Tag Archives: guava

Guava Puree

10 Sep

I love guavas… I love guava paste… It’s part of the Puerto Rican/Cuban culinary DNA.

We used to have a guava tree behind our first house and I loved to eat fresh guavas right from the tree. Some are sweet… some are sweeter. But it’s definitely a fruit that represents me and my childhood.

You need to be careful when eating fresh guavas… you can’t chew on the pulp too much. Just a bit to puree the pulp in your mouth and swallow. Why?? Guavas have these little pesky seeds. These seeds are small enough that will remain almost untouched by the blade of a blender yet large enough to threaten to crack a molar of any adult if you bite into one.

This was not a concern when I was little, but after experiencing a few not so positive experiences with cracked molars, we protect our teeth as much as possible. Besides… the seeds taste like nothing. We can certainly get rid of them before any damage is done.

GUAVA PUREE

Guavas, peeled and cut
Water

It is important when you peel and cut the guavas to look out of the fruit has any holes in it. If it does, it is very likely that guava may have one or a few little worms inside. Don’t be squeamish… this is all part of dealing with fresh guavas.

Just cut the guavas and inspect them a bit around the part where the seeds are. If there are worms, they will be moving… just remove them carefully and place them in a piece of paper towel. I may be creating bad karma for myself, but I kill them by squishing them in the paper towel. You may want to dispose of them in a different way… that’s entirely up to you.

  1. All you need to do is place the guava pieces into a blender with some water. I do not measure the water… but the more water you add, the looser the puree will be.
  2. After you process the guavas for a few minutes in the blender, you can strain it thru a sieve. The guava puree will go thru and the guava seeds will remain on the sieve.

Store the guava puree in a pourable container so you can use it in your favorite drinks or recipes.

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Guava-Piña Cranberry Jam

3 Dec

I wanted to try a few different variations on cranberry sauce… I have relied on my true and tried recipe here for quite some time. It’s been a staple of Xmas for a few years and I’ve had friends and family request it for Thanksgiving and Xmas pretty often.

But I wanted to see if I could give it a more Caribbean twist… something I could put my Latin stamp on. Inspiration comes from many places and Guava-Piña is a fruit combination very popular in Puerto Rico. We happened to have frozen pulp in the freezer, left over from our Guava Fizzy Drink creation earlier and the fresh pineapples from The Boys are extremely sweet and juicy.

Would the flavors the Caribbean go well with the tart northern American cranberry flavors? Check it out for yourself…

 

GUAVA-PIÑA CRANBERRY JAM

1 12 oz. bag of fresh cranberries
1 cup water
¼ cup guava pulp, defrosted
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup fresh pineapple, cut into small pieces about ¼” thick

 

  1.  Wash the cranberries.  Go thru them and throw away all the ones that have gone soft.
  2. Place the cranberries, water, guava pulp and sugar in a large heavy saucepan.
  3. Bring mixture to a boil.  I cover it so it comes to a boil faster, but watch it, because it can boil over.  After it starts boiling, uncover, reduce heat and simmer for about 15 minutes.  The cranberries will begin to pop on their own.  Stir it every few minutes, and as you stir, pop the cranberries that might be still whole.  It’s the pectin inside the cranberries that helps the sauce thicken.
  4. After the cranberries are cooked, remove from heat and mix in the pieces of pineapple.  Let cool.  Be careful, the mixture is VERY HOT and could burn you.
  5. Transfer to smaller jars or plastic bowls.

 

It’s nice because you can actually taste the guava and the pineapple pieces in the sauce.  The flavors do not get masked with the tartness of the cranberries.  This is awesome to serve over pancakes, over vanilla ice cream or to just eat over crackers…

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Passion Fruit/Guava Fizzy Drink

20 Oct

I wanted to serve a signature drink for my sister’s baby shower…  she couldn’t drink anything with alcohol and the room we were having the activity didn’t allowed it either.  It gave me the perfect situation to serve a non-alcoholic punch that would be enjoyed by everyone.

I have made a version of this drink using champagne…  I served it at my friend’s bridal shower.  So this is an updated version using frozen fruit pulp, as opposed to frozen fruit juice.  You can find frozen fruit pulp in almost any supermarket in Puerto Rico and also in Southern Florida, where the shower was held.

 

 

PASSION FRUIT / GUAVA FIZZY DRINK

2 passion fruit pulp – defrosted
1 guava pulp – defrosted
½ cups brown sugar simple syrup
About 50 oz natural ginger ale – between 4-5 cans or bottles
1 cup of fresh strawberries, sliced

 

  1. In a large punch bowl mix together the defrosted fruit pulps, the simple syrup, ginger ale and fresh strawberries. 
  2. Add the ginger ale slowly because it will create lots of fizz.  If you find it makes too many bubbles, just skim them using a large spoon.
  3. Add ice to keep the mixture cold for guests.

 

 

If you want to make this ahead for a party, this is how I made it.

  1. I mixed the fruit pulps with the simple syrup to create kind of like a fruit juice concentrate. 
  2. I sliced the strawberries and froze them in individual layers divided by parchment paper.
  3. At the party, I mixed together the juice concentrate with the ginger ale and added the frozen strawberries last.  Add ice to keep the mixture cold.

 

If you want to make individual drinks, just add fruit concentrate in a tall glass, add ginger ale to taste and add ice as needed.   You could also mix with water and it will taste fine too.

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