Camote Poblano de Santa Clara

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Heavy copper cazo for candy work or a 4-quart stainless steel saucepan
• •Wooden paddle or sturdy wooden spoon
• •Potato ricer or food mill
• •Candy thermometer
• •Waxed paper or pastel cellophane wrappers
• •Puebla talavera platter for serving

Instructions

1. 1

   Cook the camotes

   Put the whole scrubbed camotes in a pot and cover them with water by two inches. Bring to a steady simmer and cook until a knife passes through the thickest part without resistance, 35 to 45 minutes depending on their size. Cook them whole, with the skin on. Cut pieces take on too much water, and watery camote makes candy that slumps instead of holding its shape.

2. 2

   Peel and puree

   Lift the camotes from the pot and save 1/2 cup of the cooking water. When they are cool enough to handle, peel them and pass the flesh through a potato ricer or food mill. You should have a smooth paste with no strings. Do not mash carelessly with a fork and call it finished. The candy remembers every fiber.

   If the camote is fibrous, press it through a fine-mesh sieve after the ricer. This is tedious. Convent candy is often tedious. That is why it was good.
3. 3

   Make the almibar

   Combine the 3 cups cane sugar, reserved camote water, canela, lime juice, and salt in a heavy cazo or stainless steel saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring only until the sugar dissolves. Let it bubble until it reaches hilo flojo, 223F to 225F, or until a drop between two fingers pulls into a thin thread when carefully cooled on a spoon first. This is almibar. Do not bring me corn syrup. The syrup is the technique.

4. 4

   Cook the paste

   Remove the canela. Add the camote puree to the almibar and lower the heat to medium-low. Stir constantly with a wooden paddle, scraping the bottom and corners, for 25 to 35 minutes. At first it looks loose and glossy. Then it thickens, turns satiny, and begins to pull away from the sides of the pot. Drag the spoon through the center. If the groove holds for a few seconds, it is ready. If it closes immediately, sigue moviendo. Keep stirring.

5. 5

   Flavor the portions

   Spread the hot paste on a lightly sugared tray and let it cool for 10 minutes. Divide it into three bowls. Mix orange essence into one, pineapple essence into the second, and strawberry essence into the third. Add only enough coloring to make soft Puebla dulceria colors: pink, pale yellow, mint green if you want a mixed tray. The old sweets were not neon. A few drops are enough.

   Do not add fruit puree. It sounds generous and it ruins the set. Use concentrated fruit essence, the way dulceras do, because it perfumes the paste without loosening it.
6. 6

   Shape the logs

   Dust your hands lightly with cane sugar. Take 2 tablespoons of paste and roll it into a short log, about 3 1/2 inches long and 1 inch thick. Keep the shape plain. This is not a pastry-school sculpture. It is the camote sold in Puebla, wrapped and carried home in paper.

7. 7

   Roll and dry

   Roll each log in the fine granulated cane sugar until the surface is evenly coated. Set the pieces on waxed paper or a parchment-lined tray with space between them. Let them dry at room temperature for at least 5 hours, or overnight if the kitchen is humid. The outside should feel set and lightly sandy from the sugar, while the inside stays dense and tender.

8. 8

   Wrap and serve

   Wrap each camote in pastel waxed paper or cellophane, twisting the ends closed. Serve them on a Puebla talavera platter, not stacked in a plastic tub like hardware. They keep well because sugar is doing its work. Recetas probadas y garantizadas.

Chef Tips

• •Use camote amarillo or orange-fleshed sweet potato with dense flesh. Watery sweet potatoes make a loose paste. If the market camotes feel light for their size or have bruised spots, leave them there. Si no conoces el mercado, no conoces la cocina.
• •The fruit essence must be concentrated. Naranja, pina, fresa, limon, those are the dulceria flavors. Fruit juice and fruit puree are not generous substitutions. They bring water, and water is the enemy of a clean set.
• •Do not substitute corn syrup for the almibar and do not turn this into a condensed milk candy. Puebla has plenty of milk sweets, but this is not one of them. The sweet potato, cane sugar, and slow stirring are the inheritance.
• •Keep the colors soft. The Puebla dulceria tradition is pink, mint green, pale yellow, sometimes plain orange. If your candy looks like a plastic toy, you did too much.
• •A copper cazo is beautiful and traditional for sugar work, but a heavy stainless steel pot is practical and safer for most home cooks. What matters is even heat and constant stirring.

Advance Preparation

• •The camotes can be boiled, peeled, and riced one day ahead. Refrigerate the puree tightly covered, then bring it to room temperature before adding it to the almibar.
• •The finished camotes need at least 5 hours of drying time before wrapping. Overnight is better in a humid kitchen.
• •Wrapped camotes keep at room temperature in an airtight tin for 5 to 7 days. Refrigeration makes the sugar sweat, so avoid it unless your kitchen is very hot.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 65g)