The Cuban Guayaba Thing

I have always had a sweet tooth.  I’m a sucker for pastries and ice cream.   My favorite pastry of all time has been “pastel de guayaba.”  The Guayaba, or guava is not necessarily a Cuban Thing, it is a tropical fruit very popular in the Caribbean and Latin America and can be found in recipes of many Latin dishes.  In its many consistencies it can be made into juices and jams and is used for making pastries as well as ice cream.  Though I have not found any evidence to prove it, the guava pastry is Cuban and therefore is a “Cuban Guayaba Thing.”

My first encounter with a “pastel de guayaba” was as a young kid in New York City.  There was a Cuban bakery called “La Rosa” on 137th. Street and Broadway where my parents would buy their assortment of pastries, and Cuban bread.  I would rummage through the box of pastries and take as many “pastel de guayaba” as I was allowed.  As I grew older and in my teens my family moved to another section of New York where I became best friends with another Cuban kid whose parents owned another Cuban Bakery called “La Triana” on 179th. Street and St. Nicholas Avenue.

Needless to say I was in Cuban seventh heaven.  My Cuban friend, Emilio, would help his parents by working at the bakery everyday after school.  And while he worked behind the counter serving customers I would be nibbling on the “pasteles de guayaba.”  There are several ways to make the pasteles and they come in many different shapes.  My favorite are the ones with the flaky crust.  By hanging out at the bakery I would get them when they came right out of the oven.  Nothing beats a warm pastel de guayaba with an ice cold glass of milk… mmmmm.

Guava is also made into a solid paste called “dulce de guayaba,” which is very sweet and can be sliced into small pieces and served with white cheese.  I remember having it this way in Cuba when visiting my grandfather.  The family would gather around the dinning room table after dinner and my grandfather would slice the guayaba and the cheese for us to eat.

Now if you are looking for some interesting recipes using guava, there is a site that I found called My Big Fat Cuban Family which has a recipe book titled “Marta’s Cuban-American Kitchen.”  In it there are many authentic Cuban recipes including a turkey recipe with a sauce made with guava and port wine.  Marta Darby, the site blogger, is also starting a movement to make November National Guava Month. Amazon.com also has a Cuban cookbook available called “Memories Of A Cuban Kitchen,” where you may find some interesting recipes.

Guava has been cultivated around the Yayabero River in the province of Las Villas, Cuba for over two hundred years.  As a matter of fact there is a shirt that is very popular today that the farmers of the time designed to make their work easier.  They placed four pockets on the front panels of these shirts so they could carry the guava. They named the shirt Guayabera, which is a combination of the words guaya(ba) and (Yaya)bero.  So I guess that the guayaba is a Cuban Thing afterall.

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