More Moonshine - Mocororó

Caju (cashew) fruit

Back in 2010, Flavors of Brazil published a post about a Brazilian drink called aluá, a lightly acoholic concoction made from pinapple peelings, sugar and water. (There's also a version made with soaked dried corn and recipes for both can be found here.) At the time we noted that aluá, which has a very long history, is particularly associated with tradional festivals - the festas juninas of Brazil's northeast, and the feasts that play an integral part in the ceremonies of the Bahian afro-brazilian religion Candomblé.

The folk traditions of northeastern Brazil also include another fruit-based alcoholic beverage, and this one is associated with specific folk rituals as well. The drink is called  mocororó, and drinking it is an important part of a folk dance in that region of the country called torém.

Both the drink, mocororó, and the dance, torém, have been traced back to pre-Columbian indigenous rituals, and both to this day carry connotations of Brazil's first inhabitants. Both are found throughout the northeastern part of Brazil, but are most closely associated to the traditions of the state of Ceará, where Flavors of Brazil is based.

Almost universally, primitive humankind has discovered ways to turn the sugars in fruit drinks into alcohol, and to imbibe the result for ritualistic use or purely for pleasure. Sweet drinks, left in the open air for a few days, become inbued with natural fermenting agents, primarily yeasts, and these agents transform the sugar in the drink into alcohol. What was once fruit juice becomes an alcoholic drink.

Humankind has long since learned how to help this natural process on its way, both by the artificial introduction of fermenting agents, and by the controlling the temperature of the drink so that it remains at a temperature conducive to fermentation. In the production of mocororó, Brazilian Amerindians left the introduction of fermenting agents to nature, but did lend a helping hand once fermentation had begun.

Mocororó is made from juice pressed from the caju fruit (the same fruit which gives us cashew nuts). The juice is left in the open air until fermentation starts, and then it is put into clay or glass containers. At this point, a very clever technique is used to enhance the fermentation process. The containers are buried in hot sand (which is easy to find along the coast and on riverbanks of Ceará) for up to six months. The sand ensures a perfect and consistent temperature for fermentation (and presumably also makes it less easy to "sample" the product before it's ready). After some time, the mocororó is dug up by which time it has quite an alcoholic punch.

 Mocororó is traditionally served in indigenous festivals and ceremonies in which the torém is danced. The Brazilian National Central of Folklore and Popular Culture describes the torém this way:

Group dance with participants of both sexes, who form themselves into a circle with a soloist in the center. It is a ritual dance of indigenous origin, whose participants imitate animals - like the jump of the mullet fish, the fight of raccoons, the song of the parakeet, the lunge of a snake. Shaking an aguiam, a type of maraca, the soloist advances and retreats, quivers, jumps and stamps his feet, often imitating the snake or the lizard, demonstrating his dexterity and flexibility. The other dancers mark the beat by stamping their feet and moving around the circle in a counter-clockwise direction. The music is sung by the soloist and repeated by the chorus of the other dancers. Mocororó is distributed during the dance  Prevalent in the state of Ceará, the torém is danced during the caju harvest season, on social occassions and when indigenous groups meet other tribes.

The drink has stayed close to its origins and there is no commercial production of mocororó in Brazil. As a result, Flavors of Brazil cannot comment on either its flavor nor its alcoholic strength. But we have our eye out for it, and should we ever come across any, we'll report back soon there after (as soon as we recover, that is).

Translation and adaptation of Portuguese text by Flavors of Brazil.

New Ceará-specific Apple Logo

Considering the importance of the cashew fruit (caju) to the economy and gastronomy of the Brazilian state of Ceará, some local wags here in in Fortaleza, the state's capital, have suggested to Apple that they slightly modify their world-famous logo to salute the fruit.

They've even gone so far as to design the new logo to help Apple's design department along. Here's what they sent Apple:

How do you like it? Flavors of Brazil thinks it's great and we'd love to have that logo lighting up the back of our Apple laptop.

Bumper Crop This Year for Ceará's Cashew Fruits

The cashew fruit (caju in Portuguese) is the most important fruit crop in Flavors of Brazil's home state, Ceará. The weirdly shaped apple-with-a-nut-on-the-end yields not only the cashew nut, which is tremendously valuable for the export market, but also a fruitlike part, botanically known as a peduncle, which enjoys a gigantic domestic market as a source of juice and sweets.

The caju harvest of the past two years in Ceará was disappointingly small, mainly due to the lack of rainfall in the state during the rainy season from January to early May. But 2011 is a year of  La Niña, a worldwide weather phenomenon generated by cooler than average water temperatures in the Pacific Ocean. In years influenced by  La Niña Ceará receives higher than normal rainfall - something that is good for the cashew crop. This year's rainy season extended well into the normally dry months of June and July and consequently the caju harvest benefitted tremendously.

The harvest is just starting now, but the state agricultural bureau is predicting a 2011 cashew harvest of 160 thousand tons. That's four times the size of last year's harvest which was damaged by insufficient rainfall. Because of the abundant rainfall, the bureau is also predicting that the quality of the crop will increase this year with most fruits having high sugar levels and low acidity.

The cashew-nut processing industry will also enjoy an upswing thanks to the excellent harvest. The bureau expects that the tonnage of processed cashew nuts in 2011 will be 187% higher than last year.

As the cashew crop is the largest source of income for the residents of 45 counties in the state, the economic benefit for the cashew-cultivation region is considerable. Although wholesale prices have not yet been established, we can hope that the consumer will also see some benefit of this cornucopia of cashews - higher quality and lower prices.

RECIPE - Stewed Cashew Apples (Doce de Caju)

This is one recipe on Flavors of Brazil that is very unlikely to become one of your go-to recipes for a quick dessert at home - that is, unless you live here in northeast Brazil, where cashew apples (caju) are now in season and super-abundant. With it's thin and fragile skin, the cashew apple isn't amenable to long-distance transport when fresh, which limits the geographical size of its market.

However, not every recipe needs to be an instruction for possible use in one's kitchen. I've read and enjoyed many recipes in thousands of magazines and cookbooks that I hadn't the slightest intention of ever cooking myself. Some were too technical, some were too complicated, some were impossible to source, and some were just too expensive. But that didn't stop me reading the recipes. Recipes can be a source of learning and knowledge about something that is unknown and unfamiliar. Since this is the case, I'm offering this recipe in that spirit for the readers of this blog.
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RECIPE - Stewed Cashew Apples (Doce de Caju)
Makes 10

10 ripe cashew apples (caju)
juice of one lime
1 quart (1l) water for boiling
1 1/2 cups (400 ml) water for stewing
1 cup granulated sugar

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Using a kitchen towel, hold a cashew apple in one hand, and with the other hand protected by the towel twist off the kidney-shaped nut at the base of the cashew apple. (There are toxic chemicals in the raw nut, so do not attempt this procedure with unprotected hands). Discard the nut. Repeat with all the cashew apples. With a sharp paring knife, cut about 1/2 inch (1 cm) from the nut-end of the fruits to remove all traces of the nut.

Peel the fruits with a vegetable peeler. Using a toothpick, perforate the flesh of the fruits in several places. Bring the 1 quart of water to a boil in a large saucepan, then add the lime juice and then the cashew apples. Let them cook over high heat for ten minutes. Remove from heat and drain the fruits. Reserve.

In a medium saucepan, add the 1 1/2 cups of water and the granulated sugar and heat over medium-high heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. When simmering, add the cashew apples, and bring to a low boil. Lower the heat, partially cover the pan, and cook the fruit for 1 hour or until the cashew apples are soft and the syrup is lightly thickened.

Remove from heat and let the fruit cool in the syrup.

Serve at room temperature or chilled, accompanied by a small, sweet cookie, like a shortbread.


Recipe translated and adapted from Cozinha Regional Brazileira by Abril Editora.

INGREDIENTS - Cashew Apple (Caju)

In a couple of recent posts here on Flavors of Brazil, the two-fold division of the fruit of the Brazilian cashew tree (cajueiro) has been discussed. Botanically speaking there is the fruit itself, which is what most non-Brazilians know as the cashew nut (castanha de caju) and then there is the pseudo-fruit, which is called "cashew apple" in English and simply caju in Portuguese.

While the cashew nut is widely known and enjoyed in many parts of the world, it is primarily in Brazil where the virtues of the cashew apple are appreciated. Even in other countries, such as Vietnam, India, Nigeria and Mozambique, where there is widespread cultivation of the cashew tree for production of cashew nuts, the cashew apple is not widely consumed and usually left to rot. A situation which, to most Brazilians, would be a crime, and which from a nutritional standpoint certainly is. Cashew juice contains 200-220 mg of Vitamin C per 100 ml, plus a variety of other valuable micro-nutrients.

Brazilians indulge in the cashew apple in many forms, but by far the predominant use of this fruit is to make juice. Cashew apple juice (suco de caju) is one of the most popular and prevalent juices throughout Brazil. It is available in supermarkets everywhere, bottled or in Tetra-Paks, in the form of frozen pulp, or in the northeast of the country, freshly squeezed. The taste of cashew juice is like no other (in my experience and in the experience of many friends and acquaintances) and once tasted it becomes an iconic and uniquely Brazilian flavor. As with most unique tastes, describing the flavor of cashew juice isn't easy. However, there is one characteristic of the juice which immediately identifies it to the palate - the presence of a significant quantity of tannins - the astringent plant polyphenols which are responsible for the "woody" or "puckery" feel of black teas, red wines, and many unripe fruits. For me the presence of tannins, especially in excess, makes it feel like a have a mouthful of wooden teeth. However any individual perceives the presence of tannins, that person is likely to be able to identify their presence easily. Some people are averse to any hint of tannin, and for those people cashew juice is not a recommended waker-upper in the morning. Those who enjoy it are likely to appreciate the juice. Other than its tannic qualities, cashew juice is moderately sweet, and the taste carries a faint hint of cashew nut flavor. The texture is like a non-juicy apple.

Because the skin of the cashew apple is very thin, the fruit is not suitable for ong-distance transportation to markets outside its cultivation area. Consequently, even in Brazil, it's only in those regions where the cashew is grown that one is likely to see fresh cashew apples for sale.

Cashew apples are used to make conserves, preserves and sweets as well as juice, and the juice can be fermented and then distilled to make spirits. The largest cachaça distiller in Ceará, Ypioca, makes a distilled cashew apple spirit called Acayú.

Because of the fragility of the fruit, if you are desirous to know what a fresh cashew apple tastes like, you will probably have to come to northeast Brazil to try it. You may or may not like it when first sampling it - cashew apples and cashew apple juice are often an acquired taste - but whether you do or not, you'll definitely love this part of Brazil, so the whole trip will not be for naught.

RECIPE - Cashew Tree Shrimp (Camarão Cajueiro)

This recipe for a first course or light lunch comes from the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Norte, which is one of the largest shrimp-producing states in Brazil as well as an important source of cashew nuts (castanha de caju). When buying cashews for this dish, don't pay extra for whole cashews - most bulk food stores and health food stores sell broken cashews for a significantly lower price than whole ones. It's also best not to buy ground cashews, as they are too finely ground for this dish. To get the proper grind for this recipe, simply briefly process the nuts in a food processor until they are in small chunks. Be sure to stop processing long before they become pulverized or begin to form a paste.

The sauce in the recipe - a passion fruit (maracujá)-flavored mayonnaise - might be difficult to make in areas where fresh passion fruits are not available. A delicious substitute is mayonnaise flavored with fresh lime juice.
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RECIPE - Cashew Tree Shrimp (Camarão Cajueiro)
Serves 2

For the shrimp:
3/4 lb (380 gr) medium-sized shrimp, cleaned, headless, and peeled with only tails left attached
Salt and fresh-ground black pepper to taste
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 free-range eggs
1/4 cup dried bread crumbs
1/4 cup finely-chopped, roasted, unsalted cashew nuts (see above)
Neutral vegetable oil

For the sauce:
1 medium fresh passion fruit
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup whole-fat, unflavored yogurt
1/2 tsp. granulated sugar
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Make the sauce: Cut the passion fruit in half. Place a fine sieve over a small bowl, and empty fruit pulp into the sieve. Reserve fruit halves. Let drain, then lightly squeeze the seed to extract more juice. Reserve the juice and the seeds. In another small bowl add the mayonnaise,yogurt and sugar, then stir to combine thoroughly. Add the passion fruit juice, and stir again. If desired, return the sauce to one of the fruit halves, or put in small serving bowl. Add a few of the reserved seeds and a dash of the juice to top of sauce to decorate.

Make the shrimp: Season the shrimp with salt and pepper to taste. Spread the flour on a large deep plate. Lightly beat the eggs in a small bowl. In another bowl, mix the bread crumbs and chopped cashew nuts. Dredge the shrimps, one by one, in the flour, then dip them in the beaten eggs. Let excess egg drain away, the roll the shrimps in the bread crumb-cashew nut mixture. In a deep, heavy saucepan or deep fryer fry the shrimp until the are golden. Drain on paper towel.

Place the sauce in the middle of a serving platter. Surround with the shrimp, and serve immediately.

Recipe translated and adapted from Cozinha Regional Brasileira by Abril Editora.

INGREDIENTS - Cashew Nut (Castanha de Caju)

Although to most Brazilians, and certainly to Brazilians from the country's northeast region, cashew (caju) refers to a red, orange or yellow fruit (technically a pseudo-fruit) that is eaten fresh or processed into juice, ice creams, drinks and candies, it's not the fruit, but instead the small seed pod attached to it, that's important economically in this part of the country. It's the seed that is exported world-wide from Brazil and which becomes the cashew nut that consumers in North America, Europe and Japan crave, and which they call a cashew.


The vast majority of Brazilian exports of cashew nuts come from the northeast of Brazil, and specifically from the state of Ceará. Of a world market of approximately 70,000 metric tons of cashew nuts, Brazil is the source of approximately 23,000 tons, or one-third of the total. Most of the exported cashew nuts from Brazil are destined to the USA, which imports about 35,000 tons annually, according to the latest statistics. The largest exporting country is India, which exports more than half of the world's consumption of cashew nuts. Incidentally, it is only in Brazil that the fruit itself (the "cashew-apple") is consumed. In India and Africa the taste is not much appreciated, and more than 95% of the fruit is discarded during cashew nut production for export.

The extraction of the nut (or seed) itself from the seed pod is difficult, and the outer shell of the pod contains chemicals that irritate the skin. Thus the export market for cashew nuts consists almost entirely of pre-shelled nuts. Great care is taken in the extraction process, which is partially mechanized, to preserve the entire nut unbroken, as unbroken nuts command a much higher price internationally than do broken or chipped nuts.

Cashew nuts are exported from Brazil in both raw and roasted states, though the majority are exported in while still raw, and are roasted in the country of import. Click here for a YouTube video (in Portuguese) which demonstrates the entire production-for-export operation in Ceará.

Here in Fortaleza, where caju fruit is king, there are still a number of small shops where cashew nuts (castanha de caju) are roasted in small batches and sold by weight. Normally the nuts are not salted after roasting, though you can ask for a dash of salt to be added to your purchase if you wish. Prices are extremely reasonable by North American standards. Last week I bought 500 gr (slightly more than a pound) of roasted, whole cashew nuts for R$8 (ten reais), which is about USD $4.50. They were delicious and when served for friends one evening recently disappeared at an alarming speed. It's a good thing they're cheap, because they don't last long on the pantry shelf. Served slightly salted, roasted cashew nuts are one of the best accompaniments to a cocktail there is. Next time you serve caipirinhas, accompany them with roasted cashew nuts for an "all-Brazilian" cocktail hour.

INGREDIENTS - Caju, The "Cashew but Not-A-Cashew" Fruit

This week, during my walks around Fortaleza, I've noticed that the fruit vendors who sell their wares at traffic lights, busy corners and on the seafront promenade once again have cashew (caju) fruit on their trays or ready-bagged in plastic bags. The return of fresh caju is a sign that the winter harvest season has arrived, and caju will be be available fresh for the next couple of months only. After that, we'll have to rely on juices, frozen pulp, ice creams, cajuina, and conserves to tide us over to next year and another winter harvest (remember, July and August are winter months south of the Equator).

I call caju the "cashew but not-a-cashew" fruit because for most North Americans and Europeans the word "cashew" refers to a kidney-shaped nut which can be eaten raw or toasted, plain, salted or sugared. That small nut comes from part of the caju fruit and is eaten here in Brazil, but it's known as castanha de caju (which translates into English as "nut of the cashew fruit). In actuality, the Portuguese terminology is more precise than the English, as the nut is only a part of the story, and for Brazilians caju refers to all the edible parts of the fruit that are not the nut, rather than to the nut itself.

It's complicated, linguistically, botanically and gastronomically, to keep all this sorted out, but the bottom line is that the tree known in English as the cashew tree (in Portuguese cajueiro, and in Latin, Anacardium occidentale) produces a kidney-shaped seed pod containing a single seed (the "nut"). This seed pod hangs at the end of a pseudo-fruit which is red or yellow, large and smooth-skinned and sweet in flavor. This is the caju as it's known in Brazil, and though it isn't well known in most parts of the English-speaking world, it's called the "cashew apple" in English. So when a Brazilian speaks about caju, it's normally the pseudo-fruit he or she is referring to, not the nut itself. The situation is exactly opposite in English, where "cashew" refers to the nut, and not the pseudo-fruit. Clear?

However confusing the terminology is, caju is one of the most well-loved and most iconic fruits of Brazil's northeast, where the tree originated and has been cultivated for centuries. Because of it's distinctive and unusual appearance, with a bean-like appendage dangling from a beautiful red or yellow fruit, the caju is used extensive in graphic design, printed fabrics, advertising and other visual media to suggest the tropics of northeastern Brazil. The photos that accompany this text are proof of the visual appeal and graphic possibilities of the caju. Even Brazil's super-popular president, Lula, uses the caju fruit to link his career to his northeastern roots (see photo above right).

The next couple of posts will discuss the caju further, and will treat the fruit and the nut as two different foods. Although they come from the same tree, caju (cashew-apple) and castanha de caju (cashew nut) really might just as well come from two entirely different trees. They have almost nothing in common, except botanically, are marketed separately and used differently in eating and cooking.  So, here on Flavors of Brazil, we'll separate them as well.

Cajuína - Northeastern Brazil's Own Soft Drink

In a world dominated by soft drink giants Coca-Cola and Pepsi (and here in Brazil by Guaraná Antartica) it's "refreshing" to discover a soft drink that is delicious, regional, artesanally produced and actually not all that bad for you. I've found such a drink here in Fortaleza, and it's called Cajuína.

Cajuína is a lightly-carbonated soft drink made from the juice of the caju fruit (the fruit that gives us the cashew nut). Because it has been filtered and treated, it really cannot be considered juice, rather a juice product, or soft drink. To make cajuína juice is extracted from caju fruits and then filtered. Gelatin is added to eliminate the substance in caju juice that causes tightening of the throat. Then the tannins are removed from the cajuína, in order to rid  it of that "woody" taste they cause. Finally it is clarified into the clear amber-yellow final product, and then bottled. Most production of cajuína comes from small artesanal producers and a few larger regional ones.

Cajuína is is strongly associated with Brazil's Northeast (Nordeste) and is little known outside the region. It is particularly associated with the state of Piauí, one of Brazil's least populated, and poorest states. There is an annual cajuína festival in the state's capital, Teresina, and the cajuína has been declared the official beverage of Piauí.

Because cajuína is derived from pure fruit juice, with no added sugars, it is a healthier alternative to more commercial soft drinks. A 12 oz. (350 ml.) bottle contains approximately 100 calories. Cajuína also has strong anti-oxidant properties, and a large quantity of vitamin C and minerals.

Should you ever come to Brazil's Nordeste, it is worth your while to search out cajuína. It's something you aren't likely to find anywhere else in the world, and in today's global marketplace, that alone makes it special. The fact that it is naturally delicious and very refreshing should be the only additional incentives you need to give it a try.