MAIN INGREDIENTS
Pé-de-moleque is a traditional candy made from peanuts and rapadura — unrefined cane sugar. The process of preparing it is quite simple – peanuts are incorporated into melted sugar, and the entire mixture is poured on a flat surface.
Once it’s cooled, it is broken into smaller, irregular pieces of candy. Additional ingredients include butter, milk, and peanut oil which are all optional, but even the peanuts can be substituted with various nuts. There is no one uniform recipe as these candies can differ in color (from light to dark), in the type of ingredients used, and in their texture (soft to hard).
MOST ICONIC Pé-de-moleque
MAIN INGREDIENTS
Biscoito de polvilho is a traditional, starchy, salted cookie from Brazil. The cookies are characterized by their round, puffy shape and a crispy exterior. The word from its name, polvilho, is derived from the Latin word pulvis and the Spanish polvillo, meaning fine powder, referring to the sour cassava starch, a key ingredient used in the preparation of these snacks.
Biscoito de polvilho can be traced back to the 18th century, when it was prepared on farms in the state of Minas Gerais and served to the plantation owners along with cheese and coffee as an afternoon snack. Due to their unique flavor and airy texture, the cookies are so popular in Brazil that they can even be found at most supermarkets, or bought from numerous beach food vendors.
MOST ICONIC Biscoito de polvilho
Similar to Mexican tamales, pamonha is a traditional dish made with fresh corn. The dough, or more precisely the paste, is made out of grated and juiced corn. It is tightly wrapped in fresh corn husks and cooked in boiling water. Depending on the ingredients, pamonhas can be either sweet or savory.
The savory varieties are usually prepared plain or made with chopped meat, sausages, or cheese. The sweet version of pamonhas is often made by incorporating coconut milk or coconut pulp in the dough. Pamonhas are traditionally eaten all year round in Brazil, but they are usually associated with Festa Junina, the annual Brazilian festivity celebrated throughout June, marking the end of the harvest season and the beginning of Brazilian winter.
MOST ICONIC Pamonha
View moreTasteAtlas food rankings are based on the ratings of the TasteAtlas audience, with a series of mechanisms that recognize real users and that ignore bot, nationalist or local patriotic ratings, and give additional value to the ratings of users that the system recognizes as knowledgeable. For the “3 Worst Rated Brazilian Snacks” list until March 26, 2025, 2,139 ratings were recorded, of which 1,559 were recognized by the system as legitimate. TasteAtlas Rankings should not be seen as the final global conclusion about food. Their purpose is to promote excellent local foods, instill pride in traditional dishes, and arouse curiosity about dishes you haven’t tried.