Rapadura Sugar

The “raspa dura” (“hard scrape”) coming from the large pots of sugar cane juice boiled in hundreds of sugar mills around the Northeast since the colonial period is an important element in the Brazilian diet. In História da alimentação no Brasil (History of Food in Brazil), Câmara Cascudo says the product “became not only a treat, but a seasoning, real and more frequent than regular sugar or bread in the backland diet, an accompaniment to the meal.” Currently, the rapadura sugar is no longer limited to consumption as a side for manioc flour, or to be added to the pot of stewed beans – common practices in the countryside of Northeast region. It also appears in recipes for sauces, caipirinhas, mousses and ice creams. And although the simplified recipe for Pé de moleque uses condensed milk, there is nothing like the original recipe, which combines roasted chopped peanuts and melded rapadura sugar.