On The Road - Belém (Pt. 8) - Tropical Ice Cream Paradise

In the hot, muggy, often stifling climate of Belém, simply being able to refresh oneself from time to time with a cone or cup of ice cream is a potential lifesaver. And if that ice cream comes from Belém's most well-known and loved chain of ice cream store, Cairu, it's also a potential lifechanger. For if you visit one of Cairu's 10 locations around the city, whether in the tourist/entertainment center Estação das Docas  or in a residential neighborhood you'll taste ice cream as good as the best that Italy or Argentina has to offer, with the added bonus of a range of flavors that exists nowhere else in the world.

Cairu sells all the standard ice cream flavors, of course, and their quality is probably high. We say probably, because when faced with the list of flavors posted on the wall choosing vanilla or strawberry over one of the local fruits of the jungle wasn't even an option for us. During our recent visit to Belém we made repeated trips to Cairu and not once did we order a flavor of ice cream we had ever had before in our lives, nor did we order a flavor we'd already tried at Cairu, tempted though we were.

Cairu's speciality is the confection of superb ice cream flavored by the tremendous cornucopia of fruits that flourish in the tropical rain forest. Fruits like bacuri, cupuaçu, ixu, murici, açaí, taperebá - all with flavors as exotic as their names. Some, like cupuaçu, which is related to chocolate, are creamy and smooth and others, like taperebá and murici have the sharp acidic tang of plenty of vitamin C. Cairu also has an interesting selection of local flavors that are not fruit-based, such as castanha-do-Pará (brazil nut) and tapioca. All of Cairu's ice creams are made in house, using only natural flavors, sugar and dairy. There are no artificial flavors or preservatives. Considering the quality of the product, we found Cairu's prices to be surprisingly reasonable. A single cone or cup (a very large scoop) was R$4.00, just over USD $2.00 and a double R$7.00, about USD $3.50.

It's 9:40 in the morning as we write this post, and it's already 31 degrees (88F) here in Fortaleza.  We'd kill for a scoop of Cairu's taperebá ice cream right about now. In the tropical heat, it's definitely good for what ails you. Too bad it's 800 miles away!

RECIPE - Watermelon and Guava Sundae (Sundae de Goiaba e Melancia)

To honor the victorious Brazilian team, who brought home two first-place trophies from the recent Ice Cream World Cup in Rimini, Italy, here is a easy-to-make Brazilian recipe for a composed ice cream dessert - what we (and the Brazilians) call a sundae.

A sundae is a dish of ice cream (usually but not always vanilla-flavored) topped with one or more sweet sauces and possibly finished off with nuts, chocolate sprinkles, small candies or other treats. The word sundae, most dictionaries agree, is a variant spelling of Sunday, but exactly how the name came to be applied to a dessert and why the spelling was changed seems to be an unsolvable conundrum among linguists and etymology nerds.

This dish adds chopped fresh guava to the basic sundae ingredients, and layers the dish like a parfait. The sauce is a fresh watermelon coulis, laced with the strong flavor of fresh ginger. The resulting sundae is tropical, vibrantly-flavored and light - well-suited to Brazil's tropical climate. The only ingredient that might be difficult to source outside Brazil is fresh guava, but in areas where there is a Latin-American or Asian community ethnics markets often sell fresh guavas. Try to choose guavas that yield just slightly to the touch - if they don't give at all, the fruit isn't yet ripe, and if they are very soft, it's a sure sign of spoilage.
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RECIPE - Watermelon and Guava Sundae (Sundae de Goiaba e Melancia)
Makes 6 sundaes

1 cup chopped and de-seeded watermelon
2 tsp finely grated fresh ginger (use rasp-type grater for best results)
3 Tbsp potato starch
4 Tbsp granulated white sugar
5/6 guavas, peeled and cubed
good-quality vanilla ice cream
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Use a blender or food processor to liquidize the watermelon. Transfer the watermelon puree to a medium saucepan, add the ginger, potato starch and sugar, stir thoroughly to mix, then heat over medium-high heat. Continue to cook, stirring constantly, until the sauce is hot and has thickened. Remove from heat and cool completely.

Using transparent parfait or sundae glasses, fill each about halfway up with guava cubes. Add one or two scoops of ice-cream, then top with a few spoonfuls of watermelon sauce. Garnish, if desired, with a small wedge of watermelon with peel and serve immediately.

Recipe translated and adapted from Gastronomia & Negocios UOL

Brazil Scores at the Ice Cream World Cup

At the recent Ice Cream World Cup, held in Rimini, Italy, as part of SIGEP, the 33rd International Exhibition for the Artisan Production of Gelato, Pastry, Confectionary and Baking, Brazil's five-man team walked home with two major prizes.

The team included a chief ice-cream chef, Frederico Samora, vice-president of ABRACES (Associação Brasileira dos Confeiteiros e Sorveteiros ), the Brazilian Association of Pastry and Ice Cream Chefs, a chief pastry chef, Philippe Soffieti, chef de cuisine Sandro Mota and two master pastry chefs, Marcelo Magaldi and Eduardo Beltrame.

The Brazilian team

To win gold in Italy, the home of ice cream gastronomy, is a significant achievement, and although the Brazilian team did not win first place overall, they did win two first prize trophies -  for the best ice-cream cone and the best artisanal ice cream.


Brazilians love ice cream, and Brazilian ice cream can be very good indeed. Much of the credit for this tradition goes to the numerous Italian immigrants to Brazil and to their descendents. Combining Italian techniques, good-quality dairy products and the best of Brazil's cornucopia of tropical fruits, ice cream from Brazil can stand with the best in the world. And the prizes that Brazil's team is bringing home from the World Cup is proof of the pudding (or of the ice cream).

Ice Cream - Flavors for the Brazilian Summer

January and February are the two hottest months of the year in most of Brazil - a situation that's 180 degrees removed from the Northern Hemisphere. These are the dog days (canícula in Portugese) of summer south of the Equator. Temperatures in Rio de Janeiro in summer often climb into the 40s - but here we're talking Celsius, not Fahrenheit, and the equivalent of 40C in Fahrenheit is 104. Brazil's hottest capital cities, Cuiabá in the state of Mato Grosso and Teresina in Piauí, have mid-afternoon temperatures that often exceed 110F during the hottest months.

Brazilians are wild about ice cream (sorvete) all year round, but the craziness reaches epidemic proportions during the summer, for reasons that are quite obvious. Line-ups out the door, people walking down the street trying their best to prevent a dripping cone from staining their clothes, kids with smiles a mile-wide and a face smeared with ice cream - these are all signs of summer in Brazil.

During the colder months, Brazilians eat lots of cream and chocolate-based ice cream flavors, but when the thermometer's about to pop, they are more likely to choose a fruit-based flavor. These flavors are sharper and more acidic which somehow makes them more refreshing in the heat. They are also less caloric, and thus don't feel as filling. Most sorveterias (ice cream shops) vary their offerings seasonally to meet the changed demand in summertime and fruit-based options abound.

An article in today's Folha de São Paulo newspaper highlights the summer menu changes at one of the best sorveteria chains in Brazil - Mil Frutas (A Thousand Fruits). Mil Frutas has shops in São Paulo, in Rio de Janeiro and in the coastal resort of Búzios. For the past eight years, it has been crowned the best sorveteria in Rio by the gastronomic guide Veja Comer & Beber. And every summer, it's chart of flavors highlights Brazilian fruits.

Pineapple with cilanto

According to the article, this year owner Renata Saboya has created new flavors that combine fruits and herbs. Two of her new flavors are pineapple with cilantro (abacaxi com coentro) and passion fruit with honey and rosemary (maracujá com mel e alecrim). Additionally, some fruits which are available only during the summer, like jabuticaba, pitanga, and cajá, find a place in Mil Frutas' freezers at this time of year.

The ice cream at Mil Frutas uses the simplest ingredients - cream, sugar, and fruit. There are no preservatives or artificial flavors or colors. It's the essence of summer in a cone (or a cup, or a dish). And it's one of the best heat-beaters on Earth.

RECIPE - Soursop Ice Cream (Sorvete de Graviola)

One of the most popular, and delicious, ways to enjoy the aromatic and complex flavor of the fruit called soursop (graviola in Portuguese) is in the form of ice cream. It's the perfect refresher on a hot, tropical day and in most ice cream shops (sorvetarias) here in Brazil graviola is one of the best-selling flavors.

Although fresh graviola is extremely perishable and isn't available fresh outside the tropics, in many areas of North America and Europe you can find frozen pulp in Latin American and Asian markets.

This recipe for soursop ice cream was created with frozen pulp in mind and is easy to make in home ice cream makers. Try serving it to guests without telling them what the flavor is. They'll never be able to guess it I would imagine, but the rich flavor will turn them all soursop ice cream fanatics.

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RECIPE - Soursop Ice Cream (Sorvete de Graviola)

1 lb (400 gr) frozen natural soursop pulp, unthawed
1/2 cup (125 ml) cold water
1 Tbsp. cornstarch
2 cups whole-fat unflavored yogurt
1 cup demerara sugar
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Dissolve the cornstarch in the cold water, then heat in a saucepan over medium heat until the mixture thickens. Remove from heat and let cool slightly.

Pour the cornstarch/water mixture into a blender, then add all the remaining ingredients. Blend at medium-high speed until the mixture is completely homogenous.

Pour the blender mixture into any type of ice-cream maker and process according to directions. Keep frozen until ready to serve.

For a more flavorful ice cream, remove from the freezer about 15 minutes before serving.


Recipe translated and adapted from Vila do Artesão.

RESTAURANT REVIEW - Sorveteria 50 Sabores (Fortaleza, Brazil)

Although you can't really call an ice cream shop a restaurant, Flavors of Brazil doesn't have a category for ice cream shop reviews, so I've decided that for the moment Sorveteria 50 Sabores (meaning Ice Cream Shop 50 Flavors) will qualify as a restaurant for reviewing purposes on this blog. The small local chain of ice cream shops in Fortaleza is regularly honored by the well-known Veja Guides to food and drink, and others, as having the best ice cream in Fortaleza. Brazilians are ice-cream (sorvete) mad, and local residents must agree with the guide books, since  Sorveteria 50 Sabores business appears to be booming, even though their ice cream is just about the most expensive in the city. On Fortaleza's waterfront promenade, called Beira Mar, this chain just opened its third location - within 1 kilometer of each of the two other already-existing branches on the seafront. And it already appears to be doing land-office business, especially in the evenings when thousands of residents stroll the promenade in the warm tropical night.

Basically, this chain sells ice cream, in cones or cups, with or without topping, and nothing else. The shops are open to the street, and most customers take their purchases across the street to the promenade where they stroll and eat, or sit and eat, their ice cream - rather quickly, as ice cream doesn't stay solid long in 25-30C (80-88F) heat.

Fortaleza - Beira-Mar

The chain was founded 34 years ago and is still owned by the family of the founder. All the ice cream they serve are made by the company itself, and served only in their own shops. Although the name would seem to indicate that there are 50 flavors available, that is no longer the case. At any one time there are approximately 80-90 flavors for sale, and the current list of flavors they work with is about 110. Some flavors are always available and others come and go. According to Sorveteria 50 Sabores's website, over the years they have developed an archive of nearly 300 flavors that have been offered at one time or another. Many of the flavors of ice cream sold at Sorveteria 50 Sabores would be familiar to ice cream fans around the world, and all the classic chocolate, cream, nut and fruit flavors are available. What makes this chain more interesting and unique is the range of tropical fruit flavors that they offer. Many of the fruits which have been featured here on Flavors of Brazil - fruits like buriti, maracujá, açaí, cacau - are represented on the board which announces available flavors. For someone who is visiting Fortaleza, or Brazil, from outside the region, I'd highly recommend that these are the flavors to try. The chocolate ice cream at Sorveteria 50 Sabores is excellent, but it is nothing new for almost anyone who appreciates good ice cream. Nor is the vanilla or the strawberry. But where else are you going to be able to sample cajá, caju, murici or sapoti ice cream? Not at Baskin-Robbins, that's for sure! Beside the fruit flavors, there are some other distinctively Brazilian flavors that shouldn't be missed - caipirinha, which is made with cachaça and is only sold to persons over 18 years of age, or brigadeiro, based on Brazilian's favorite chocolate treat.

Cashew-nut Brittle Ice Cream

The shops are spotlessly clean, and there are no worries that the ice cream might not be hygenic. The only worry involved with having ice cream is which flavor(s) to have. Fortunately,   has a policy of allowing unlimited sampling before purchasing, and I recommend that everyone take advantage of that - not to excess, of course. But it's a perfect opportunity to try out one, two or three exotic and possibly even mysterious flavors before making a purchasing decision. After all, exactly what it Obama-flavored ice cream?

If you're interested in seeing the complete list of current flavors, with sometimes charmingly-inaccurate English translations, click this link to the company's website, then choose "produtos" from the menu choices.