Sweet Cornbread with Coconut
We have discovered a new favorite – sweet cornbread with coconut. Bolo de Fubá, a traditional Brazilian cornmeal cake known for its moist texture and subtly sweet flavor, was the inspiration for this dish. I served it alongside a black bean stew and it offered a sweet balance to the savory and slightly spicy stew.
In the Midwest (USA), we eat cornbread as an accompaniment – like a dinner roll. Our typical recipe is more savory than sweet but there are certainly regional variations and preferences. I’ve always like a sweeter, moist cornbread that I can drench with butter and maple syrup. As a result, I fell in love with this rendition… so did the family!
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Brazilian Cornmeal Cake Origins and Traditions
Like much of Brazil’s food, this cake has roots in Portuguese and African food culture that began to emerge in Brazil’s colonial period. The Portuguese began colonizing Brazil in the early 1500s. While corn was a staple food already, the Portuguese significantly expanded the crop and cornmeal became a main ingredient in many dishes.
African slaves were brought to Brazil to work on sugar plantations soon after the Portuguese arrived. Their influence on Brazilian cuisine is much like the African slave influence on the USA’s Southern regional cuisine. Cooking techniques and traditions of Africans became deeply rooted in meal preparation in Brazil, leading to a blending of cultures.
Coconut is a main ingredient in Brazilian cornmeal cake, but I pondered why and how it made its way into the cake. I discovered a lot of conflicting information on the internet when I was researching this dish – no surprise there, really. Several sources state that Africans introduced coconut to Brazil, while just as many cite the Portuguese as the deliverers of the fruit. There are a more reliable sources that support the African origin, however. For all you culinary nerds like me, check out The African Origins of Brazilian Cuisine, for more reading on the topic.
While we eat cornbread as a side, Brazilians often eat this dish for breakfast or an afternoon sweet treat. Americans eat coffee cake similarly – for breakfast or an afternoon snack. Sometimes, Brazilians eat Bolo de Fubá as dessert. Now… I can definitely get behind that!