Brasília, 4/12/2004 (Agência Brasil) - Chocolate eggs long ago substituted real eggs in Brazilian Easter celebrations. Now another change is underway as tropical fruit flavors from the Amazon rainforest begin to substitute the traditional flavor of cacau. Nowadays it is common to find eggs with a taste of cupuaçu (which is actually a member of the cacau family), açai and cashew.

In fact, the Brazilian Farm Research Corporation (Embrapa) has patented a cacau substitute based on cupuaçu, known as cupulate, which looks and tastes like chocolate. And like chocolate, it can be made as a powder, milk chocolate, white chocolate or bitter chocolate. Cupuaçu can also be used a a pulp to make a chocolate-type drink.

"Cupuaçu is cheaper than cacau. It is a new product that is just entering the market," explains Eugenio Vacaro, who heads an agricultural association project in Rondonia that grows cupuaçu on 1,500 hectares that are owned by 300 small farmers. (Translator: Allen Bennett)