Doce Seco: a delicacy from Seridó Norte Riograndense

Abstract

The candy making tradition in the Northeast started with the Portuguese' arrival in Brazil with their mission to plant sugar cane. With techniques and recipes brought by the colonizers and Africans, they were improved using sugar and hard sugar cane. Several candies are still made today, the doce seco from Seridó being one of them. The objective of this work is to present a survey about the doce seco, which is considered a delicacy in the Seridó region with the focus on the one made in the city of Caicó, in the state of Rio Grande do Norte to obtain information about its origin and techniques used during its preparation. Through a quality field survey, data with ethnographic principles was analyzed, making it possible to identify some of the portuguese sweets that could have influenced the doce seco, its confectioonersr, and the differences between the sweets and their ingredients. It is considered on the brink of extinction by its makers. This is confirmed by an online survey, where only 21% of 296 participants knew about it and the younger ones did not know about it or were interested in the procedure.