Barraca de suco

All over South America and Mexico you must take time out of your day to enjoy the incredible barraca de suco (juice bars) and a selection of fruta fresca drinks made from mango, papaya, watermelon, passion fruit, kiwi, pineapple, coconut and other more exotic varieties such as caja. The fruit selections at the bar are not far from the areas where they are grown unlike most fruit we eat in the midwest. In Brazil fruit is picked only after ripe rather than green and then ripened off the tree. This natural ripening method makes all the difference in the world.

My theory is if you eat these fresh fruit and drink their juices regularly, you will be cured of so much that ales us in modern American culinary culture. Almost every meal we ate: breakfast, lunch or dinner, was accompanied by large pitchers of freshly blended fruit juice and the delicious taste of fruit is one of the most memorable parts of daily life in Brazil.