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Dendê oil
azeite de dendê
Also called red palm oil, dendê, palm oil
Unrefined red palm oil — azeite de dendê — the colour and perfume of Bahian cooking. It is not industrial, deodorised palm fat, and not a neutral fry oil you can swap for sunflower.
Origin
West African oil-palm fruit became foundational in Bahia. Similar unrefined oils remain everyday fats on the West African coast; the Brazilian bottle is the one moqueca wants.
Flavour
Earthy, floral, a little smoke. Refined yellow palm oil tastes of almost nothing and will not do the same job.
How it is made
The fruit's oily mesocarp is cooked, pounded and pressed. The raw oil is deep red from carotenoids; refining strips colour and aroma.
How to use it
Finish moqueca and vatapá with it off a hard boil so the perfume stays. Heat it enough to bloom, not so long that it turns acrid. It is a seasoning oil as much as a cooking one. Olive oil or coconut milk can carry a stew; they will not impersonate dendê, and paprika will not fake the colour.
Storage
A cool cupboard, away from light. It may cloud in a cold kitchen; that is the fat, not spoilage. Rancid dendê smells waxy — bin it.
Recipes using it
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