Palm oil (dendê)

Books on Brazilian cuisine that are printed in North America often insist on using dendê or palm oil. Palm oil originates from Africa and is mainly used in the Northeast of Brazil where the cuisine is influenced most by African slaves. However, it is hard to find palm oil in the rest of Brazil so it can often be replaced by other types of cooking oil. In Minas Gerais it is only sold as a traditional medicine by pharmacists. Outside Brazil, it can often be bought in shops that sell African products.

Palm oil is produced by processing the seeds of the oil palm. This palm was brought to Brazil by the Portuguese. The Dutch transported 13 oil palms to the Dutch Indies. The descendants of these palms have spread over Asia. Today, Indonesia and Malaysia produce large quantities of palm oil that are used for food products (margarine, fried potatoes) as well as for non-food products (soap and bio fuel).

Palm oil is one of the few vegetable oils that contains saturated fat. For this reason, it is not as wholesome as other cooking oils.