Part One: Welcome to Mato Grosso do Sul
Have you ever been in to Nowheresville? This past summer, during my trips to Brazil, and with the eternal quest to explore my native country, I traveled far away from my usual Rio–São Paulo–Bahia axis, and went to visit a ranch near Campo Grande, in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul, close to the Pantanal.
The opportunity came when a friend of mine, Leticia Krause, invited me to visit her new home: a cattle ranch.
Leticia Krause
Besides sharing the same name, Leticia and I have a million other things in common. Like me, she also came to the United States in 1997 to study culinary. A year after her studies, she returned to Brazil. Shortly after, she departed once again, for another set of culinary studies, this time in Nepal, where she explored the similarities between Asian and Brazilian ingredients. Chocolate in Switzerland? Molecular gastronomy in Spain? Classic patisserie in France? She’s been there and done that. I see in her the free spirit I wished I had. Let’s call that chapter one and two of Leticia Krause’s life.
After collecting experiences from different parts of the world, Leticia who is originally from Curitiba, in the south of Brazil, settled back in her hometown. Soon upon her return, she was offered a position as executive chef of a high-end restaurant backed by big-shot investors. Her success was instant and a fruitful career as a chef, caterer, teacher, and entrepreneur took off. Shall we call that chapter three?
Let’s do that because is chapter four that really matters. This is when Leticia’s spirit is completely free and surrounded by wild toucans, parrots, horses, manioc, eucalyptus, sugarcane, and lots of cattle.
It all began when her father, Nelson Rubens Krause, asked her to help manage the ranch, along with her brother, Carlos Krause. For that to happen though, she would have to drop an established career in Curitiba, rethink her life, and start from scratch in a different state, in a different house, not to mention relocating with her husband and son. And so she did.
Fazenda Paiolão is located in Anastácio, a city about 4 hours from Campo Grande, the capital of Mato Grosso do Sul.
On our way to the farm, we had to slow down and stop for a good 10 minutes. Why? Cattle traffic.
“Welcome to Mato Grosso! This is a very common thing here”, Leticia explained.
When we arrived on the farm, Leticia showed me my room in the main house, a big house that projects even bigger spaces—a typical Portuguese construction with red clay roofing.
There was a vegetable garden right next to the house, where Leticia grows manioc, peppers, papaya and many more fruits and vegetables.
“I don’t grow anything”, she corrected me. “The land grows for me. “It is so fertile here, that I really don’t have to work hard to sustain a local garden and eat fresh vegetables every day. “
I am a city girl and love to eat out in restaurants, but gather dinner with my own hands fresh from the garden made me feel as one with this place. This is not nowheresville, really. This is Mato Grosso do Sul, a state with a culture of its own, bearing little similarities to urban capitals such as Rio, São Paulo, or Salvador.
“Come on, I’ll show you the land”, she told me. As we drove miles on dirt roads, I quickly realized that “show me the land”, is not a simple task considering the size of this ranch, about on par with my town of Weston, Connecticut.
I was completely dazzled by the place, from the clear crystal waterfalls that springs right from the rocks, to the ducks swimming in the lake, and the endless sugar cane plantations sugar cane. But mostly by the multitude of parrots and toucans flying everywhere.
To experience this is to take a rare pause from modern life. To live here, is to make a pact with nature.
After that, Leticia showed me the chicken coop. While my fear of getting pecked by the chickens kept me away from the coop, Arthur, her son, grabbed fresh eggs every day.
The state of Mato Grosso has nothing to do with Rio, São Paulo, Bahia, or Parana. This trip was a life changing experience. We all know Brazil is a massive land sizewise, but here, I could literally see and touch massive. And I am only beginning to discover how incredibly gorgeous, gigantic, and diverse my country is.
On the next post, let’s learn about cattle in Brazil!
Part Two: Brazilian Beef Herd
The opportunity to come close to the field, and learn from Leticia Krause and her family about cattle in Brazil, was one of the most fascinating experiences of my life.
“The history of Brazilian beef herd, is the history of the search for the perfect cow. Ever since the Portuguese brought the first cows to graze on our lands, back in the 16th century, they tried to find an animal perfectly capable of adapting to the tropical climate of Brazil and its fields. “Leticia explained.
Raising cattle became an obsession for the Krause family, as well as for many other Brazilian farmers. All efforts are focused on exporting the meat, and few countries approach Brazil’s numbers.
According to Revista Veja (equivalent in Brazil to Time or Newsweek) for every four pieces of meat sold around the globe, one comes from Brazil. Today, there is over 205 million heads of cattle in Brazil. That’s more cattle than people!
But, despite all the hard work, Brazilian meat is still considered low quality according to international standards, specially when compared to the European cattle, the Bos Taurus, Carlos was explaining while he chopped sugar cane to feed the animal.
That’s why Brazilian ranchers are doing all they can to introduce our own famous cuts like alcatra (pad rump heart) and maminha (pad rump tail, or sirloin tri tip) to penetrate American supermarkets.
They took me to visit the “confinamento” or the confinement, where the cattle spends at least 3 months binging on food to put on weight and properly absorb all of the nutrients given to them such as grains, wheat, and citric. The scent of dust, hay, and dung mixes with the dry air. It smells of honest work.
At the end of the 19th century, after observing that European cows didn’t adapt so well to the tropical climate of Brazil, breeders decided to bring cattle from India, due to its similar geographic and climate conditions. At the time, the operation was considered successful, albeit in a small scale. Close to 6.500 additional heads were brought in 1940 and in 1962, resulting in 80 % of the Brazilian cattle herd living today.
The winner cow is called Nelore in Portuguese; this breed originated from the Indian bos indicius, an animal that carries a hump on its loin, almost like a fat inventory.
But the most revolutionary part of cattle breeding is happening right now. In the past, breeders used to choose the best cow based only on what the eye could see. One landmark study looked at anatomical and chromosomal traits between animals, and they now are able to make their decisions based on DNA tests.
Researchers from the Universidade Estadual Paulista (Uniesp) are monitoring the DNA from the Brazilian animal, and their broken cells. Once a map of their genetics is created, it is now possible to determine straight from birth important facts, such as: what will be that cow’s maximum weight, if its meat will be tender or tough, how well he will adapt to the tropical climate of Brazil, and the perfect age for slaughter.
Breeders will be able to decide which cows to keep for reproduction, and which ones for slaughter. They will also be able to distinguish a cow that reproduces fast, versus a cow that yields the best piece of meat.
The techniques have changed, but the goal has the not: the search for the perfect cow is still on, and the Krause family is making every effort to ensure that.
On Part Three, let’s learn to make Doce de Mamão Verde, a farm compote that is Leticia Krause’s signature sweet.
Part Three: Doce de Mamão Verde
Even though modern culinary trends have obviously reached the country, we Brazilians, still love to eat fruits in syrup, a habit acquired during colonial times, when most sweets consisted of preserving fruit in a sugar syrup, to be enjoyed months after harvest.
According to Leticia Krause, this recipe was quite fancy back then. In my opinion, it still is because it’s labor intensive and the intricate rolling and sewing of the green papaya.
And speaking of green papaya, it is very important to use green papaya. A ripe papaya will simply mush everything and turn into a big mess. If you are into canning, this is the recipe for you. It makes a gorgeous gift!
Doce de Mamão Verde
1 green papaya
4 cups water
3 cups sugar
3 cloves
Equipment: pretty canning jars
1- Cut the papaya in half and remove the seeds (do not peel the papaya). Using a mandolin fitted with a flat blade, slice the papaya into paper-thin strips and place in a bowl.
2- Prepare a needle and a sewing line; secure the line with a knot, and roll each piece of papaya as tight as you can without breaking the fruit. Slide them close together on the sewing line, fitting as many as you can and tie a knot after the last piece of rolled fruit. You will have to prepare many strings to use the whole fruit.
3- In a large pan bring water and sugar to a boil over high heat. Add the cloves and reduce the heat to low. Carefully drop all stings of papaya into the sugar syrup and cook gently, just until the fruit becomes soft and translucent, about 15 minutes.
4- While the fruit is cooking, sterilize the jars in the oven or in water bath (or even in a dish washer). You need to add hot food to hot jars.
5- Remove the pan from the heat. Remove each string from the syrup, cut the string, release each rolled papaya from the sewing line, and return them to the syrup. Repeat the process until all fruit are released.
6- Carefully ladle some syrup and papaya into the hot sterilized jars, leaving ½ inch of headspace. Remove any air bubbles by running a long wooden utensil such as a chopstick or wooden skewer between the jar and the syrup. Wipe the rims clean and seal according to the jar’s manufacturer. Process the jars in boiling water bath for 40 minutes, and then turn off the heat. Wait 5 minutes and then lift the jars using tongs or a lifter. Transfer the jars to a towel lined baking sheet and let them rest. Check the seals and wipe the jars.
