Doces e geléias - Portal do Professor - Ministério da Educação

Community Learns to Process Tamarinds
At the Federal Technology Education Center
(Cefet) in Petrolina, Pernambuco, professors in
the food technology course foster social and
economic development to encourage the use of
the natural resources that exist in the region.
The inhabitants of Caboclo, a hamlet about 120
km from Petrolina, are some of the beneficiaries
of the initiative. The centenary fruit trees located
in the center of the hamlet witnessed the
location’s birth and growth, but the population
takes very little advantage of them, as well as
those produced by the tamarind trees growing
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on several plots in the surrounding area. In order
to change this situation, every year a group of
teachers and students give classes about how to
process the tamarind.
According to Maria Eugênia, a member of the
group, the purpose is to teach the people how to
make better use of the fruit, both for consumption
and for sale. “We’ve developed recipes at the
school and later taught them in a simple way to the
community. The idea is that they could make these
tamarind sweets, jellies, ice creams, beverages and
sauces in their homes,” she explains.