Rapadura

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Rapadura is the Portuguese name for a traditional sweetener, or as a candy, common in Latin American countries such as Brazil and Venezuela (where it is known as papelón) and the Caribbean. It is essentially pure dried sugarcane juice, in the form of a brick, and is largely produced on site at sugarcane plantations in the very warm tropical regions. It was originally created as an easier way to transport sugar. In Venezuela it is an essential ingredient for many typical recipes, and in some parts of the country, its use displaces refined sugar as a more accessible, cheaper and healthier sweetener.

Claimed to be the world's largest rapadura, on display on a farm south-east of Fortaleza, Ceara. It took 19,800 kilograms of sugar cane to produce this more than 10 square meters large and 1,811 kilograms heavy block of pure sweetness.

In Panama it is also called raspadura, thought to derive from the words "raspar" (to scrape) and "duro" (hard), a reference to the way the hard sugar brick is shaven to produce usable shards for cooking. The local dialect often drops the letter "s", resulting in the word we hear as "ra'padura".

In Costa Rica it is called Tapa dulce because it is usually formed äs a cup.

When mixed with other ingredients such as peanuts, condensed milk, coconut, or white sugar, it produces a good number of locally marketed and consumed delicacies.

Rapadura is very rich in dietary iron.

[edit] Controversy

Despite the fact that rapadura is a very old foodstuff, predating even the colonisation of Brazil, a German company called Rapunzel has registered the name as a German trade mark DE 1143537, an event that has greatly angered Brazilians, as they see the name as a generic all-purpose word, like "lemonade" or "sandwich". Given the fact that there is a precedent (when Japanese Asahi Foods registered the name of the Brazilian fruit Cupuaçu as a trade mark) the Brazilian government is taking measures to prevent what it understands as "theft" of the Brazilian identity by "pirate" entrepreneurs (the term has not been used yet by the government but is commonplace even in the most moderate press, like Jornal do Brasil). Such measures will include previous registration of brands that ten years ago no one would consider registering, like "feijoada", "jabuticaba" or "churrasco". Some Brazilian individuals and companies are also trying to fight back by registering brands from the "offending" countries, like Sake and Shoyu (from Japan) or Sauerkraut (from Germany) in order to show the absurdity of accepting trade marks so generic.