Crazy for Coconut in Brazil

Beijinhos de Coco (Coconut Kisses) this and other recipes below

As part of Hispanic Heritage month I want to talk about dulceras who were largely enslaved women who sold sweets in urban centers. One saw enslaved Afro Brazilian women hawking sweet on the streets of Rio and Bahia in Brazil. In the intersections of the main streets along the walls in lower town of Bahia there “fruit-sellers, venders of sausages, black-puddings, fried fish, oil, and sugar cakes,” writes the British traveler Maria Graham in the 1820s. Speaking now of Rio she goes on to say, “and for dainties [sugary deserts], from the noble to the slave, sweetmeats of every description, from the most delicate preserves and candies to the coarsest preparations” made with coconut “are swallowed wholesale.” One see’s similar scenes in sugar based plantation societies throughout the Americas with African American women making sugar based sweets out of the most plentiful and inexpensive ingredients they have on hand such as nuts and coconut. Here is a recipe for a Brazilian street venders product made with grated coconut, which is indigenous to South America, called Beijinhos de Coco or coconut kisses.

Beijinhos de Coco recipe

Ingredients

A can of sweetened condensed milk (vegans, I substitute plant based products for this and the other ingredients in this recipe)
2 egg yolks
1 tbsp butter or margarine
1 lb freshly grated coconut
1 tsp vanilla extract

Method

Mix all the ingredients together completely. Cook using a heavy saucepan and keep stirring until you see the bottom of the pan. Pour into a plate and let it cool completely. Grease your hands then make small balls, roll them in sugar and put them on small pieces of wax paper. Recipes makes 30 kisses.

Here is related link: http://www.thecapitolbaker.com/2010/08/coconut-laddoos.html

Hispanic Heritage Month Series: http://frederickdouglassopie.blogspot.com/search?q=Hispanic+History+Month+Series

Brazil: A Racial Paradise? (PBS Full Length Episode): http://www.pbs.org/wnet/black-in-latin-america/featured/black-in-latin-america-full-episode-brazil-a-racial-paradise/224/