Açaí tradicional

As tradition built it

Açaí tradicional

Ingredients

The tradition's method, with the ingredients named. Quantities follow as we verify them.

The açaí

• açaí fruit, ripe
• potable water
• 7.5ml per litre household bleach (2.5%), in water, for sanitising

At the table

• salted fish, dried meat or shrimp
• farinha

Method

1. Sieve the fruit to take out stones, soil and insects. Do not hold it more than two hours before processing, and do not pulp at night: the light draws insects.
2. Wash it under running water, then soak it 20 minutes in the chlorinated water, skimming off what floats. Rinse it again in clean water.
3. Blanch it 10 seconds in water at 80 to 90°C, then cool it at once in clean water at room temperature, where it softens.
4. Pulp it in the batedeira, the açaí machine, rubbing the fruit against itself with a little water for the thickest açaí, then adding water little by little. It takes 1½ to 2½ minutes. How much water decides the grade: especial, médio or popular.
5. Eat it by the spoonful, unsweetened, with a piece of salted fish, dried meat or shrimp, and plenty of farinha on top.

Notes

It is a full meal, not a snack, and its correct texture is dense enough to hold a spoon upright.

The making of the açaí is from the Prefeitura de Manaus's health inspectors' guide for açaí beaters. How it is eaten is from Pará press; no source quantifies the table.

What a modern chef changes

High-power blend, crisp accompaniments

Method

1. Blend the açaí pulp in a high-power blender specifically to break down every last fibre.
2. Pass it through a chinois for a cream smoother than any hand-mashing gets, restoring the dish's own point, an unsweetened, savoury food.
3. Dehydrate flaked, salted fish separately until properly crisp, folding it through at the very last moment rather than letting it soften in the cream.
4. Toast the farinha briefly in a dry pan immediately before serving, so its own crunch survives contact with the açaí for longer than a minute.