Goiabada Cascão

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Heavy 4-liter pot
• •Small pot for the seedy centers
• •Fine mesh sieve or food mill
• •Wooden spoon with a long handle
• •8 x 4 inch loaf pan
• •Parchment paper
• •Heatproof spatula

Instructions

1. 1

   Prepare the guavas

   Trim the ends from the guavas and cut each fruit into quarters. Scoop the seedy centers into a small pot, then chop the peel and flesh into small pieces, about 1/2 inch. Keep the peel. Cascão means the peel stays, and that peel is what gives every slice its little chewy bits instead of turning the sweet into a smooth factory block.

2. 2

   Extract the pulp

   Add 1 cup water to the pot with the seedy centers. Simmer over medium heat for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring and mashing, until the mixture looks soft, pink, and pulpy. Strain through a fine sieve, pressing hard with a spoon, then discard the seeds. You're not being precious here. The pulp and pectin help the goiabada set, but the seeds stay hard and annoying, and a gente is not cooking dental work.

3. 3

   Measure and sweeten

   Put the strained pulp and the chopped guava peel and flesh into a heavy pot. Measure what you have; you want about 4 cups. Add 3/4 cup sugar for each cup of guava mixture, then add the lime juice and salt. Stir until everything looks wet and grainy. The sugar pulls juice from the fruit, the lime brightens the flavor and helps the set, and the salt keeps the sweetness from going flat.

4. 4

   Start the cook

   Set the pot over medium heat and stir until the sugar melts and the mixture loosens into a thick sauce, about 8 minutes. When it starts bubbling steadily, lower the heat to medium-low. Keep it moving with a wooden spoon, especially across the bottom and corners. Sugar and fruit burn where the spoon doesn't reach, and burnt guava tastes bitter in a way no amount of pretending will fix.

   Use a long spoon and respect the pot. Hot guava paste spits, sticks, and burns. Stir calmly, keep your hand out of the splatter path, and don't let a child lean over the pan.
5. 5

   Cook to ponto

   Cook, stirring more often as it thickens, until the color deepens to dark red-brown and the paste falls from the spoon in heavy folds, 45 to 60 minutes. Drag the spoon across the bottom of the pot. When the paste pulls back and leaves a clean path that stays open for 2 to 3 seconds before slowly closing, you're there. This is the whole game. Stop too early and it won't slice. Push too far and it turns stiff and dry.

6. 6

   Mold and cool

   Lightly oil an 8 x 4 inch loaf pan and line it with parchment, leaving a little overhang. Scrape the hot goiabada into the pan and press it into the corners with a lightly oiled spatula. Smooth the top. It should sit thick and glossy, not run like jam. Let it cool uncovered until firm, at least 6 hours, or overnight if you have the good sense to go to bed and stop poking it.

7. 7

   Slice and serve

   Lift the block from the pan and slice it with a lightly oiled knife. Serve a small square with queijo Minas. The cheese should be pale, fresh, and a little salty, so the sweet guava has something honest to lean on. That's Romeu e Julieta, and it solves dessert after rice, beans, something green, and whatever you cooked in the middle of the plate.

Chef Tips

• •Buy guavas by smell, not by perfection. They should perfume your hand and give slightly when pressed. In much of Brazil they are best and cheapest from summer into autumn, but your feira knows better than my calendar. If the fruit is hard, green, and silent, cook something else.
• •Cascão means peel. Don't peel the guavas and then wonder where the texture went. The peel gives chew, the flesh gives body, and the seedy center gives pectin once you strain it properly.
• •A heavy pot matters more than a copper tacho in a home kitchen. Thin aluminum scorches fast, especially on a gas stove, and then the bottom tastes burnt before the top reaches ponto.
• •The honest shortcut: packaged unsweetened guava pulp can make a smooth goiabada. It will not make goiabada cascão, because the peel is missing. Use it when a Tuesday is a Tuesday, but name the cost.
• •Don't buy powdered guava flavor and call it the same thing. That's imitation food wearing a sweet little costume. Comida de verdade starts with the fruit, the pot, and your attention.

Advance Preparation

• •Goiabada cascão needs at least 6 hours to set before slicing, so make it the day before if you want clean pieces.
• •Wrapped tightly, it keeps for 2 weeks in the refrigerator. This home version is not a canning recipe, so don't store it on the shelf and act surprised later.
• •Freeze slices for up to 3 months, separated with parchment. Thaw in the refrigerator and serve with queijo Minas.
• •For batch cooking, double the recipe only if your pot is wide and heavy. A deeper pot takes longer to reduce and spits more, which is how people learn new words in the kitchen.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 slice (about 34g)