watermelon are crushed in the glass and are not strained. The seeds make for a beautiful drink, and the pulp of the watermelon makes this a cooler that you can chew.

The drink requires a very ripe watermelon, so those readers of the blog who live in the Northern Hemisphere should probably wait until their summer arrives. Brazilians, Australians and other Southern Hemisphere residents can try one now, when the days are hottest and watermelons are ripest.
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RECIPE - Watermelon Caipirinha (Caipifruta de Melancia)
Makes one drink

1/2 cup cubed ripe watermelon, chilled
2 oz. cachaça (can substitute vodka or white rum)
1 Tbsp granulated white sugar
1 tsp fresh-squeezed lime juice
cubed ice
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In a cocktail shaker or large tumbler, combined the watermelon, cachaça, sugar and lime juice. Using a mortar or the handle of a large wooden spoon, cruch the watermelon cubes to release their juice, but don't completely liquify them - leave some small chunks of pulp.

Fill a large old-fashioned glass with ice, then pour the drink over. Do not strain the drink, leave the seeds and chunks of pulp in the drink.

Serve immediately.

Expocachaça - Prize-winning Cachaças Announced

Brazil's national cachaça trade show and exhibition, Expocachaça, recently wrapped up it's 2012 edition which was held from September 04 to 09 at São Paulo's magnificent Central Market, familiarly known as the Mercadão. Divided into sessions for trade professions and the general public, the exposition showcased more than 150 producers of cachaça, ranging from artisanal mom-and-pop distilleries to the large national and international brands.

Along with tasting lessons and sessions, lectures and demonstrations on how to mix drink with cachaça and how to use it in cooking, there was a juried selection of the best cachaças in four categories: white, aged in urubama (a native Brazilian wood), aged in oak or other wood, and Special Super Premium.

The most coveted awards are those in the Special Super Premium category, and this year there were three distilleries honored with gold-medals in this group. They were Cambraia Extra Premium, Porto Morretes and Weber Haus Extra Premium.

Cabraia Extra Premium is a product of  Cachaça Cambraia from São Paulo state. The distillery was recently purchased by large national distiller Pirassununga, although it is still operated independently and produces only premium small-batch cachaças.

The other two gold medal winners were from Brazil's souther region, one from the state of Paraná and the other from Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil's southernmost state.

From Paraná comes Porto Morretes cachaça distilled in the small town of the same name, while Rio Grande do Sul boasts Weber Haus Extra Premium Cachaça from Cachaçaria Weber Haus, a distillery that has won prizes and trophies for its fine cachaças at shows and expositions around Brazil and internationally.

As it's only very recently that there has been international interest in cachaça, it's quite difficult to source artisanal cachaças outside Brazil, although the situation is slowly improving as the drink becomes more well-known and appreciated outside its native territory. A quick online check of international availability of the three gold medal winners shows that only Weber Haus has representation outside Brazil, specifically in Australia and in Europe.

RECIPE - Stewed Beef with Cachaça (Carne na Cachaça)

This Brazilian take on the French classic dish boeuf bourguignon retains traditional French touches like pearl onions but makes a bold leap by substituting Brazilian cachaça for the hearty red wine called for in the original. This switch takes the dish from the vineyards of Burgundy to the sugar-cane plantations of tropical Brazil, and it changes the character of this dish completely but interestingly - adding smoky notes that aren't present in the original dish.

Stewed beef with cachaça is a good example of the way in which Brazilian chefs are opening up their minds to the potentials of cachaça as a recipe ingredient. (Click here to read more about this trend). Reinterpreting classics, creating entirely new dishes, all with the distinctive taste of cachaça - just part of how Brazilian gastronomy has shifted its focus from its former slavish imitation of classic French or Italian cuisine. Now native Brazilian ingredients and techniques are front and center as Brazilian food steps into the world's gastronomic spotlight.

This dish is total comfort food and not difficult to make. It's especially suited to cold or damp evenings, especially when accompanied by mashed potatoes, as suggested in the recipe. Cachaça is increasingly easy to find in North American and European liquor shops, so there should be a problem sourcing all the ingredients. As an added bonus, you'll have plenty of cachaça left over, so you have all you need to make your own caipirinhas!
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RECIPE - Stewed Beef with Cachaça (Carne na Cachaça)
Serves 6

2 Tbsp neutral vegetable oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 lbs (1 kg) stewing beef (chuck or similar), cut into large cubes
1 cup boiling water
1/2 cup cachaça
salt and pepper to taste
2 Tbsp tomato paste
2 cups pearl onions, peeled
finely chopped parsley to garnish
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Heat the oil in a large, heavy pan, then brown the meat on all sides, in batches if necessary to prevent crowding. Remove the browned meat from the pan and reserve. Add a bit more oil if needed, then saute the onion and garlic in the same pan just until they begin to brown. 

Return the meat and any accumulated juices to the pan along with the water, the cachaça and the tomato paste. Mix thoroughly to dissolve the tomato paste, then add salt and pepper to taste. Bring the mixture to the boil, then reduce heat to a simmer and cover the pan. Cook at low heat for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, or until the meat is fork tender.

Add the peeled onions and cook for an additional 10 minutes or so, or until the onions can be easily pierced with the tip of a paring knife.

Put the stew into a decorative serving bowl, sprinkle over chopped parsley and serve with mashed or boiled potatoes.

Cooking with Cachaça - A Few Inventive Recipes

There's more to Brazil's national liquor cachaça than hard-core shots and tropical caipirinhas. At least according to some innovative restaurants in Rio de Janeiro there is. Rather than only offering cachaça as a cocktail or digestive, chefs in Brazil's capital of tourism are taking another look at it - wondering how it might be properly used in the creation of new recipes.

Cachaça-seasoned fresh ham at Bar Bracarense

A recent article in Rio's major newspaper, O Globo, highlighted some of the inventive ways chefs are putting cachaça to use. A restaurant called Bar Bracarense, located in the tony Leblon neighborhood, offers the most spectacular cachaça-infused dish in Rio. Bar Bracarence uses aged cachaça to season a whole fresh ham, adding the smoky flavors that result from barrel-aging cachaça to the huge joint of meat. The ham is only made to order as it weighs 8 kgs (almost 20 lbs) and serves 10-15 diners. But it has proved a hit with regular patrons of the restaurant, which charges R$300 (approx. USD $150) to prepare it.

A Quinta da Boa Vista, another long-established Rio restaurant, takes advantage of the way cachaça combines with tropical fruits in a dish called Camarão Dom Pedro, named in homage to Brazil's first emperor. The dish consists of cachaça-marinated shrimps, sauteed and served in a half pineapple, served with rice accented with raisins. An Italian restaurant in Rio, Spaghetteria, adds a cachaça twist to the Italian classic Spaghetti Arrabiata by topping the pasta with two or three sauteed fresh sardines that have been flamed in cachaça .

It's not just in main courses, though, where cachaça is being put to good use in Rio these days. At Aconchego Carioca, a typical boteco-style bar, diners can choose a cachaça flavored tapioca pudding to end their meal, and at Mangue Seco they flambee bananas in cachaça then serve them hot with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

As cachaça makes its move from behind the bar to kitchen shelves in restaurants not just in Rio de Janeiro but around Brazil, this list of recipes with cachaça will continue to grow. It's all part of the ongoing evolution of cachaça , just as is the current boom in aged, artisanally produced cachaça , which are rapidly becoming the drink of choice of sophisticated Brazilian connaisseurs.

FRUITS OF BRAZIL - Limes and Lemons (Limões)

The extended family of fruits called citrus (or cítrico in Portuguese) is tremendously important to Brazil in all kinds of ways. In the economic sphere their importance to the Brazilian export market in agricultural products is enormous - Brazil is the world's largest exporter of oranges and among the largest in the export of limes. Gastronomically, the sharp acidic tang is absolutely essential to a vast number of Brazilian dishes, which wouldn't be the same at all if another acidic substance, vinegar for instance, was substituted. Citrus juices, particularly fresh-squeezed ones, not only provide acidity to a dish, they add a sparkling fresh quality - a taste of a sun-soaked orchard - that cannot be duplicated. And then again, there's the whole business of cocktails. Brazil's increasingly-popular "national cocktail" the caipirinha relies on chunks of macerated whole limes and their juice to provide the non-alcoholic part of its punch, letting cachaça liquor provide the high-proof part.

Citrus fruits have moved far beyond their origins in Central or Southeast Asia and today are eaten all around the world. They are cultivated practically everywhere the climate allows, which means the world's tropical and sub-tropical reasons. You'll never find an orange grove in Canada or Finland no matter how hard you try, it's just too cold. Fortunately, though, citrus fruits travel well, and today fresh oranges, grapefruits or limes can be found in markets and supermarkets high above the Arctic circle as well as in the word's temperate zones, where most of North America and Europe lie.

Citrus fruits really are a family, and not just in the taxonomic sense. There is the sharp-tongued, lively bachelorette aunt, the lemon. There is the sensible, hard-working and slightly dull breadwinner - the navel orange. There's the mom who's always on weightwatchers, Ruby - she's a grapefruit. And there is the relative who only shows up at Christmas time - the mandarin orange. Each has its own personality and utility, just like in human families.

What's interesting though is that the Brazilian family of citrus fruits is quite different than the North American or European one. Some very common citrus fruits in the USA or Canada, like the grapefruit, are virtually unkown in Brazil. Others, like the exotic beauty Brazilians call  limão-cravo, are unobtainable north of the Equator. Some, of course, are common almost globally, but not all are.

In the next few posts on Flavors of Brazil, we'll look at Brazil's just one part of the citrus fruit family, the one that happens to be the most common in Brazilian cooking and gastronomy. Brazilians call them  limão, in English they're limes. We'll discuss which ones are common, which are found only regionally in Brazil, and which ones are just now making their way into the market. The market for citrus is changing rapidly in this country- in our newly globalized world, some citrus fruits that were unknown in Brazil as recently as three or four years ago are popping up with increasing regularity in fruit markets and supermarkets all over Brazil. We'll highlight the standard varieties of Brazilian limes and discuss the new entries - with recipes for all, new and old.

Barreado - Paraná's Iconic Claypot-cooked Beef

A sealed barreado pot

We've been talking a lot recently at Flavors of Brazil about pressure cookers, and how they are a common feature of contemporary Brazilian home kitchens. It turns out, though, that the tradition of using pressure and steam vapor to cook and tenderize tour cuts of meat in Brazil predates the invention of the pressure cooker itself.

In the southern Brazilian state of Paraná there is a well-known traditional dish called barreado that uses a hermetically-sealed clay pot to achieve the same results that a pressure cooker does. There are various theories about who created the dish and when, some saying it was native Amerindian tribes and other attributing the dish to tropeiros, colonial donkey-caravan traders. What is not in doubt, though, is that the technique is very old.

Barreado is basically a meat stew thickened with manioc flour and served with slices of banana. Barreado must be cooked in a clay pot for a long period of time over low heat - preferably the coals of a wood fire. To seal the pot, cooks first make a thick paste of manioc flour and water and then apply that seal to the edges of the pot's lid to ensure that vapor cannot escape. The seal is renewed as needed during the long cooking period, which can be as long as 12 hours. Some 19th Century recipes call for barreado to be cooked for at least 24 hours, though there is probably very little reason to extend the cooking time that long.

Because of the long cooking time in a moist environment even the toughest cuts of meats are rendered fall-off-the-bone tender. To serve barreado, the meat is lifted from its broth and is shredded, while the broth itself is thickened with manioc flour to create a thickened sauce called a pirão. The meat is served on a bed of pirão and is garnished with banana slices. Cachaça is the drink of choice when eating barreado.

Barreado is associated with the coastal region of Paraná, particularly the small community of Morretes located in the state's litoral. On weekends thousands of tourist from the state's capital, Curitiba, and from further afield swamp the small town of only 15,000 residents and fill its restaurants in search of a plate of barreado. For many of them it's a reacquaintance with a treasured dish from their past, for others it's a new experience that connects them to the culinary history of Paraná.

Next time round, we'll post a recipe for make-at-home barreado.

Four Hundred Caipirinhas Later....

So how do you think you'd feel after drinking four hundred caipirinhas? Actually, make that four hundred caipirinhas in thirteen days - an average of about thirty cocktails per day. You'd probably feel just like Robert Scott Utley, an American tourist in Rio de Janeiro, felt recently as he was being carted away in the paddy wagon after skipping out on his hotel bill. Nauseated, confused and embarrassed - and probably just a little bit relieved that the binge was finally over.

Robert Scott Utley

Mr. Utley, aged 63, who surely deserves a mention in the Guinness Book of World Records for his prodigious caipirinha-drinking capacity, was arrested at Rio de Janeiro's Tom Jobim International Airport on May 10 when he was trying to catch a Delta Airlines flight to the United States. The manager of the hotel in Rio's Copacabana district where Mr. Utley had spent the previous 13 nights became suspicious when the tourist booked an airport car without settling his account. He called the police when Mr. Utley left the hotel without paying his room charges, and they obliged him by arresting Mr. Utley upon his arrival at the airport.

Utley didn't skip on just his bar tab, he left without paying any of his hotel bill, which totalled R$14,488, or about USD $7500. The charge for caipirinhas alone, which cost R$15 each at the hotel, was R$6000, or USD $3000.

According to an article in the Folha de S. Paulo newspaper, after being arrested, the tourist was taken before a magistrate who charged him, and then let him go free on bail, as there were no provisions under Brazilian law to detain him until trial. After signing a note promising to appear before a Brazilian court whenever summoned, he was released and taken to the city's American Consulate. His passport was not taken nor was he forbidden to leave Brazil, and the consulate refuses to say if he has left Brazil or not.

The newspaper article says that Mr. Utley's defense for skipping out was that his credit card had been counterfeited and cancelled, and he couldn't pay his bill. So he decided to return to the United States and send payment from there. But, according to Mr. Utley's statement, lack of funds wasn't the only reason for leaving the hotel on the QT. He told police that although he had reserved the hotel for fourteen days, he left on the thirteenth day because he was having heart problems due to his seven bypass grafts and wanted to get back quickly to the US for treatment.

Let's do a little calculating here. Four hundred caipirinhas in thirteen days with seven bypass grafts. That works out to just about four caipirinhas per graft per day. That's a serious thirst and an impressive feat. Too bad it all went south before he got on that plane to the USA. Besides, what was he thinking trying to catch a Delta flight to the US? Delta doesn't even serve caipirinhas as far as we know!

The USA Recognizes Cachaça (and Brazil recognizes Bourbon)

This week, Brazil's President, Dilma Rousseff, is making an official visit to the USA, stopping in Washington, DC, and in the Boston area. This is her first visit to the United States since she took office just a bit more than a year ago. There are a number of issues that she will be discussing with President Obama, and a number of agreements, diplomatic and commercial, that the two countries will sign during her visit.

During a lunch today at the White House, President Obama announced that in response to the tremendous increase in the number of Brazilians visiting the USA the United States planned to open two new consulates in Brazil - in the cities of Belo Horizonte and Porto Alegre. This news was greeted with joy in Brazil, as visa regulations for Brazilians wishing to visit the USA require a personal interview at a US Consulate. In a country as large as Brazil attending an interview can require a large commitment in time and money, with no guarantee of receiving a visa.

Additionally (and of more importance to Flavors of Brazil) the two countries sign a commercial according to boost trade in Brazilian cachaça and in American bourbon (plus Tennessee whisky). In the USA cachaça will be recognized as a distinctly Brazilian product, and the name may not be used on spirits imported from any other country or manufactured in the USA. Equally, the names bourbon and Tennessee whisky in Brazil will from now on be restricted to whisky distilled in Kentucky and Tennessee respectively.

Up to the signing of this accord, the USA had required Brazilian cachaça to be labeled as "Brazilian rum." Although both rum and cachaça ultimately come from sugar cane, the two spirits are entirely different, cachaça being made from sugar cane juice and rum from molasses, and having to call their national spirit rum is something that has long irritated Brazilian cachaça exporters. Rum it is not - it's cachaça.

As soon as the US Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau amends their regulations and requirements, Brazil will do the same for the two types of American whisky.

Although by far the largest percentage of the world's USD$1.1bn in annual cachaça sales occur domestically in Brazil, the cachaça export market is growing rapidly. Up to today, the largest market outside Brazil is Germany, but Brazilian cachaça distillers hope that these new regulations will help them capture a part of the American imported-spirits market. The caipirinha cocktail, made with cachaça, is already trendy and becoming more common in the USA. Now Brazilians hope that cachaça itself will catch on with American consumers.

RECIPE - Brazilian Eggnog (Licor de Ovos)

Here in the Southern Hemisphere we've just passed the equinox and autumn is upon us. In certain parts of Brazil that doesn't really mean much as the weather is tropical all year round. However, in the more southerly part of the country, especially in high-altitude regions of the interior, during fall and winter temperatures can drop precipitously, and it can be bitterly cold, especially at night.

The interior state of Minas Gerais is one place that has learned well over the years how to lessen the impact of cold weather. In the historic cities of Minas during the cold season people light fires in fireplaces, eat hearty and rich stews and soups and drink hot drinks, all in aid of keeping warm. During the same season, they also drink a home-made spirit called licor de ovos (egg liqueur), the Brazilian version of eggnog.

Eggnog is a cold-weather drink almost everywhere it is known - the combination of milk, eggs, sugar and possibly liquor is just too rich to be enjoyed in hot climes. It becomes cloying and overly-rich when the temperature soars. So this recipe, which comes from the small town of Joaquim Felício, MG, is just starting to be made in these early days of autumn. That will ensure that in a month or two from now, on those chilly mountain evenings, there will be plenty of licor de ovo to warm the cockles of everyone's heart.

The liquor used in Minas Gerais to make licor de ovos is, naturally, Brazil's own cachaça. However, if you can't source cachaça you can substitute rum, although the result will be substantially less Brazilian (and it will also be sweeter).
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RECIPE - Brazilian Eggnog (Licor de Ovos)
Makes about one quart (one liter)

6 fresh egg yolks, preferably free-range
1 lb. (500 gr) granulated white sugar
2 cups (500 ml) whole milk
2 cups (500 ml) cachaça (rum may be substituted)
10 drops pure vanilla essence

In a medium saucepan, bring the milk just to the boil, then remove from heat and cool completely. Reserve.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the egg yolks and the sugar. Beat with a fork or a whisk-type beater until the mixture is consistent and frothy. Pour in the reserved milk, and stir to mix it in completely. Then do the same with the  cachaça. Finally add the vanilla essence and mix once again.

Pour into a sterile bottle or jug. Refrigerate for at least one month prior to serving to let the flavors develop.

Maria Izabel's Artisanal Cachaça

The small city of Paraty (also spelled Parati) sits on the shore of a lovely bay in Rio de Janeiro state, 235 km from the capital,  and enjoys a reputation as one of the most beautiful, relaxing and hip towns on the entire Brazilian coast. Home to a number of well-preserved historic buildings, Paraty also has a collection of small boutique hotels and a burgeoning culinary scene that makes it a weekend destination of choice for tourists from around the world.

Among those visitors who come to Paraty in search of good food and drink, it's obligatory to experience the city's most famous artisanal beverage - Maria Izabel Gibrail Costa's home-made cachaça. In Paraty's most elegant pousada (traditional boutique-style inn), Casa Turchesa, guests find a bottle of Cachaça Maria Izabel awaiting them in their room when they arrive, and in sophisticated restaurants the waiters proudly proclaim that their caipirinhas are made with Cachaça Maria Izabel.

Maria Izabel's cachaça surely merits the name artisanal for the entire annual production of approximately 7500 liters is distilled on Maria Izabel's property and is made from sugar cane grown on the same land. In fact, the entire production process from the planting of sugar cane to the final bottling takes place on Maria Izabel's property, located on the seafront near town. Maria Izabel, born in Paraty 61 years ago, claims that the distinctive flavor of her cachaça is due to her property's seafront location, saying that the sea air increases the salinity of the sugar cane and thus affects the final taste of the drink.

Maria Izabel Costa

Maria Izabel comes by her cachaça-making prowess honestly. Municipal records show that her paternal great-great-grandfather, Francisco Lopes da Costa, produced cachaça in Paraty in 1800. Although her name is recognized everywhere in Paraty, Maria Izabel doesn't court fame. She prefers to stay at home, tending to her production. She usually spends the day barefoot, and still bathes daily in the sea.

With such a limited production and local demand, it's almost impossible to find Maria Izabel's cachaça anywhere besides Paraty. Even in the town, a bottle of her liquor costs about as much as a good bottle of Scotch, an impressive feat in a country where decent cachaças often sell for less than USD $5 a liter.

All of which is fine with Maria Izabel, who just wants to continue making cachaça. She calls herself "a última das moicanas" (the last of the Mohicans). There are few left who do the work Maria Izabel does, but one does hope that one of her children, or some other younger person who loves cachaça, will take over from Mariz Izabel when the time comes and ensure that she isn't, in fact, the last of the Mohicans.

With material from Estado de S. Paulo newspaper, written by Nana Tucci.

Cachaça Gets Some Respect

The gastronomic history of cachaça, Brazil's national distilled drink, in many ways resembles that of Italy's grappa. Both were originally made from the left-over scraps of the production of another product - in the case of grappa, it was made from the left over seeds, stems and skins of wine production, in in the case of cachaça, it was a by-product of the production of sugar from sugar cane. Both products were, at least in their original incarnations, cheap and relatively nasty. They were harsh, strongly alcoholic, and were considered the drink of the laboring classes. Aristocratic 19th-century Italians wouldn't even think of drinking grappa and the colonels who ran Brazilian sugar plantations like miniature dukedoms preferred a glass of imported Port after dinner to a shot of cachaça.

In recent years, though, both drinks have undergone a Hans Christian Anderson change from ugly duckling to majestic swan. As part of the world-wide trend to appreciating local and traditional products, and valorizing artisanal production, distillers in Italy and Brazil have dramatically improved the quality of the product they make, have begun to employ skillful marketing techniques to inform and educate the public about their liquors, and have successfully increased both the price they are able to charge for their product and the size of their markets enormously. In both cases, there have been dramatic increases in the export market for their products, a market that simply didn't exist in earlier days. Today high-end, artisanally-produced Italian grappas in elegant ultra-modern crystal bottles sell for hundreds of euros and are appreciated by connaisseurs around the world. Brazilian cachaça is undergoing a similar metamorphosis and every year there are better, more interesting and more expensive cachaças entering the market.

Recently, in a seminar at one of the world's largest and most prestigious food congresses, Semana Mesa SP, held in São Paulo, Leandro Batista, barman at São Paulo's well-known Mocotó restaurant, introduced the audience to some artisanal Brazilian cachaças that he thought worthy of respect as high-quality, truly local distillations. They were his choices for cachaças to be sipped after dinner, as one might do with a fine Armagnac or Eau de Vie. These are not the cachaça one would use to make a caipirinha. They are to be savored and contemplated carefully to fully appreciate their unique qualities.

Here is Sr. Batista's list:

Mato Dentro Cachaça - São Luíz de Paraitinga, São Paulo
Aged for six months in amendoim (Peltophorum dubium) wood

Serra Limpa Organic Cachaça  - Duas Estradas, Paraíba 
 Aged for six months in Ecuador laurel (Cordia alliodora) wood

Weber Haus  Cachaça  - Ivoti, Rio Grande do Sul
Aged for one year in amburana (Amburana cearensis) wood

Canarinha Cachaça - Salinas, Minas Gerais
Aged for three years in cabriúva-do-campo (Myrocarpus fastigiatus) wood

Germana Heritage Cachaça -  Nova União, Minas Gerais
Aged for eight years in oak, followed by two more in cabriúva-do-campo (Myrocarpus fastigiatus) wood

Dona Beja Cachaça  - Araxá, Minas Gerais
Aged for eight years in oak

None of these cachaças are cheap - they are not the USD $3.00/quart cachaça that you find in your local supermarket. Some are very limited in production and hence in availability. Exports for most of these producers are something to consider in the future after the national market has been developed. But they are names to remember if you're in a good, high-quality bar or restaurant in Brazil. Talk to the barman or sommelier, they might just have one or two available. And you might just have a big surprise when you find out just how good they are.

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.

RECIPE - Tamarind Batida (Batida de Tamarindo)

If you ask almost anyknowledgeable cocktail enthusiast to free associate the words "Brazil" and "cocktail", chances are almost certain that the word that will pop out of his or her mouth will be "caipirinha." This combination of crushed whole limes, cachaça (a liquor distilled from sugar cane), sugar and ice is Brazil's most famous cocktail export and can be found on bar menus around the world.

But the caipirinha is not Brazil's only cachaça cocktail. There's a whole other family of cachaça plus fruit juice drinks that are enjoyed throught Brazil - drinks called batidas (prounced bah-CHEE-das). What distinguished a batida from a caipirinha is the addition of a touch of sweetened condensed milk. There are as many flavors of batidas as there are fruits in Brazil, which means there are theoretically thousands of possible batidas. The most popular are probably lime (limão) and passion fruit (maracujá) but any fruit that strikes one's fancy is suitable. Flavors of Brazil recently tried a cashew fruit (caju) batida and it was wonderful.

Since we've been publishing tamarind recipes this week, we thought we might as well post a recipe for tamarind batida. But please don't limit yourself to this one fruit if you decide you like batidas. Try any fruit that you can blend, whether tropical or not. As they say, "It's all good."
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RECIPE - Tamarind Batida (Batida de Tamarindo)
Makes 1 drink

2 oz (50 ml) cachaça
1 1/2 oz (35 ml) tamarind juice (or any other fruit juice)
1 oz (25 ml) canned sweetened condensed milk
ice cubes
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Put all the ingredients in a cocktail shaker with a tight lid. Shake vigorously for two minutes. Pour through a strainer into a chilled cocktail glass - martini or similar. Serve immediately.

If desired you can pour the drink over fresh ice cubes in an old-fashioned glass.

Happy National Cachaça Day 2011

Last year about this time, Flavors of Brazil saluted Brazil's National Cachaça Day which is commemorated every September 13, in honor of the date in 1661 on which the production of cachaça in Brazil was legalized. Such an important and august date deserves more than one post on this blog, so once again we're raising a glass of Brazil's national spirit and toasting the iconic sugar-cane-based liquor with the traditional "saúde!" Pronounced "sow-OO-gee", saúde is the Portuguese word for health and it is as obligatory when toasting in Brazil as Cheers! is in English.

 Expocachaça  at São Paulo's Municipal Market

As part of the lead-up to today's celebrations, an international cachaça exposition and trade fair was held last week in São Paulo. It took place at the city's beautiful municipal market and combined a profession trade fair with an exhibition open to the public. Organizers estimated that  20,000 visitors attended the exposition, and sales of  cachaça were estimated to be somewhere between R$800 thousand ($500 thousand) and $1 million ($600 thousand).

Blind tasting

As part of the trade fair a blind tasting was held to determine the best brands of cachaça in Brazil. The fours judges, two "sensory technicians", one journalist and a sommelier, tasted 91 different brands and ranked each one. Fortunately, rules of the tasting prohibited swallowing the liquor - elsewise, the judges would never have made it to the last few samples! Between each sample, the judges used dry white bread and green apples to clear the palate, and inhaled the aroma of coffee beans to clear the olfactory glands.

The cachaças were divided into two groups - white and aged (golden) - and each group received its own ranking. At the end of the tasting the judges divulged a list of the 10 best white cachaças and the 10 best aged (golden) brands in Brazil (and presumably the world).

Even though many of the winning brands are artisanal and only made in small quantities for the domestic market in Brazil, here is the complete list of winners. We at Flavors of Brazil are going to try to track down the best is each category to provide our own judgment on their quality and will report the results on the blog. We can't promise, though, not to swallow! (Maybe that's why it's called a blind tasting...)

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Brazil's best cachaças - Expocachaça 2011, São Paulo


White cachaças:
1) Casa Bucco
2) Branca de Minas
3) A Tentadora
4) Pé do Morro
5) Engenho São Luiz
6) Santo Grau Século XVIII
7) Germana Soul
8) Ouro 1 Prata
9) Batista
10) Engenho d'Ouro


Aged (golden) cachaças:
1) Pedra Branca
2) Magnífica Soleira
3) Velho Alambique
4) Germana Heritage
5) Chacrinha Ouro
6) Dona Beja Sarau
7) Vale Verde 12 Anos
8) Magnífica Envelhecida
9) Colombina
10) Capim Cheiroso

RECIPE - Brazilian Grog (Quentão)

Thanks to Hollywood, TV travel shows and advertisements from the Brazilian Tourist Board, it isn't a surprise that most North Americans and Europeans think that Brazil is hot the year round. That's only partially true, however. If you're speaking of Brazil's north or northeast, like Fortaleza where Flavors of Brazil is based, it's definitely true. Today is typical weather in here Fortaleza, with daytime temperature of about 86F (30C) and dipping all the way down to 77F (25C) in the overnight hours. Fortaleza's temperatures don't vary more than a degree or two throughout the year - there's really no summer or winter.

In the southernmost reaches of Brazil, on the other hand, there are four distinct seasons, and the temperature at times is much lower than you might expect. The mountainous regions of the state of Rio Grande do Sul regularly reach freezing temperatures during the winter months, around 30F (-2C), and the winter median temperature is a chilly 45F (7C). And since Brazil lies south of the equator, those cold, damp winter months are June and July - right about now.

To celebrate Brazilian winter, such as it is, Flavors of Brazil thought it would be fun to feature a recipe for a hot winter drink from Rio Grande do Sul - just what one needs to take the winter chill off, whether in December in Canada or Sweden, or in July in Brazil. Hot drinks, spiked with alcohol, are favorite warmer-uppers in many cultures. Brazil is no exception - though, since this is Brazil, the alcohol of choice naturally is cachaça.
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RECIPE - Brazilian Grog (Quentão)
4 drinks

1 cup (250 ml) cachaça
1 lime, sliced thinly
1 small orange, sliced thinly
1 cup orange juice (fresh-squeezed if possible)
8 whole dried cloves
4 sticks cinnamon - about 2" (3 cm) each
1 piece fresh ginger, peeled, about 1" (2 cm) long
1/2 cup (or less) sugar
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In a large saucepan mix all the ingredients, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Bring to the boil over low heat, and let boil slowly for about one minute only. Remove from heat.

Divide between four tumblers or mugs. Distribute the clove and cinnamon sticks between the drinks; discard the ginger. The slices of lime and orange can optionally be added to the drinks, or discarded. Serve immediately while still very hot.

Margaritinha? Caipirita?? What IS This Drink to Be Called?

Flavors of Brazil might just have invented a new cocktail. Hard to say if we have or if we've only reinvented the wheel, but we think not, based on some simple searches of the Internet. So we're boldly going to claim the invention, just as the first Portuguese explorers claimed Brazil for the king of Portugal without bothering to check with the people who already lived there.

The whole creation process began with a simple economic problem for cocktail aficionados here in Brazil - tequila is VERY expensive. Up until fairly recently, tequila was a relatively low-cost spirit worldwide, but that's no longer the case. The cost of a bottle of tequila now ranks up there with the premium vodkas and single malt scotches. To make matters worse, there is a very high import duty on imported spirits in Brazil, all of which means that a buying a bottle of tequila in Brazil is a significant investment. A simple bottle of unaged José Cuervo costs almost USD $45.00.

What's not expensive in Brazil is cachaça. A decent bottle, not a great one but a decent one, can be purchased for about one-tenth of the price of that bottle of José Cuervo that sits near it on the shelf. So when a friend of ours was complaining about what it was going to cost him to make margaritas at the bar he's opening shortly, we began to wonder what a margarita made with cachaça would taste like. After all, the taste of the two spirits isn't all that different - they're both clear spirits, neither is sweet, and they share a roughness and a hint of smoke. If a margarita could successfully be duplicated, or at least approximated, with cachaça, it could be sold at a relatively decent price at our friend's bar.

There was only one way to find out - make one and see. So we bought a bottle of curaçau, the Brazilian name for triple sec, and a few limes. The cachaça and salt were already on the shelves at home. Using the classic recipe we made a margarita that only differed from the original in the substitution of liquors. Our guinea pigs, a group of friends who'd come over to try out this new drink, were all unanimous in their evaluation of the result - it was uma delícia!. We agreed, and were surprised how much it tasted like a normal margarita. There was very little to distinguish the difference between cachaça and tequila.

Our friend has decided to add the new cocktail to his drinks menu at the new bar. Only one problem remains to be resolved - how should be it baptized? A name that gives some clue as to what it contains is probably best, and so we thought that a name that blended margarita and caipirinha was the way to go. Mixing the two names results in either margaritinha or caipirita. We prefer caipirita - it's less unwieldy - but it appears that someone, somewhere has used that name to describe a caipirinha made with tequila. Our drink is just the opposite, though, and there's nothing legally preventing our friend from using the name caipirita.

What do you think? We're asking readers of this blog to leave a comment if they have a preference between these two names, or if they think there's another name that's better than either one. Thanks in advance for your suggestions and comments.

RECIPE - Cachaça Shrimp (Camarões com Cachaça)

This straightforward and delightful dish really can't claim to be Brazilian at all, even though it includes typical Brazilian ingredients like shrimp, cachaça and lime juice. It's a Flavors of Brazil adaptation of a recipe for tequila shrimp that we found on the internet (here) . That recipe, of course, was Mexican in inspiration even though it probably wasn't authentically Mexican. The recipe below can equally be called Brazilian-inspired, even if it's pedigree doesn't go back to colonial times here in Brazil.

We decided to substitute the tequila in the original recipe for cachaça for two reasons. The first was to see if it was possible to successfully "brazilianize" the original recipe by using Brazil's most iconic spirit instead of Mexico's. The second reason was purely monetary - tequila is extraordinarily expensive here in Brazil, and cachaça is relatively cheap. Tequila prices have climbed worldwide in the past few years, and there really is no such thing as cheap tequila anymore - anywhere. Additionally, here in Brazil there is a high duty charged on imported spirits. The result is that the cheapest tequila we could find when doing some casual research in local supermarkets and liquor stores was at least ten times the price of a decent cachaça.

Since we haven't tasted the original tequila-based recipe, we can't compare the two versions to say which is better. We can say, though, that the version with  cachaça was a huge success with everyone who tried it. If you have some cachaça at home, use it - you'll be happy with the results. If you have tequila only, go back to the roots of the recipe and use it instead of cachaça. It won't be Brazilian-inspired any longer, but a Mexican-inspired dish of shrimp isn't necessarily a bad thing.
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RECIPE - Cachaça Shrimp (Camarões com Cachaça)
Serves 4

2 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, finely minced
3 garlic cloves, finely minced
salt to taste
1 1/2 lb (750 gr) uncooked shrimp, peeled, deveined and halved lengthwise
1/2 cup cachaça
1/4 cup (60 ml) freshly squeezed lime juice
chunks of fresh avocado
a few cilantro leaves
extra limes for serving
freshly ground black pepper
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Heat the oil in a large heavy-duty frying pan. When the oil begins to shimmer, add the onion and garlic. Season with salt to taste, then cook for 5-8 minutes, or until the onion is translucent but not browned.

Add the shrimp and cook for about 3 minutes, or until they turn pink. Remove the pan from the heat, add the tequila and stir with a wooden spoon to loosen any brown bits from the surface of the pan. Return to the heat. Simmer until the alcohol has burned off and the shrimp are completely cooked, about 3 minutes.

Remove from the heat, add the lime juice, and mix thoroughly to incorporate.

Serve immediately on a bed of lettuce, topped with two or three chunks of fresh avocado and sprinkled with a few cilantro leaves. Garnish with a wedge of lime. Can be served as a first course or as a light main course at lunch. Offer hot chili pepper sauce for those who wish a spicy dish.

Leblon Cachaça - What Do The Critics Say?

After completing yesterday's post on Leblon cachaça and its American CEO, I went out here in Fortaleza to check availability of the product in supermarkets and liquor stores in my neighborhood (and perhaps to pick up a bottle, strictly for research purposes of course). I wasn't able to find any in my usual spots. There were industrial cachaças and artisanal cachaças, there were local bottles and some from other regions of Brazil, but no Leblon. I'll keep looking, but I'm beginning to suspect that the company is more focused on the export market than the Brazilian domestic one.

Failing to obtain a bottle of the stuff, I thought I'd check out a few internet sites that have reviews of liquor to see what the online experts and liquor bloggers have to say about Leblon. Most of what I found was quite positive, including a review on the blog that I consider the most informed source of cachaça lore and information - Cachaçagora. In September 2008, the blog published a glowing review of Leblon in an article which contains the usual Cachaçagora of serious discussion of cachaça and humorous personal anecdotes. (If you want to know what a gringorinha is, here is a link to the article). The blog's author suggests that one reason for his high opinion of Leblon might be the fact that the product is aged in XO cognac casks which give it a distinct flavor. He highlights Leblon's "featherlight smoothness and cane-rich aroma". He also approved of the spirit's "light fruity notes with just the right bit of 'earthiness' that some cachaça makers seeking northern-hemisphere markets try their best to soft-pedal."

Somewhat less complimentary was the review on a site called Liquor Snob. There, the fact that Leblon carries some of the astringency characteristic of inexpensive cachaças and the distinctly rummy sweetness of the product met with some disapproval. However, they summed up their review by saying that Leblon was "Good but not great, especially for the higher price. We were a bit disappointed with Leblon after all the hype we've been hearing. It wasn't bad by any means, and we're of the opinion that a middling Cachaca is better than nothing, but we wanted to be blown away." Drinkhacker's opinion mirrored Liquor Snob's and the blog gave Leblon a B+ rating.

If and when I find a bottle of Leblon, either here in Brazil or on a trip to North America, I'll add a Flavors of Brazil review to this blog. Until then, if any of our readers have personal experience of Leblon, please leave a comment (and a review).

Cheers!

Steve Luttman - The American Behind Brazil's Leblon Cachaça

I recently returned to Brazil from a three-week visit to Canada and the USA. I'm always looking for things that might appear on Flavors of Brazil when I travel, and one thing that I noticed is it is becoming increasingly possible to order a caipirinha in bars and restaurants. The caipirinha, of course, is Brazil's most famous cocktail, made with cachaça, a distilled sugar-cane liquor, limes and sugar. Ten or fifteen years ago caipirinhas were nowhere to be seen on the North American bar scene, but now they're popping up all over the place. Casual taverns, bars in airports, contemporary-gastronomy restaurants, even a Chinese restaurant in Vancouver - they all have caipirinhas on their drinks menu.

Steve Luttmann

I also noted that many times the brand of cachaça specified on the menu was Leblon (especially in bars where the vodka is likely to be Grey Goose and the gin Bombay Sapphire). It was not a brand that I was familiar with here in Brazil, and upon my return to Brazil my curiosity got the best of me and I did a bit of research on it. It turns out that Leblon (named after a chic neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro) is a relatively new brand which distills its product in the small city of Patos in the state of Minas Gerais. It also turns out that the CEO of Leblon is an American, Steve Luttmann, who has made it his own personal crusade to spread the good word about cachaça and the caipirinha around the world. Leblon's "Legalize Cachaça" campaign is classic 21st century marketing and seems to be doing what it's meant to do - increase consumer awareness and thereby increase sales.

Steve Luttman was recently interviewed by Brazilian gastronomic magazine Prazeres da Mesa. In the interview he detailed what he is attempting to do, and where he hopes to take the cachaça market outside Brazil. Here is a translation (mine) of that interview:

What is the image that most North Americans have of Brazil?
It's still considered an exotic place. Some still think, for example, that the capital of Brazil is Buenos Aires. But they know that Brazil has the most beautiful women and the best party in the world - carnaval.


And how are they reacting to cachaça?
One good point about Americans is that they like to try new things. Besides, the best-selling cocktail in the USA is the margarita, a [Mexican] classic that combines lime juice, tequila and Cointreau and which is very similar to the caipirinha. That's the key, in my opinion, to market innovation. In order to gain strength in the cocktail market, you've got to have a firm footing in familiarity.

What about Brazilians? Do you think they will accept having their national drink distilled by an American?
The problem is that the true Brazilian has a prejudice against cachaça, because he sees it as a low-quality product. A good cachaça can be as high-quality as a wine - it's the Brazilian "champagne." It's important that the consumer understands this. Our team is working round the clock to change this. We're now found in the most elegant hotels in São Paul and Rio de Janeiro and in restaurants such as those of Alex Atala, Claude Troisgros and Roberta Sudbreck plus the Fasano group.


The master-distiller of Leblon is Gilles Merlet, from France, and also responsible for other products such as Hennessy Cognac. Does he come to Brazil or work at distance?
Gilles spends three or four months in Brazil, at harvest time. Outside this period, we send samples to him almost daily so that he doesn't miss a single step in the production process. It's an honor, for us, to have him on the team. In the world market, Gilles is for distilled products what Michel Rolland is for wines.


In your opinion, what makes Leblon different from other cachaças?
Our product is a blended cachaça, resulting in a product with complex aromas and flavors.


Finally, does the average American know how to make a good caipirinha?
The traditional recipe for a "kuai-pur-een-ya" (as Americans tend to pronounce caipirinha) has been demonstrated [by Leblon] in videos and in our consumer marketing campaign. However, certain adaptations have been put into practice, too. Americans are always in a hurry, so they sometimes mix a caipirinha with boxed or bottled lime juice, or even lime soda! But the good bartenders use the traditional recipe, and are learning to experiment with exotic modifications such as strawberry with basil, or cucumber with jalapenos peppers and dates, for example.

Luttmann can prove his point about the continuing acceptance of Leblon in the international market merely by pointing to his company's sales growth. In their first year of business, 2005, Leblon produced 20,000 9-liter cases of cachaça. Last year that number was 100,000 cases. According to Luttmann, American consumer awareness for the caipirinha is currently about 30% and cachaça itself about 20%. He is intent on increasing those percentages significantly in the years to come.

Summer Day Cocktail - The Popsicle Caipirinha (Caipirinha com Picolé)

Put a popsicle in it. That seems to be the way to really cool down a caipirinha during the heat of the Brazilian summer - at least according to the very hip São Paulo bar Boteco São Bento, it is. The bar has taken to making the fruit- and liquor-based cocktail in large glasses, with fresh fruit crushed in the drink as is customary, and then plopping a popsicle of the same fruit flavor into the glass. The popsicle cools down the drink as it melts and instead of diluting it, as melting ice cubes do, the frozen treat keeps the fruit component of the drink strong and flavorful.

At the two branches of Boteco São Bento the popsicle caipirinha is made not with cachaça but instead with sake. Just like the original dry martini recipe from the early years of the 20th century eventually evolving into a multitude of drinks - all called martini because they were served in a classic martini glass - the recent trend in Brazil is to call any mixture of liquor and crushed fresh fruit in a glass a caipirinha (or some variation on that name). Personally, I think there's only one way to make a true martini or a true caipirinha - everything else that riffs on the theme should be called something else. So I have no problem with a vodka-based caipiroska or a caipirissima made with rum because the name is different. But if you want to make a caipirinha, with our without a popsicle in it, it has to have cachaça.

That linguistic rant out of the way, the idea of adding a popsicle to a fruit-based cocktail of any sort is a grand idea, and Flavors of Brazil applauds whoever at Boteco São Bento who came up with the idea. As their popsicles are anything but traditional with the use of sake, Boteco São Bento also alters the fresh fruit component of the drink when making popsicle caipirinhas. Two favorite versions at the bar are the Manga Quente (Hot Mango) which combines crushed fresh mangoes and key limes with a mango popsicle, and the Uva Itália (Italian Grape) combining fresh red grapes and lychees with a grape popsicle. Pictured to the right is their Manjericaba, made with jabuticaba and basil (manjericão) topped with a jabuticaba popsicle.

Brazilian artisanally-made popsicles are generally of high quality and great flavor and I look forward to doing some experimenting of my own with the formula. I'm already thinking that you could do a great take-off on the classic piña colada by making a cocktail of rum and fresh pineapple juice and then adding a coconut popsicle. Plus, I do intend to make a true popsicle caipirinha one of these days - with nothing but cachaça, fresh limes and a nice tart lime popsicle. I promise to report back on the results.