Report From Rio: Guess the Mystery Ingredients

Posted on February 22nd, 2012 9:47am by Nancy Nichols
Filed under Ethnic Food, food art, Food is art. Art is Food., game

Yesterday, I visited a food market near the beach at Ipanema in Rio de Janeiro. I spent long time at the stall in the picture to watch the owner make his own hot sauce by mixing various peppers with vinaigrette and herbs. Besides peppers, dried herbs, and sauces, he displayed several medicinal nuts. I don’t speak Portuguese, and it was difficult to understand the passionate descriptions of the two ingredients in the picture below the jump. Do you recognize them?

Can you guess these ingredients?

12 comments

  1. Nutmeg in the middle?
    Cinnamon on the right?

    @ 10:05 am on February 22, 2012

  2. rio. really. and you didn’t tell me. i so would have gone.

    @ 10:07 am on February 22, 2012

  3. nope not nutmeg

    @ 10:46 am on February 22, 2012

  4. the green bowls on the left

    @ 10:46 am on February 22, 2012

  5. Pretty sure those are un-cola nuts.

    @ 11:01 am on February 22, 2012

  6. kola and brazil nuts?

    @ 11:26 am on February 22, 2012

  7. hazelnuts for sure … ?

    @ 3:20 pm on February 22, 2012

  8. Brazilian nuts and cola nuts

    @ 3:37 pm on February 22, 2012

  9. Horse chestnuts. At least that’s what we called them growing up.

    @ 3:56 pm on February 22, 2012

  10. I think the right is a Brazilian sweet chestnut.
    *Restaurant recommendations: Zuka and Togu in Leblon. We go every year to Rio! Both are outstanding.

    @ 12:28 pm on February 23, 2012

  11. It appears to me that they are pink finger nails and toe nails!

    @ 4:18 pm on February 23, 2012

  12. Oops – after the jump they were removed….

    @ 4:19 pm on February 23, 2012