Pão de queijo

Pão de queijo, or Brazilian cheese bread, is a small baked cheese roll eaten as breakfast or an afternoon snack in Brazil. It originated in Minas Gerais and is valued for its chewy, elastic interior and crisp exterior.

History

Its origins lie in Minas Gerais around 1700, when the discovery of mines near Ouro Preto drew a large population, many of them enslaved, to a vast area of southeastern Portuguese colony. Forced colonization shifted the colony's economic centre toward that region.

With wheat unavailable, local cooks turned to cassava starch, which indigenous Tupiniquim groups had shown them. In the late nineteenth century grated hard cheese was added, giving the bread the flavour that lends it its name. It contains no yeast; air trapped in the dough expands in the oven and makes the rolls rise.

The snack has since travelled beyond Brazil. It reached Japan with dekasegi workers, where it is often made with rice flour. In the United States and Australia it is sold largely as a gluten-free product.

Culture

In Brazil it is an inexpensive food, sold at street stands, cafés, bakeries, supermarkets and even petrol stations. Vendors carry it in heat-retaining containers, and many families bake it at home from frozen dough. It is usually enjoyed with coffee.

Recipes vary by region and producer. The most traditional uses sweet and sour cassava flour, oil, eggs, milk, salt, Minas, Canastra or Parmesan cheese, and water, though mozzarella or butter may also appear. Stuffed versions with catupiry, goiabada or dulce de leche exist, as do boiled variants that include potato.

Most South American countries have their own versions, such as the pan de queso found in Paraguay, Bolivia or Colombia, which differ mainly in ingredients. Today it remains a familiar part of everyday Brazilian life.