Rapadura (Portuguese: [ʁapaˈduɾɐ], Spanish: [rapaˈðuɾa]; also known in Spanish as panela, papelón, piloncillo, panocha, raspadura, atado dulce, tapa de dulce or empanizao) is the Portuguese and Spanish name for a form of sugarcane juice, used as a sweetener or as a candy, common in Latin American countries such as Brazil, Argentina and Venezuela (where it is known as papelón) and the Caribbean. It is 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, it is used in place of refined sugar as a more accessible, cheaper and healthier sweetener.
In Panama, it is called raspadura, thought to derive from the words raspar (to scrape) and duro (hard), a reference to the way the hard sugar brick is shaved 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 as 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.
Despite the fact that rapadura is a very old foodstuff, predating even the colonization of Brazil, a German company called Rapunzel has registered the name as a German trademark 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 there is a precedent (when Japanese Asahi Foods registered the name of the Brazilian fruit cupuaçu as a trademark), 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, such as Jornal do Brasil). Such measures would include registering brands that previously had not been considered for registering, such as feijoada, jabuticaba or churrasco. Some Brazilian individuals and companies are also attempting to counter these moves by registering brands from the "offending" countries, such as sake and shoyu (from Japan) or Sauerkraut (from Germany) to point out the absurdity of accepting generic foods as trademarks.
As of February 2009, Rapunzel has removed the Rapadura name from their unrefined and unbleached, whole cane sugar product sold in health food stores, though their website has not yet been updated to reflect this.