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Mexican sweets


Darienne

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Paletas...a relative of helados and nieves. New from Fany Gerson, author of My Sweet Mexico

http://blogs.laweekly.com/squidink/2011/05/paletas_cookbook_review.php

Darienne, I don't make the zarza and coco, those are my 2 favorite flavors of nieves (very similar to gelato) and I usually order them together in the same cup.

Thanks for the information. I have a couple of recipes for paletas from Gerson's first book and might try some of them. I'll have to buy a popsicle mold but that won't be a problem. I imagine. I hope.

How do you pronounce her first name? as in Fanny? or as in Fane - y rhymes with rainy or Fawn - y rhymes with tawny?

I made the blackberry/coconut ice cream, Thai style. Way too sweet for both DH and me. And I added an extra tablespoon of lemon over and above. And added more blackberries which are not sweet as we can get them. Would cut down on the sugar next time. And the coconut cream I used, Savoy (out of all other coconut cream), was not as sweet tasting as some. Don't know anything about Thai desserts (wrong forum :biggrin: ) but perhaps they are sweeter than some cultures... Otherwise it is delectable. Am giving it away however...

Also...are your two flavors together or are they two separate ice creams?

Hooray! Just phoned the recipient of above ice cream to make sure she had freezer room and it turns out she has a set of popsicle molds which she has been going to recycle for years now and now they will be mine!

Edited by Darienne (log)

Darienne

 

learn, learn, learn...

 

We live in hope. 

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My favorite is passion fruit popsicles or icecream - amazing.

The Spanish name escapes me at the moment.

"You dont know everything in the world! You just know how to read!" -an ah-hah! moment for 6-yr old Miss O.

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My favorite is passion fruit popsicles or icecream - amazing.

The Spanish name escapes me at the moment.

Maracuya = Passionfruit

Which reminds me...I had an absolutely, stunningly good helado de maracuya (passionfruit ice cream) at Los Frailes de Taberna in Vallodolid back in February of this year. The restaurant opened in late 2009 and is almost entirely open-air. It sort of reminded me of a very upscale palapa, anyway, one whole wall that runs almost the length of a city block is covered with fruit bearing passionfruit vines (planted when the place opened). They're growing their own fruit and converting it into ice cream. It arrives at the table in a small sundae dish with 2 scoops of the maracuya ice cream, completely unadorned. Other than the spoon it really, really did not need anything else. The flavor was just etheral and the aroma heavenly.

Edited by kalypso (log)
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Taxo also = Passionfruit, and so does Granadilla.....

My personal fave is Helado de Taxo, which is made with equal parts of Taxo juice and cream, then frozen into popsicles. Soooo good......

I've always found Maracuya to be a bit strong and almost offensive in flavour unless it's combined with other fruits (like strawberry: so good that way!) - but then again I'm spoiled by the other varieties of passionfruit ice cream available to me. I'm also the only person I've ever met who will admit to loving lavender flavoured ice creams. :blink:

Elizabeth Campbell, baking 10,000 feet up at 1° South latitude.

My eG Food Blog (2011)My eG Foodblog (2012)

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Busy, busy. Made Fany Gerson's Helado de Aguacate. Different for sure. Ed ate his topped with salted peanuts and maple syrup. I did like it.

And then the Helado de Queso. And I did swirl some Dulce de Leche (shame! shame! Condensed milk in glass pan covered with foil in a bain marie baked in the oven for two hours.)

Gerson says: "The light granular texture of this tasty ice cream is what makes me love it so much". Hmmm. Well, Ed liked it very much, but I found the granular taste off-putting. Not going to be one of my favorites. Interesting tho...

Next in line: Helado de Elote, Raspado de Margarita and Paletas de Mango Enchilada. Wot larks! :biggrin:

Darienne

 

learn, learn, learn...

 

We live in hope. 

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Made some Tomatillo and Lime Jamfrom Pati's Mexican Table. Very delicious. I did not have any fresh tomatillos so used the same weight from the freezer where I had simply bagged the whole fresh tomatillos from a couple of months ago. (We cannot buy tomatillos where I live :sad: and it is only very recently that we have been able to buy poblanos [with fear that they will suddenly disappear.)

Darienne

 

learn, learn, learn...

 

We live in hope. 

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Darienne, would you like some Tomatillo seeds? They can be grown very successfully in pots up in the frozen north (I have a friend in London ON that does it), year-round.

That would be lovely. I haven't seen seeds here...which is not to say that they don't exist. Richter's sells only the plants and right now (today) the staff person said the place was a mess from shipping and she didn't know if they had any. Plus the Mexican Oregano will not be ready for two weeks at least.

And I have this lovely south-facing window in my studio in which I have grown many things before (in my own inept fashion...I am NOT a gardener...but I do have a growing Calamansi tree now).

I don't know about mailing seeds...the legality of it all. ??? But thanks.

Darienne

 

learn, learn, learn...

 

We live in hope. 

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100% legal, as I'm not shipping you enough seed for you to start your own nursery - small quantities of seed are exempt under both Ecuador's and Canada's trading laws under an heirloom preservation convention between the two countries. PM me! I can also send you tree tomatoes (must be tried to be believed!)

Elizabeth Campbell, baking 10,000 feet up at 1° South latitude.

My eG Food Blog (2011)My eG Foodblog (2012)

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Solanum betaceum. You see them less in Mexican cooking, but as soon as you cross the Panama canal, they're everywhere. The tree is native to Ecuador, and the fruit is used in both desserts and savoury sauces, as well as being a very popular juice. In fact, if you ask for a tomato (tomate) in the market here, this is what they'll hand you, and certainly if you order tomato juice this is what comes. If you want a "standard" red beefsteak tomato, you have to specify "tomate de riñon" and nobody can fathom why you might want the juice of those things....

TomatedeArbol-1.jpg

This is my absolute fave fruit for desserts - it's excellent stewed whole without its peel in a heavy cinnamon-anise panela syrup.

Elizabeth Campbell, baking 10,000 feet up at 1° South latitude.

My eG Food Blog (2011)My eG Foodblog (2012)

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A tree tomato. :raz: There are hints of regular tomato, but think of the cultivars that are sweet and subacid - more like a golden cherry tomato than, say, a Roma. Alongside that is a pleasant semitropical flavour reminiscent of sweet melon, and a flavour that can only be described as tree tomato, since nothing else tastes like it. The whole shebang makes for extremely good eating just sliced raw onto sandwiches, but generally the fruit is used either in sauces (I replace up to half of the regular Roma tomatoes with Tomate de Arbol in my red sauces) or as a juice (blanch, shock, peel, and toss in the blender with a bit of water.)

The things are incredibly pectin-y, which means that I never have to thicken any sauce I make with them. A friend of mine makes a dynamite jam from the red-seeded type.

Elizabeth Campbell, baking 10,000 feet up at 1° South latitude.

My eG Food Blog (2011)My eG Foodblog (2012)

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Racking my brains (and ye olde google), I find that in the US and Canada, tree tomatoes are sold as Tamarillos and usually come from New Zealand. They're coming an awful long way, though, and I recall that the ones I used to see in Canadian specialty markets were always pretty sad little fruits, all wizened and squishy.

Sorry for hijacking your thread, Darienne - on to more desserts!

Elizabeth Campbell, baking 10,000 feet up at 1° South latitude.

My eG Food Blog (2011)My eG Foodblog (2012)

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Racking my brains (and ye olde google), I find that in the US and Canada, tree tomatoes are sold as Tamarillos and usually come from New Zealand. They're coming an awful long way, though, and I recall that the ones I used to see in Canadian specialty markets were always pretty sad little fruits, all wizened and squishy.

Sorry for hijacking your thread, Darienne - on to more desserts!

Hijack away. It's all grist to the mill. And I have eaten said wizened and squishy Tamarillos this past winter, bought from Peterpatch's Super Store (aka Loblaws).

Anything you can add to the mix is most welcome. Thanks PanCan (sorry about that one :raz: ).

Edited by Darienne (log)

Darienne

 

learn, learn, learn...

 

We live in hope. 

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I must say, Darienne, you really are on quite the journey of discovery here. I cannot possibly tell you how much I admire your adventuresome spirit and curiosity, your persistence, enthusiasm and determination. In fact, you are positively inspiring. And you make me appreciate the abundance of foodstuffs I find all around me down here in Houston.

I'm following your adventures with a big smile on my face.

Thanks for taking us all along!

I don't understand why rappers have to hunch over while they stomp around the stage hollering.  It hurts my back to watch them. On the other hand, I've been thinking that perhaps I should start a rap group here at the Old Folks' Home.  Most of us already walk like that.

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I must say, Darienne, you really are on quite the journey of discovery here. I cannot possibly tell you how much I admire your adventuresome spirit and curiosity, your persistence, enthusiasm and determination. In fact, you are positively inspiring. And you make me appreciate the abundance of foodstuffs I find all around me down here in Houston.

I'm following your adventures with a big smile on my face.

Thanks for taking us all along!

Thanks for your kind words, Jaymes. And thanks to you and all the other regulars in the Mexican forum for being such great mentors to me. It has been great fun.

Darienne

 

learn, learn, learn...

 

We live in hope. 

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Now last week's Tomatillo-Lime Jam is filling for the latest crop of Empanadas for this morning's human (and dog) play date. Turned out very nicely for that purpose. I can guarantee that today's company will never have eaten Empanadas nor Tomatillo-Lime Jam.

P5150001.JPG

Darienne

 

learn, learn, learn...

 

We live in hope. 

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Those look great, I wish I had a couple of them right now with my morning coffee :smile:

Did you use the empanada dough from the Empanada de Jitomate recipe in Fany's book? I'm really enamored of that dough, it's so pliable, so forgiving, so delicious.

Quick answer: yes, I did use her dough.

Longer answer: I added one more tablespoon of sugar to the dough because the jam was quite tart and it made a nice contrast. I have very little experience baking much of anything and I found the dough excellent for a beginner to work with. Also I don't have a 4 - 5" cutter...my biggest is 3 1/2" so my empanadas are a bit smaller than they might be. But that's OK. You can have more. :smile:

I froze most of the first batch I made...the Jitomate filled ones...and we ate them slowly. The freezing part was fine. And so I'll freeze these also.

Darienne

 

learn, learn, learn...

 

We live in hope. 

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Alright... I am seriously considering buying this book... and I am not even the baker of the house!

I do have a couple of quarrels with the book...although I am willing to live with them.

Maybe not all books, but MY book is not well constructed and the back is beginning to break. It has that crinkly sort of noise when I open it that makes me think the glue is not holding.

Secondly, the instructions are not what you would call excellent for beginners. I still can't figure out how to fill and fold the Huachibolas and am going to ask one of my Mexican mentors for more detailed directions...but then maybe that's just me.

Otherwise, I am having a wonderful time with this book and am quite determined to make as many of the recipes as I possibly can. :wub:

Darienne

 

learn, learn, learn...

 

We live in hope. 

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I havne't had the same experience with the binding, but I agree with you on the instructions, some of them are not clear. I think I've noted that in a number of reviews I've done on the book, maybe not on this site, but on others, and I think it is an issue. I think that is more an indication of a poor editor who didn't understand the product than a problem with the recipes. I think the book is better for someone who has some baking experience or understands how baking recipes usually work.

The first time I make a recipe, I make it strictly as written so I can figure out what the authors intent was (or was supposed to be). So I made Fany's Pan de Muerto as written. I thought it was odd that it didn't call for the water in which the yeast was activated to be warm. The bread was delicious, in fact, I thought it was one of the better versions I've tried, but it was pretty clear early on I wasn't going to get the proofing out of the batch that I should have, which I attributed to not proofing the yeast in warm water. Then I moved on to the Huaciboles and sure enough, there were the directions for proofing the yeast in warm water and I got good rise out of them. To me a competent baking editor should have caught that and asked Fany to clarify.

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I havne't had the same experience with the binding, but I agree with you on the instructions, some of them are not clear. I think I've noted that in a number of reviews I've done on the book, maybe not on this site, but on others, and I think it is an issue. I think that is more an indication of a poor editor who didn't understand the product than a problem with the recipes. I think the book is better for someone who has some baking experience or understands how baking recipes usually work.

I would be interested in reading those reviews. I do like the book immensely and your point about the work of the editor is well taken.

Darienne

 

learn, learn, learn...

 

We live in hope. 

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