“Qubayqi.” Does cupuacu become chocolate or not?

The name was patented by Sebrae. “It was in 2003, within the scope of the discussion on the sustainable development of the Amazon region based on the bioeconomy, which highlighted the fruit’s market potential for products with high added value,” one Sebrae manager told the blog. But there are those who use the name, and who says that it does not stick?

Growing cupuaçu (which has a sour, mouth-filling flavour) by women in the Amazon has changed the life of social entrepreneur Raquel Luna, who left Paraná and went to live in Manaus, where she and other women run Cupu do Quintal, a brand of products derived from the fruit, including “cupulate”, but she is the one saying it.

“We’re young (laughs),” she joked. “It all started with a simple conversation in a flour mill. From there, Cupu no Quital was born. We bought seeds and pulp from 17 families to generate income among these women.” She explains that from the pulp, you can make jelly and candied fruits, ones that you can keep in your bag and never stop eating. From the seeds, they also produce granola for granola and shakes. Cupuaçu is rich in fiber and antioxidants.

One of his clients is Deborah Churnick, a São Paulo chef who became an authority on Amazonian food when she opened her restaurant Caxiri in the historic center of Manaus. The recipe is considered the most successful among home desserts: copolet mousse.

María de Carmos Gomez is known as “Madame Cupuaço”. There are (at least) eight thousand trees on his property, a veritable Cupuaçu forest, which he started in 1987. “I can’t get enough of the beauty of the tree.” The pulp and seeds used in Gaudens’ “cobolat” (700 kg/year) are one of the leaders in marketing the product, even before it was called Sebrae.

Raquel Luna remembers that her tree grows in the shade of the forest, “feeding people and animals, and providing prosperity and livelihood to the local communities.”