ade from this berry is second only to Coke among Brazilians’ favorite fizzy drinks.
In other news, the fruit itself has twice to five times as much caffeine as coffee!
Cupuaçus are closely related to cacao, down to the same genus. While you won’t easily find the fruit outside the Amazon, its nectar, as well as cupuaçu-filled confections are hot all over Brazil. There’s a wide range of cupuaçu-based cosmetics too.
Brazilian Fruits Originating in the Tropical Americas
Apparently, speaking Romance languages isn’t the one thing that unites the region to the south of the Rio Grande!
11. Cashew Apples
We’ve mentioned this on our post focusing on Brazilian culture, but did you know cashews actually grow from a remarkably sweet fruit? (Well, technically, cashews are the real fruit, whereas the apples are what botanists call “accessory fruit”.)
Just like red wine, cashew apples are rich in tannin. That means they can cause a dry feeling in the mouth when not totally ripe. So their juice and nectar are way more in demand, especially at snack bars across the country.
Because guavas have an intense aroma, they attract fruit flies and are often colonized by larvae. Consequently, the best way of eating them… is as a sweet delicacy, of course! Goiabada is a firm paste that people usually pair with cheese, a match so patently made in heaven it’s known everywhere as Romeu e Julieta!
Looking like bulky figs on the outside, genipaps are wildly popular across northeastern Brazil. As they’re quite seedy and lack a substantial pulp, they’re typically used to make desserts and a liqueur that is famous nationwide. Also, a stunning bluish food coloring is extracted from the unripe fruit.
14. Pitangas aka Brazilian Cherries
Pitangas and jabuticabas (see no. 16) are hands-down the tiniest Brazilian fruits on our list. Yet our very own cherries are a little more bittersweet and less gooey.
They have originated the odd phrase chorar as pitangas, which literally means “to cry (one’s) pitangas” and refers to either complaining a lot or crying your eyes out. Don’t they turn as red as a Brazilian cherry when you do?
Fruits from Southern & Central South America
Home to prairies, savannas, and wetlands, the vast area south of the Amazon and east of the Andes gave us plenty of delicious Brazilian fruits too.
Pineapples are from the Paraná Basin (where the Iguazu Falls are located), an area between southwestern Brazil, Paraguay, and northeastern Argentina. Ironically, though, both Costa Rica and the Philippines grow more of the fruit every year.
While we love all things pineapple, the Portuguese word for it, abacaxi, has become shorthand for a particularly thorny situation (together, oddly, with pepino, i.e. cucumber).
16. Jabuticabas aka Brazilian Grapes
These white-pulp Brazilian berries are unique in that they sprout straight from the tree trunk — often covering it entirely! The fruit jabuticaba bursts in your mouth and turns into tempting liqueurs, jellies, and even wines.
As with pineapples, the word jabuticaba has acquired a figurative meaning too: it refers to laws, rules, and (usually bad) practices, chiefly in the realm of politics, that occur only in Brazil.
Indigenous peoples named mangabas, describing it as “an edible delight”. Although orchards have been picking up in recent years, the fruit is still more consistently harvested in the wild, especially in the tiny northeastern state of Sergipe. Its native range, however, spans Paraguay and eastern Peru as well, mostly in dry areas.
Pequis, which also grow in Bolivia and Paraguay, are said to be a love-it-or-hate-it sort of fruit. Its spiky core, oily texture, and intense smell and flavor are indeed pretty divisive. Yet folks throughout central Brazil are obsessed with them, cooking both rice and chicken with pequi.
Foreign Fruits Brazil is a Leading Producer of
Brazil has the third-largest fruit output in the world! And while we’re aware that coffee wouldn’t mind topping this section, it’ll have to give way to a few sweeter items. After all, hardly anyone cares about the cherries wrapped around 