From The Good Blood, I saw an article she posted from the NYT on açaí from Belém. I’m surprised and pleased to say the NYT writer Seth Kugel did a great job on accuracy in the article, especially when he said the following…

“The velvety texture of the thicker varieties is wonderful, but the taste is more — how to put this? — earthy. O.K., it tastes like dirt. Making matters worse, the manioc flour that’s often mixed in to thicken it has the consistency of sand.”

I’m also glad the writer mentioned Cairu ice cream store because that’s the only place that I found great (cough*Rio style*cough) açaí, even if it was a little more pricey for what you get. Cairu also sells a flavor called ‘paraense’ which is açaí with tapioca balls mixed in, which I personally think dilutes the flavor.

On Eyes on Brazil, I’ve talked about açaí a few times already. You can find out what I think here (in general), here (while living in Belém) and even here (on açaí in the US).