Biscoito de Polvilho - Story

Probably the word biscoito came to Portuguese language by the French term “biscuit”, but anyway the genesis is the Latin: bis (twice) + coctus (cooked). The word biscoito describes very well  the manufacturing process of this delicious product that involves scalding the starch (polvilho), this is the first cooking during the mixing of the ingredients and then after the  dough is formatted, goes to the second cooking when it is baked in the oven.
 
The word “polvilho”, which is the name of the main ingredient in the recipe, derives from the Latin “pulvis” and the Spanish “polvillo”, and means “very fine powder”.
 
The “polvilho” is a starch from the manioc or cassava root. In the artisanal process, made in flour houses, the starch comes out of grated and hydrated cassava. The grated cassava, mixed with water, is placed in a thin bag and allowed to drain. This exiting water, rich in starch, is the powder, a fine flour that easily decants in water. Any impurities go up in the decanter and can be removed, just the powder is left at the bottom after all the water comes out.
 
Two types of starch can be produced.  One is the sweet manioc flour that is only allowed to dry, and that’s it. The other, the sour cassava powder is fermented while wet and has that more accentuated sour flavour. We use sour starch to make our BrazilSnack. There are those who use both together.  The use of cassava starch is a Brazilian Indigenous heritage that we, happily and until today, enjoy.
 
The other ingredients to make the Biscoito de Polvilho are milk, water, oil, and egg. The VEGAN version does not include milk and egg. As soon as it is placed in the oven, the water starts to evaporate and the gases expand. That’s what makes the biscuit’s airy texture. At the end of baking, the cell walls of the dough form a crust on the outside of the biscuit preventing it from growing any further. So it gets to the final size.
 
It’s not clear who invented the recipe – just that it’s an old one. According to the historian Câmara Cascudo, in the 18th century, the cooks on the farms of Minas Gerais were already preparing biscoitos de polvilho to serve to the masters. We have not been able to confirm this statement in his two books that we have access to, History of Food in Brazil and Dictionary of Brazilian Folklore. Cascudo may include this explanation in another book, if you know please tell us.