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Mexican Lifestyles Food & Dining HAVING FUN WITH PITAYAS
Mexican Lifestyles Food & Dining HAVING FUN WITH PITAYAS | HAVING FUN WITH PITAYAS |
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| Written by Meredith Mandell | |
| Saturday, 29 April 2006 | |
 'Luscious pitayas are covered in alfalfa sprout to preserve their freshness.' - Photo By M. Mandell (Pitaya Ice Cream) Ingredients 8 pitayas a liter and a half of water juice of a lemon sugar to taste about 10-15 kilos of ice salt METHOD: This recipe is made much easier with an ice cream maker. Dissolve the sugar in water and add lemon juice. Squeeze the pitayas or pound them by hand until a homogenous liquid is formed. Later mix the liquid with the sugar water. Pour the mixture into an ice cream bucket and proceed with the same methods you would use to make whatever type of ice cream. If you don't have a special ice cream maker or bucket you can improvise. For example, find a metal bucket and a larger plastic bucket. Put large amounts of ice and salt in one bucket and then the pitaya liquid in the smaller metal bucket. Turn the metal bucket fast for 20 minutes until the liquid solidifies (it is hard work and not for the faint-hearted). Agua Fresca (Pitaya Water) Ingredients (for 25 liters) 50 hard pitayas juice from 15 limes sugar to taste five lemons (cut into slices) water and ice METHOD: Pound the liquid from the pitayas or put the pitayas in a blender with the limejuice. Add the sugar to the water, leaving the exact amount of sugar up to personal taste. Add ice and add the slices of lemon. Pan de Pitaya (Pitaya Bread) Ingredients three large pitayas one cup of sugar one cup of wheat flour one and a half teaspoon of royal yeast two eggs 125 grams (4 ounces) of butter METHOD: Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Blend the Pitayas and let the liquid sit. In a bowl, soften the butter with sugar and beat it (preferably with an electrical beater) until the substance bubbles. Add the eggs and the liquefied pitayas, and continue to to beat. In a separate bowl mix the flour and the yeast. Combine the two substances and knead the bread until there are no bubbles in the dough. Grease and dust the bread pans with flour. Bake for 15-20 minutes. Mermelada de Pitaya (Pitaya Marmalade) Ingredients (for a kilo of fruit) a kilo of clean fruit 650 grams of sugar juice from two limes oranges (optional) METHOD: The basic recipe for making any marmalade applies to the pitayas. Make sure to use only one type of variety in the marmalade. With the fruits clean, cut them into chunks. Mix the pieces with sugar and lime juice. Boil the pieces for about thirty minutes, stirring periodically with a wooden spoon until they have the consistency of marmalade. While boiling, the pitayas release a slimy substance that will concentrate at the top of the pot. This substance should be removed with a spoon. To make the marmalade softer, add oranges making sure they are in proportion to every pitaya in a 1:1 ratio. The oranges should be added without the peel, seeds or rind. The marmalade can last up to a year if conserved properly. The jars and tops used should be boiled for five minutes beforehand. Fill jars with marmalade leaving an inch at the top of the jar empty. Cover the filled jars immediately while they are hot and then label when they are cool. Store in a cool, dry place. Ponche de Pitay (Pitaya Punch) Ingredients (for one liter) 30 Pitayas half a liter of Mezcal sugar to taste METHOD: Mash the pitayas and put them in a bowl of Mezcal. Add the sugar and leave the mixture to sit for a while. Strain the mixture in a colander and serve or bottle with airtight tops. Source of recipes: Raquel Ibanez Lara, and Ruben Paez Kano. Las Pitayas Nuestras. Mexico City: PACMYC, 1998. |
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