My Basket of Brazilian Treats

So we went to a benefit event at the Kohl Children's Museum last night, a well-connected event in that it included David Hammond as an emcee and MAG among the chefs (and G Wiv had also been slated to come at one point, I guess. It was interesting to see how roughly a dozen different chefs took their own stab at the idea of food for kids. MAG was the most molecular gastronomy-oriented (I've often thought that kids might be the best audience for a lot of this stuff), with a clear tomato consomme topped by a toasted cheese crisp; I would have guessed that no kid of mine would touch it (maybe eat the crisp) but both, in fact, gobbled it down happily. Dave Richards of Sweets & Savories showed up with three Jell-Os, including an adult-oriented Kir one and a charming Orange Cream one; I thought a place called Landmark Grill was slumming with hot dogs till I found out that they had made their own heirloom ketchup, watermelon mustard and housemade pickles (all really good); John Bubala and son were dishing up chicken tacos; and Copperblue had a kid and a grownup version of PB&J, with grains of paradise on the adult one (very striking).

Anyway, most of the auction items were north shore-oriented or out of my league, but one tickled my fancy: apparently one of the Texas de Brazil outposts has an attached shop, and it was a basket of Brazilian goodies. For a mere $20, I got at least $18 worth of oddball snacks and treats I've never tasted before:


Bigger version of photo

Anyone have any firsthand experience with any of this? I'm pretty sure Guarana ("The soft drink that sounds like a killer fish") has been discussed here, if not Ham Snack.

Mike G wrote:and G Wiv had also been slated to come at one point

Mike,

I had to pull out due to recent foot surgery, was very sorry to have missed cooking for what looked to be a wonderful event.

Enjoy,
Gary

Guarana is kind of the Coca Cola of Brazil. That is to say, it is best selling "refrigerante" or soda on the market down there. The flavor is that of the guarana fruit- which results in a soda that tastes something like red bull and has a serious caffeine kick to it. It is available at Brasil Legal on Western Avenue along with lots of other Brazilian items made both internationally and domestically.

The Toddynho is essentially boxed chocolate milk. As is the case in most of South America, there is little fresh milk available in the markets. Boxed milk ala Parmalat is what one finds most commonly though very expensive fresh milk can be found in the markets of wealthier neighborhoods of Sao Paulo. Toddynho is a staple of most Brazilian Hotel in room mini-bars. I think that it tastes like Yoohoo. Your kids will probably like it. Lots of Brazilians seem to like it.

The cashew juice (or Caju as it is called in Portugese) is actually the juice of the fruit from which the seed that we commonly know as the cashew comes from. It is probably, after acai, the most common juice available at the street front juice stands in the north. The fruit itself is kind of acidic, it needs to be sweetened a bit to be palatable.

Below is a picture of the "cashew apple" as it is also called.

Also, (besides Brasil Legal), if you go just north of Honey One two blocks on the same (East) side of Western, there is a little corner grocery store that I THINK still carries a fair amount of Brasilia-Treats including Guarana and my favorite little chocolate wafer treats.....BIS.


If not, well.....there's always Danny's Buy Lo nearby.

Speaking of Brazilian treats, a friend of mine from Urbana has been on a quest for doce de banana, some sort of Brazilian banana confection. I stopped by Brasil Legal this afternoon and they had one type, but it was very expensive. My friend's 1-year-old can go through a lot of banana and I don't think this was quite what she was looking for-- can anyone suggest another source?

Thanks,
Jen

BTW, there's been a recent recall of the "ONE" coconut waters. Not sure if you got the affected ones...

Sorry - took me a minute to find the link: http://www.fda.gov/Safety/Recalls/ucm246948.htm