Re: [CH] Paint the town---er----whatever

lukasz (lukasz@midcoast.com.au)
Mon, 01 Feb 1999 21:19:06 +1100 

"Andrea L. Paysinger" wrote:
 The following is a bit of work. 
 Luke in Oz: 
 has been mulling this old recipe over as well.
This is also a bit of work. 

Mexican Guava Paste - With (Habs)- my bent mind at work again...
( of course it's untried with Habs but it should work as it's just basic
reduction.) I made something quite similar to this with Quinces in my
Greek phase...(thinking here and deciding to rephrase this). When I was
cooking and eating Greek food...... 
Makes about 3 cups 

2 kg guavas
lemon juice - fresh, not realemon(tm)
sugar
3-4 red Habs - less for the students, more for the masters.
   
Peel the guavas, cut into halves and remove the seeds, then chop
roughly. Put into a large, heavy saucepan with 1+1/2 cups of water.
Bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer about 35 minutes, or until very
soft. Towards the end of cooking time, mash with a fork..
(With about 5 minutes ago I would put the seeded Habs in)!
Drain and rub the fruit through a sieve. Weigh the Puree and place in
the rinsed and dried saucepan with an equal weight of sugar and 2
tablespoons of lemon juice for each 500g of fruit. Stir over low heat,
then increase heat and boil rapidly until the mixture becomes very
thick, candies and turns red. As the mixture thickens, stir with a
wooden spoon to keep from burning. The paste is ready when you can
barely push a spoon through it. Turn into a dish and smooth the top. Dry
out for about 12 hours in sunshine or a warm place. (An oven set on its
lowest temperature can be used.) The paste is ready when it can be cut
with a hot knife into firm slices. 
Serve with bread and a white goat or sheep milk cheese or cut into
squares, or sprinkle with icing sugar and serve as a sweet. 
Now that's positively an evil thought.....

The basic guava recipe is authentic Mexican, the habs are the result of 
boredom on my part, and the posting comes from my knowing where a couple
of unguarded guava trees are.. 
Has anybody made a sauce with Guava's ???
                                       Luke in Oz