Brazil: countdown for Delícias do Vale do Café (Coffee Valley Delights)

Fall brings new attractions for those who plan to visit or return to the Coffee Valley.

From May 19 to 28, the 2nd edition of the Delights of the Coffee Valley Gastronomic Festival will take place.

Vale do Café (Coffee Valley) is the tourist denomination for 15 municipalities in the Paraíba do Sul Fluminense Valley region, located about 120 km from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

The event will bring together the following municipalities that make up the Coffee Valley:

Valença, Vassouras, Barra do Piraí, Piraí, Mendes, Engenheiro Paulo de Frontin, Miguel Pereira, Paty do Alferes, Paraíba do Sul, and Rio Claro, as well as the districts of Ipiabas and Conservatória.

More than 80 gastronomic establishments will participate in the festival, including coffee shops and restaurants, historic farms and producers from the Coffee Valley, and artisans.

What’s more: on two weekends (May 19 through May 21 and May 26 through May 28), the festival promotes the Delícias na Praça (Delicacies in the Plaza), an initiative held alternately at the Praça da Matriz in Conservatória, a district of Valença, and at the Vassouras Railway Station.

In the space, there will be gastronomical workshops, exhibitions, sales of products from the region, crafts, musical presentations, and the tasting of products/services from the sponsors. Delícias na Praça will also include a program of free shows.

The focus of the Delights of the Coffee Valley Gastronomic Festival program is to value regional gastronomy, which this year will highlight slow food, a grassroots movement organized in the network, represented in the region by the “Flavors of the Coffee Valley Route” community.

Each establishment will serve a recipe created exclusively for the event during the period.

The dishes will have fixed prices: appetizers, sandwiches, and desserts come at R$32 (US$6.5); appetizers at R$48 (US$9.7); and main courses, from R$65 to R$80 (US$13.1 to US$16.1).

HOMAGE TO CLEMENTINA DE JESUS

Born in Valença, the samba singer Clementina de Jesus will be honored by some of the establishments participating in the festival.

The Queen of Partido Alto, owner of an unmistakable, powerful, and ancestral voice, left a great legacy in rescuing traditional black songs and the popularization of samba.

During the Delícias do Vale do Café Gastronomic Festival, the public can taste some of the delicacies prepared to celebrate Clementina.

Camilla’s Kitchen is featuring the dessert “Ode to Quelé” – Entremet consisting of four layers: financier, pistachio ganache, strawberry mousse, and vanilla cheesecake, finished with strawberry glaze and vanilla buttercream.

Another sweet will be served at the Hotel Fazenda Rochedo with “Black Queen”, which refers to a crown.

The cake, in cocoa and cachaça dough, has a filling of white chocolate whipped cream with strawberry and a topping of white chocolate whipped cream with coffee.

Fazenda São Roque has prepared the dish “Quelé’s Chicken Broth,”: a traditional broth with rustic chicken the way the Queen of Samba liked to eat, inspired by the broth at the Nova Capela restaurant that the artist used to frequent in the Lapa neighborhood, in Rio de Janeiro.

And the restaurant Sanjão comes with the dish “Mamãe Quelé”, a fish and palm heart pupunha, served with fufu of yam and plantain, seasoned with peanuts, crowned with tilapia cracklings, and accompanied by honey pepper sauce.

The Gastronomic Festival Delights of the Coffee Valley has the educational partnership of Senac RJ, institutional support from Univassouras, support from Setur RJ, Secretaria de Agricultura RJ, Sebrae and Sicomercio, and sponsorship from BRVAL Electrical and Sol e Neve.

Also among the supporters are Viação Útil, APL do Café, Ascarj (Coffee Growers Association), C&VB-RJ Federation, Aciva (Valença Commercial Association), Aciav (Vassouras Commercial Association), Vale do Café C&VB, ABIH-RJ, Comtur Valença, Preservale, Movimento Valença 2030, ADR LIDER Vale Médio Paraíba, Citivale, Eucir Móveis, SEAL Alimentação, Cachaça Magnífica, Decoração AB Working, Solange Plantas, Maia Móveis, and city halls of the Coffee Valley municipalities.

Service:

• 2nd Edition of the Delights of the Coffee Valley Gastronomic Festival
• From May 19 to 28, 2023

Delights in the Square:

• Praça da Matriz – Conservatória: May 19 to 21 (Fri: 3 pm to 10 pm / Sat: 10 am to 10 pm / Sun: 10 am to 3:30 pm)
• Railroad Station – Vassouras: from May 26 to 28 (Fri: from 3 pm to 10 pm / Sat: from 10 am to 10 pm / Sun: from 10 am to 3:30 pm)
• Delícias do Vale do Café website

With information from Férias Brasil

News Brazil, English news Brazil, Brazilian gastronomy, Coffee Valley