Brazilian corn pudding, curau de milho, is an easy and tasty dessert made with just three ingredients. It’s a little like a pudding or custard but with a warm yellow color and flavor from the corn.

When you think of corn, you might initially think of corn on the cob or popcorn, but there are, in fact, many ways to use this popular and versatile crop.

Corn: an ancient crop

Corn was first cultivated over 9000 years ago in what is now Mexico and spread to other parts of the Americas. After colonization, the crop was brought back to Europe. It has spread to elsewhere around the world from there.

While some yellow and white varieties are the most popular for eating, corn also comes in other colors including blue, red and black. As well as eating it as it is, various varieties of corn can be made into flour, used as cattle feed, or distilled and made into biofuel.

Brazil is now the third largest producer of corn in the world with the amount produced increasing in recent years. While it may not be as dominant in their cuisine as in Mexico, you’ll still find it in a number of traditional Brazilian dishes, including this dessert.

This dish, along with some other corn dishes, are popular during Festa Junina, “June Party” or festivities, which are celebrated around the country, sometimes for the whole month but especially towards the end of June.

What is Festa Junina?

Festa Junina is effectively a celebration covering a number of prominent saints’ days that fall in June, particularly Sao Joao (Saint John) who is celebrated on 24th.

If you are familiar with Spanish culture, you may know Saint John’s day is also a big celebration in Spain, with bonfires and sardines on the beach.

It’s also a big festival in Porto in Portugal.

The Brazilian festival also has its roots in pagan midsummer festivities that were brought by the Portuguese colonists to the country, and adapted to midwinter as it is there, being the Southern Hemisphere.

Festa Junina traditionally celebrates the end of the rainy season, harvest time, and a general celebration of rural life. Given this, it’s probably no surprise that food is a big part of the celebrations, along with dances, costumes and games.

Many of the traditional festival foods are snack-like or include seasonal crops like corn.

Popular dishes include hot dogs, corn on the cob, popcorn, pamonha (a kind of corn cake cooked in the husk, either sweet or savory), quentão (a kind of mulled wine made with cachaça, Brazil’s national rum-like spirit), cocada (a coconut candy) pé-de-moleque (peanut brittle) and paçoca (a soft peanut candy).

You’ll also find favorites like pao de queijo (cheese bread) and brigadeiros (Brazilian truffles).

Making Brazilian corn pudding

You’ll find a few variations in this corn pudding, which also goes by different names in different regions.

It’s usually called curau de milho in Rio, but canjica in the northeast. (In most parts of the country, canjica is a hominy pudding that is also popular for Festa Junina).

Traditionally, you would have grated the corn from the husks to make this dish, but now it is more typical to use a food processor to break up the corn with the milk. You then strain the mixture to get all the flavor and starch out, while removing the solids.

Some recipes use sweetened condensed milk to form part or all of the sweetener, as well as part of the liquid. It can also help speed up the cooking if you are making a larger batch.

But, traditional recipes seem to just make this with corn, milk and sugar, as we used here.

What kind of corn to use for corn pudding?

Some corn puddings, like this West African corn pudding, use dried corn or cornmeal. And other recipes, like this Southern corn pudding from the States, can use fresh or frozen because they add in a thickener.

For this Brazilian corn pudding however, you ideally want to use fresh corn straight off the cob.

In a pinch, you can use canned or frozen corn, but generally these have lost some of their starch during processing. As a result, they won’t thicken as well when cooked.

If using canned or frozen corn, you may find you need to add a little corn starch to help the thickening along.

How to serve corn pudding

You can eat this Brazilian corn pudding either warm or chilled.

It is a little like warm custard when warm and more like a pudding when chilled.

I think the flavor is probably a bit stronger when chilled and more mellow warm, but that may just be my perception.

Either way, curau de milho is an easy and comforting treat.

It’s sweet and creamy with a warm corn flavor. It’s a classic for Festa Junina, but really tasty enough to enjoy whenever you get hold of some good fresh corn.

 

Yield: 4 servings

Curau de Milho (Brazilian Corn Pudding)

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Brazilian corn pudding, curau de milho, is an easy and tasty dessert made with just three ingredients. It’s a little like a pudding or custard but with a warm yellow color and flavor from the corn.

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes

Total Time 40 minutes

Ingredients

• 3 cups fresh corn (cut from 2 - 3 ears of corn, depending on size)
• 2 cups whole milk
• 1 pinch salt
• 1/2 cup sugar
• Cinnamon, to serve

Instructions

1. Cut the kernels from the ears of corn and measure them out. As well as the main kernels, you can scrape the husk with the back of a knife to get all the last little bits out (this part often has more of the starch that helps the pudding to thicken).
2. Place the corn in a blender with the milk and blend until smooth.
3. Strain the solids out of this mixture by pouring the corn milk through a strainer or colander lined with cheesecloth, a little at a time so it doesn't overflow. Stir and press the corn solids so that you get as much liquid from them as possible. When you have most of the liquid out, gather together the corners of the cheesecloth and squeeze well to get as much liquid out as possible. (You can also just use a fine strainer, but it is easier to squeeze all the liquid out using the cheesecloth.)
4. Place the strained corn milk into a wide, relatively large pot with the sugar. Stir to help the sugar dissolve. Place the pot over a medium heat and bring the mixture to a simmer, stirring to dissolve the sugar.
5. Simmer the mixture for around 15-20 minutes, stirring regularly at first, then continuously towards the end to prevent the mixture sticking and burning on the bottom, until the mixture thickens to the consistency of a semi-thick custard or pudding.
6. Divide the mixture between individual dishes and serve warm, or refrigerate and serve chilled. Either way, topped with a sprinkle of cinnamon.
   

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

4

Serving Size:

1/4 of recipe
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 280