Pão de Queijo

Small round cheese breads from Minas Gerais: made from sour tapioca starch (polvilho azedo), milk, eggs, and grated cheese (typically queijo Minas, sometimes Parmesan or a mix), baked until the outside is crisp and the inside is hollow, chewy, and elastic from the tapioca. Served warm. Usually eaten as a snack or breakfast item, sometimes with coffee, and increasingly as an aperitif at the start of a Brazilian meal. The signature is the textural contrast: crisp shell, chewy hollow interior, and the salty, gently aged cheese flavour balanced by the gluten-free starch's faint sourness. Light to medium weight, not rich. The wine must honour the cheese without overwhelming the snack register and engage with the chewy textural character.