Essential for a Brazilian Christmas?
A little while back I gave you my top Brazilian supermarket survival tips, born from many hours wandering around supermarkets here in Rio. I remember as a young kid, on some of my first trips abroad, being fascinated by the supermarkets of France (anyone remember Hollywood chewing gum?) and Germany (those yummy ginger cake/biscuits covered in chocolate – yum!).
And I remember, aged 9, being awestruck the first time I saw Fluff:
Are you a Fluffer-nutter? (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6gljDcLrvQ)
Even today I enjoy checking out the weird and wonderful products when I visit a new country. I remember noticing last Easter that all the Rio supermarkets took the same approach to Easter-eggs. They built a kind of wooden framework (a bit like a Pergola) and then hung the eggs at about face-height, meaning you have to duck under the eggs if you want to get past!
Well, Easter is long-gone and my second Christmas in Brazil is almost here. And the item I’m seeing in every supermarket is Panettone. This Italian bread, full of candied fruit peel and raisins, is starting to become more popular back home in the UK, but I certainly wouldn’t call it a Christmas essential.
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| Given a 5 star rating by the Guardian, this will set you back £20! |
Back in England, when I have seen panettone, they have been sold in rather fancy delicatessens alongside other Italian delicacies. And here is an article in the Guardian rating 15 festive loaves, the most expensive of which costs £20 ($30; R$60)!
Of course you can spend a lot of money on panettone here in Brazil too, but all the panettones I’ve been seeing are aimed at the more impecunious Christmas consumer. There are stacks and stacks of the things – my nearest supermarket has a large corner set aside solely for panettone.
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| A plethora of panettones. |
What surprised me was not just how many they have, but also what a crazy variety they have. Before we get going I should confess I’m not a big fan anyway…
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| Cheap-attone – I’m rather disappointed to see that my namesake, Tommy Panettone, is just R$5.49 ($3 or £1.80). |
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| Choc-attone – with a “chocolate flavoured covering”. |
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| Barf-attone – uh-huh, they’ve put a condensed milk stuffing in this one. The idealised picture makes me feel a bit sick. I shudder to think what the real thing is like… |
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| PleaseNoMore-attone – Nestle, the evil empire, offer up this revolting looking monstrosity. ‘Panettone’ stuffed with chocolate pieces and sweeter than sweet doce de leite. Pass the sick bucket! |
I guess these panettones reflect the Brazilian love of sugar (one that I don’t share). But apparently not all Brazilians love panettone. Jana Villas-Bôas over at Eat Girls sums it up: “theres a gang that H-A-T-E panettone, a gang that don’t love it but will eat it, and a gang for whom Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without it”. She goes on to share a recipe that I know a lot of people will love. You tear up the panettone into pieces, cover it in a mixture of chocolate and cream and then top that with ice-cream and caramel!
Jeez, all this sugar makes me want a nice cleansing drink…
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| Red Label – Big in Brazil. |
We have Pannetone here everywhere in the Northeast of the USA during Christmastime. Although in other areas of the country it's not as popular. Mainly between New York and Philly because its where all the Italians are.
I bet it's popular in Brazil because of the large Italian influence. Much more than in the USA I think.
I usually like Leite Condensado, but not in a box that's been sitting on a shelf for 5 weeks. Not thanks! And that peanut butter one made me barf.
Abracos,
Alex
Alex, do you mean the last one? That is 'Doce de leite', sweetened condensed milk that has been heated until the sugar starts to caramelise. Argentinians (who call it Dulce de leche) seem to be the masters (I remember an Argentinian once boasting to me "We make the best Dulce de Leche in the world"), but all Latin Americans seem to LOVE it. For me it is waaaaay too sweet.
In Britain we have Christmas Pudding (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_Pudding) and rather like Jana says, some people hate it, other people can't have Christmas without it!
What about rabanada?! Have you ever heard about it?
Hi Marcella! I *have* heard of rabanada (and tasted them too – yum!!!). The funny thing is that I didn't reconise the word when I saw it written down there because it sounds like "Habanada" when people say it. My mother-in-law makes *amazing* rabanadas and I have be careful not to eat too many as they seem very naughty.
For the uninitiated, rabanadas are a bit like french toast – bread dipped in milk and egg, fried with sugar and cinnamon. Really delicious (and that's coming from someone who doesn't like sugar so much…)
http://cybercook.terra.com.br/rabanada.html?codigo=1245
Wow Tom, I'm stupid. I didn't even read the box of the "peanut butter" one. Duh!! Still sounds revolting. Thanks for the clarification!
Abracos,
Alex
I don't know why I was so desperate for panettones last year. http://greetingsfromholland.blogspot.com/2010/12/feliz-natal-merry-christmas.html
The condensed milk variations are such a stupid thing ! By the way, the Argies should stop saying their dulce de leche is the best in the world. Brazilian one (like the Dutch version) is pure milk and sugar. Theirs take baking soda.
Alex, you really must pay more attention! ;)
Anita, I think being away from home at Christmas makes us all a bit nostalgic doesn't it? Last year I started downloading Christmas songs from my youth and making food my mum always made at Christmas!
As for Dulce de leche, the Argentinian's boast made me snigger because I hate the stuff – it was like boasting that they have the most rain or the longest queues!! :D