Week 18: Bananas and Siriguelas

We went to the CEASA produce market in Brasilia and discovered a nice source of fresh fruits and vegetables. This market is only open to the public on Fridays and Saturdays, and includes wholesalers as well as family farmers selling goods. During the rest of the week, the market is open for buyers from stores and restaurants.

There is also a well-stocked candy and chocolate shop with bulk sized sweets and baking supplies. At this shop we found unsweetened cocoa powder and powdered sugar, two items not available in the grocery stores here.

In Brazil, there seems to be a job for everyone. For example, there are people who help you guide your car in the parking lots, others that will wash it while you wait, venders of toys, maps, cleaning cloths and garbage sacks at traffic intersections, and people that juggle and entertain while you wait for the light to turn green.

At the CEASA, we hired a woman with a shopping cart to accompany us and carry the items we purchased. As we bought fruit or vegetables, either her or her 11-yr-old daughter would take the items from the vendor and place them in our shopping bags in the cart. It was a nice service, especially since there were no "free" carts to use.

A fun aspect of the market was getting to see and sample various types of tropical fruits. It has been interesting sampling these different fruits. For example, there are several types of bananas available here. I purchased these because there were the smallest and largest bananas at the market that day. The small ones are called "bananas ouro", or gold bananas. They're thumb-sized and have a very sweet, golden colored flesh. The large bananas are called "bananas nanica" and are the most common bananas here. These are the same bananas that are in the supermarkets in the United States.

Another fruit that caught my interest that day was the "siriguela". This fruit has a yellow-orange flesh, that is tart-sweet and juicy, and surrounds a large seed. These were quite tasty and the tartness left my mouth a little dry. 

In the month of February, we discovered that one of the trees in our back yard produces this fruit. Unfortunately, the branches are very far from the ground, and by the time the ripe fruit falls, the monkeys and ants have taken a the choicest bits.