A Little Taste of Europe

So I’ve been on this quest to find some good chocolate in Brazil. I was given the tip to try a shop in Joinville which was along our drive to Florianopolis. We stumbled upon a shopping center on the drive outside of this city. Although we didn’t find the exact place I was referred to, I found the coolest little chocolate shop I’ve seen so far in Brazil.

The European influence in Brazil becomes very obvious as you drive further south. We saw small villages that had a German feel complete with a German style café. There were Italian restaurants all over Florianopolis as well.
When taking a road trip in the states, the experience isn’t complete without a stop for some roadside shopping. It was interesting to find that this was also the case in Brazil. On our way back to Maringá, along the coast, we saw a sign for Bavarian shopping. It looked different and unique, so we decided to make a quick stop. Inside I found what I’ve been looking for – Cacau Brazil.

It was a colorful little chocolate shop that had hand crafted Christmas chocolates, specialty dark chocolate bars and a variety of bon-bons. Speaking of bon-bon, my Portuguese teacher asked me this week what we call a bon-bon in English. I guess it is a confusing thing because it literally translates to good-good. We got a good laugh about that. We call it a bon-bon in English too. Okay, back to the chocolate. We even got to try chocolate con pimenta (chocolate with pepper). This is something that has become very popular in the states at specialty stores, especially in the west. If you’ve never tried it you are missing out. It is one of the most amazing flavors. The spiciness of the pepper and the sweetness of the chocolate can’t be described with words.

Unfortunately, due to the hot weather we had to pass on buying the artistic little Christmas trees and ornaments made of chocolate. They were beautiful and took much artistic skill to create. I would have loved to bring a whole box home to my family. We settled on a 70% chocolate bar and some chocolates with marzipan. I love marzipan (almond paste). I fell in love with it when we visited Vienna and I was amazed that I could even find it here.

The best part was that all of these chocolates were made right in the state of Santa Catarina. So now I know where to get my chocolate. Next time you can be sure I’ll have a small cooler with ice along so that I can get more back to Maringá to enjoy.