Dulce de Papaya

Yucatán's half-ripe papaya simmered for hours in a cinnamon syrup until it turns translucent and amber, served cold with cubes of Edam

Origin: Mérida & the Yucatán Peninsula

From the journey of Papaya.

The papaya is at home here. Carica papaya was domesticated in the lowlands of southern Mexico and Central America, where the wild form still grows with fruit no bigger than a plum, and Yucatec Maya calls it put. What the peninsula does with it, beyond eating it cold for breakfast with a squeeze of lime, is candy it. Dulce de papaya belongs to the peninsula's long shelf of dulces en almíbar, fruit taken slowly into syrup until it keeps: the same treatment is given to ciruela, nance, coconut, and the green papaya's cousin the chayote. The fruit is used half ripe, when it is firm enough to hold its shape, soaked first in alkaline water so the pieces stay whole, then left barely to move in a syrup of sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla for an hour and a half without stirring. It comes out glassy, deep amber at the edges, and so sweet that it wants salt beside it. Which is why it is served with cheese, and why the cheese is Dutch. Yucatán was supplied by sea rather than overland for most of its history, and the ships that called at Sisal and Progreso brought Edam in its red wax shell; the peninsula took to it so thoroughly that queso de bola became a local ingredient, stuffed and baked as queso relleno and cubed alongside the sweets. A dish of candied papaya with Edam on the side is a plate on which the native fruit and the imported cheese have been keeping company for a couple of centuries.

Ingredients

Papaya

1.5 kg half-ripe papaya (firm, just turning from green to yellow), peeled, seeded, and cut into 5 cm pieces
3 tbsp bicarbonate of soda
2 l cold water

Syrup

700 g granulated sugar
500 ml water
2 cinnamon sticks
2 tsp vanilla extract
4 fig leaves, if you have them

To Serve

150 g Edam cheese, cut into small cubes

Method

Dissolve the bicarbonate of soda in the cold water and soak the papaya pieces in it for an hour. Drain and rinse them very well under running water.
Put the sugar, water, cinnamon, vanilla, and fig leaves into a wide heavy pan and bring to a simmer, stirring until the sugar dissolves.
Slide in the papaya, cover, and cook over the lowest heat for about an hour and a half, until the pieces are translucent and the syrup has thickened. Do not stir.
Take off the heat and leave the papaya to cool completely in its syrup, then chill.
Serve cold in a little of the syrup, with cubes of Edam alongside.

Notes

Use a papaya that has begun to colour but is still hard. A fully ripe one will collapse. Fig leaves are traditional across the Spanish Caribbean for this kind of syrup and give a faint coconut and almond scent. Leave them out rather than substitute.

The Gastrographer

Name: Dulce de Papaya
Prep time: 1 h 15 min
Cook time: 1 h 30 min
Total time: 2 h 45 min
Yield: 8
Cuisine: Mérida & the Yucatán Peninsula
Ingredients: 1.5 kg half-ripe papaya (firm, just turning from green to yellow), peeled, seeded, and cut into 5 cm pieces; 3 tbsp bicarbonate of soda; 2 l cold water; 700 g granulated sugar; 500 ml water; 2 cinnamon sticks; 2 tsp vanilla extract; 4 fig leaves, if you have them; 150 g Edam cheese, cut into small cubes

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Journey Point Map Key

Ingredient originTrade or transit route

Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control