Santa Catarina

Cajuzinho Portuguese pronunciation: [kaʒu'zĩɲu] is a popular sweet with an almost ubiquitous presences in Brazilian parties. It is made of peanuts, cashew nuts and sugar and is shaped like a tiny cashew, although it does taste strongly of peanut.

Banana cake with a streusel topping

Pastel de nata is a Portuguese egg custard tart pastry, optionally dusted with cinnamon. Outside Portugal, they are particularly popular in other parts of Western Europe, Asia and former Portuguese colonies, such as Brazil, Mozambique, Macau, Goa and East Timor. The Macanese variant has been adopted by KFC and is available in regions such as mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Thailand and Singapore. In Indonesia, this pastry is especially popular in Kampung Tugu, Jakarta, a culturally Portuguese (Mardijker) enclave. Pastéis de nata tarts are pastries inspired by an original recipe called Pastéis de Belém, which were created before the 18th century by Catholic monks at the Jerónimos Monastery in the civil parish of Saint Mary of Bethlehem, in Lisbon. At the time, convents and monasteries used large quantities of egg-whites for starching clothes, such as friars and nuns' religious habits. It was quite common for monasteries and convents to use the leftover egg yolks to make cakes and pastries, resulting in the proliferation of sweet pastry recipes throughout the country.

Egg custard made with almond flour

Maté is a traditional South American caffeine-rich infused herbal drink. It is also known as chimarrão[a] in Portuguese, cimarrón[b] in Spanish, and kaʼay in Guarani. It is made by soaking dried yerba-maté (Ilex paraguariensis) leaves in hot water and is traditionally served with a metal straw (bombilla) in a container typically made from a calabash gourd (also called the mate), but also made from a cattle horn (guampa) in some areas. A very similar preparation, known as mate cocido, removes some of the plant material and sometimes comes in tea bags. Today, maté is sold commercially in tea bags and as bottled iced tea. Maté has been originally consumed by the Guaraní and Tupi peoples native to Brazil and neighboring countries. After European colonization, it was spread across the Southern Cone countries, namely Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay and Chile, but it is also consumed in the South of Brazil and the Bolivian Chaco. Maté is the national beverage of Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay. In Chile, maté is predominantly consumed in the central and southern regions. Maté is also popular in Lebanon and Syria, where it was brought by immigrants from Paraguay and Argentina.

Creamy hearts of palm soup

Cornmeal porridge with pork, ham, sausage

Mixed dish of fish, cod, potatoes, kale, eggs, vegetables, garlic

Mortadella sandwich

Virado, also known as virado à Paulista, is a whole-meal dish from the state of São Paulo, Brazil. It dates to the time of the earliest Portuguese settlers to the region. The dish consists of a platter of beans cooked in sautéed onion, garlic, fat, and salt; dried, toasted manioc flour; a pork chop; fried sausage; breaded and fried plantain; eggs, preferably with the soft yolk; kale, cut into strips and braised in fat; rice; and torresmo, a crisply cooked pork rind. Virado is traditionally served on Mondays. About 500,000 plates of the dish are served per week in the city of São Paulo. Virado arose spontaneously during the early colonial period of Brazil as a dish of the bandeirantes. The bandeirantes traveled to the interior of Brazil first to capture and enslave native Brazilians, and later to find gold, silver, and diamonds. They carried beans, pork, and corn flour in their backpacks to the interior of the state. Stored in the backpack, the ingredients "turned" and mixed, hence the name of the dish, "virado". Virado in the period of the bandeirantes consisted only of beans, usually cooked without salt so as not to harden, maize flour, dried meat, and bacon. Cassava flour was substituted for corn flour after the introduction of the crop to the São Paulo region in the 18th century. The bandeirantes and other early settlers ate virado cold or warmed. The earliest written reference to virado is in 1602, when Nicolau Barreto made an expedition to present-day Paraguay, Bolivia, and Peru. It is also associated with the monção, who led expeditions by river into remote areas of the Brazilian interior from the early 18th to the early 19th century.

Cassava fries

Colony cheese is a type of cheese made in the highlands of the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul and in Uruguay. It is one of the icons of southern Brazilian cuisine, also being produced in Santa Catarina, despite being originally from Uruguay. This cheese is made by artisan production, usually in rural areas of the highlands, especially in regions settled by German and Italian immigrants who starting almost two hundred years ago brought with them their cheese-making traditions. It has low production cost, due to its simple manufacturing process, consisting mainly of milk, salt and milk enzymes. It typically goes through a maturation process that can take several months. The aging gives the cheese its most striking feature: a soft, slightly spicy inside, complex flavor and surrounded by a solid yellow crust. The older the cheese gets, bigger and harder its crust get, making the taste of this product more pungent and striking. There can be a formation of small white mold in its external part, but that does not affect the quality of the product. This problem can be solved by storing it in environments of low relative humidity. Usually this cheese is consumed accompanied by red wines, or it can also be used for cooking, especially in pizzas, lasagnas and other pastas.

Savory pie made with hearts of palm