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Type Dumpling
Place of origin Brazil
Region or state Nordeste, Goiás, Minas Gerais
Serving temperature Warm
Main ingredients Ground sweet corn, sugar.
Similar dishes Tamales, humitas

Pamonha (Portuguese pronunciation: [pɐˈmoɲɐ]) is a traditional Brazilian food. It is a paste made from sweet corn, boiled wrapped in corn husks. Variations may include coconut milk. Pamonha can be savoury or sweet. If savoury, they can be filled with cheese, sausage, minced meat, minced chicken or peppers. If sweet, ground coconut pulp is a common addition when there is one, but the overwhelming majority is served plain.

It is associated with Festa Junina winter celebrations (these that themselves descend from the European Midsummer).

The name pamonha comes from Old Tupi language pa'muña meaning "sticky".

Other meanings[edit]

In Brazilian slang, the word 'pamonha' is also used as a pejorative meaning "lazy" or "foolish".[1]

See also[edit]


  1. ^ "Significado de Pamonha, dicionário de português" [Meaning of Pamonha, Portuguese dictionary]. Dicionário do Aurélio Online - Dicionário da Lingua Portuguesa (in Portuguese). Retrieved 2013-10-22. 
  • Pamonha in the Portuguese Wikipedia
  • "O sabor junino". Jornal Revelação On-line (in Portuguese). Curso de Comunicação Social/Universidade de Uberaba.