joelbarish
05/11/2024Paçoca is a very famous sweet and one of the most beloved by Brazilians. Delicious, dry and addictive, many people don't know its origins. The origin comes from the indigenous term PA-SOKA which means “to crush with the hands”, referring to the ancient way of preparing the sweet, in which the flour and meat were crushed in a mortar. The sweet served as food for miners who went looking for diamonds on the banks of the Tibagi River, in Paraná. It originated in the saddlebags of the tropeiros and the landowners of Campos Gerais. In the beginning, meat paçoca served as food for these miners, because they traveled around 20 days to reach the mining site, and needed food that could be prepared quickly. With commercial industrialization, paçoca started to be prepared with other ingredients, reaching the way it is known today: made with peanuts, cassava flour and sugar.