RECIPE - Crystalized Papaya (Mamão Cristalizado)

In previous posts on Flavors of Brazil, we've discussed how Brazilian servants, cooks and housewives dealt with the problem of overabundance of fruit in the days before electric refrigeration. In colonial Brazil electric refrigeration didn't exist and indeed up to the middle of the 20th century most Brazilian households didn't have a fridge or a freezer. So when one fruit or another was in season and there was a Biblical-scale abundance of fruit on the vine, in the tree or on the bush, the cook's problem was how to preserve the fruit so it could be enjoyed later in the year.

The most common ways to preserve fruits were either to boil and can them in a sugar syrup or to process them into jams and jellies. There was a third alternative, however. As with conserves and jams, this technique relied on the preservative properties of sugar to prevent the fruit from spoiling and allow it to be stored at room temperature. But in this case, in the process known as crystalization, the fruit was cooked in a sugar syrup, but then it was drained, partially dried and rolled in granulated sugar before it stored.

The crystalization process is not unique to Brazil. It's a traditional preserving technique that is used in many cultures, and was brought to Brazil by the Portuguese. The most common example of the technique in northern hemisphere cultures might be the production of crystalized ginger (sometimes called candied ginger).

In Brazil, the technique is applied to many varieties of fruits, such as pineapple, mango, fig and especially papaya. This recipe for crystalized papaya comes from the central state of Goiás, but similar recipes can be found in traditional kitchens almost everywhere in Brazil.
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RECIPE - Crystalized Papaya (Mamão Cristalizado)

2 lbs (1 kb) not-overly-ripe papaya, seeded, peeled and cut into bite-sized pieces
1 tsp baking soda (bicarbonate of soda)
3 cups granulated white sugar
2 cups water
3 cups granulated white sugar
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In a large saucepan combine the pieces of papaya with water to cover and add the baking soda. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. When at a rolling boil, turn off the heat, remove the pan from the stove and let the papaya cool in the water for 24 hours. The next day, drain off the water, add fresh water to cover and bring to the boil again. Remove the papaya pieces to a sieve with a slotted spoon and let drain thoroughly. Reserve.

To make the syrup heat the 2 cups water and the 3 cups sugar in another saucepan until the sugar is completely dissolved and the syrup is simmering. Add the reserved papaya and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool, leaving the papaya in the syrup, for 24 hours. The next day, bring the papaya and syrup gently to a slow boil and cook until the syrup has thickened considerable. Remove the papaya into a sieve and let drain thoroughly.

While the papaya is draining, spread 3 cups sugar in a shallow serving platter. When the papaya is drained but still warm and moist, roll it in the sugar, making sure that each piece is completely covered with sugar. Let the papaya cool in the sugar, mixing gently from time to time, for 24 hours.

Remove the papaya from the sugar and store in airtight containers until ready to eat.

Recipe translated and adapted from Cozinha Regional Brasileira by Abril Editora.

RECIPE - Green Papaya Conserve (Doce de Mamão Verde)

Just like the cooks of Southeast Asia, Brazilian cooks often take advantage of the abundance of papaya (mamão) available to them to create dishes that employ the fruit in its green, or unripe, state. One of the classic preparations of Thai cooking is Som Tum, a spectacularly delicious (and usually spectacularly hot) green papaya salad. Green papayas can also be found in recipes from Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. When unripe, papayas are not sweet nor have they developed their interior colors - the seeds and the flesh are white; only later do the seeds become glossy charcoal-grey pearls and the flesh turn sunset orange or yellow. Because the natural sugars have not yet developed in green papayas, Asian cooks tend to make savory dishes from them. In contrast, Brazilian cooks normally use unripe papayas in the creation of sweets and desserts, adding sweetness from other sources. (Look here for a savory dish from Brazil that does use green papaya.)

One of the most traditional categories of Brazilian sweets or desserts is called simple doces, which literally means "sweets." A doce is made by cooking fruit for a very long time in a sugar syrup. During the process the sweet syrup completely penetrates the flesh of the fruit, and the syrup itself thickens as it evaporates. During colonial times doces were a practical and economical solution to the problem of how to preserve a bounteous harvest of fruit at a time when there was no refrigeration. Sugar is a natural preservative, and by preserving fruits in syrup these fruits would remain available throughout the year. Today, of course, refrigeration and freezing are alternative possibilities for preserving fruits, but Brazilians have developed a taste for these homemade preserves and they are still popular as desserts.

This recipe, from São Paulo state, incorporates grated green papaya flesh in just such a sugar syrup to create Doce de Mamão Verde. Green papayas are commonly available here in Brazil, but I've also seen them available in Latin and Asian markets in North America and Europe. This dessert can be served chilled or at room temperature - as is, or with a drizzle of heavy cream or coconut milk.
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RECIPE - Green Papaya Conserve (Doce de Mamão Verde)
serves 6

3 small, Hawaiian papayas, or 1 large papaya, very green
3 cups white granulated sugar
6 cups water
5 cloves
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With a sharp paring knife, score the papayas in the long direction in order to extract the sap or milk of the flesh. Place on large platter or cookie sheet and let rest for at least two hours. Thoroughly wash the papaya to remove all the sap, dry, and then peel them using a vegetable parer. Cut the peeled papaya in half, remove the white seeds, and then coarsely grate the flesh using the large holes of a grater. Wash the grated pulp in cold water, then squeeze to remove excess moisture.

Put the grated pulp in a medium saucepan, cover with cold water, then quickly bring to a boil over high heat. Drain. Put the pulp back in the saucepan, cover once more with cold water, and bring to a boil a second time and let boil for five minutes. Drain.

Place the pulp in a large bowl, cover with lukewarm water and let rest for four hours. Drain and reserve.

In a large heavy saucepan combine the sugar and 6 cups of water. Over medium-high heat bring to a boil, then add the drained papaya, reduce heat to very low and let cook for two and a half hours, stirring from time to time, until the fruit and syrup cook down and become thickened. Remove from the heat, pour into a heatproof bowl and let rest at room temperature for 24 hours.

The next day, return the papaya to a saucepan, bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and cook until the fruit become transparent and the syrup thickens additionally. Don't stir. Remove from heat, put in heatproof bowl and let cool completely.

Once cooled, put in glass compote dish and serve.

Recipe translated and adapted from Cozinha Regional Brasileira by Abril Editora 

RECIPE - Papaya Flan (Pudim de Mamão)

For lovers of any type of custard, flan, or crème brûlée, this easy recipe for a papaya-flavored flan from Brazil makes a nice change. The flesh of the papaya gives the finished product both a lovely soft orange hue and a subtle but distinctive flavor of the fresh fruit.

This flan benefits from being made in a pan that has been coated with caramelized sugar, but it is not obligatory to do so. I've not included the instructions for making caramel and lining the pan, but you can find them here.

I've only made this dish using mamão formosa, the large Brazilian papaya, but I'm sure that any variety of papaya would give the same result.
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RECIPE - Papaya Flan (Pudim de Mamão)

1 1/3 cup cubed fresh papaya
1 1/3 cup sweetened evaporated milk
2/3 cup whole milk
3 eggs
boiling water for bain-marie
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Preheat the oven to 300F (150C).

In a small, preferably non-stick, saucepan, heat the cubes of papaya over low heat, stirring constantly and mashing the fruit. Cook until the flesh is slightly dried out and its juice evaporates. Do not let the fruit brown or burn. Reserve.

In a blender or food processor on low speed, combine the papaya, the evaporated milk and whole milk. Add the eggs, one at a time, blending constantly, until you have a homegenous mixture.

Pour the mixture into a glass or ceramic custard form (previously caramelized if desired). Place the form in a bain-marie, fill the bain-marie with boiling water to the depth of the mixture in the form and put the bain-marie in the preheated oven. Cook for approximately 1.5 to 2 hours, or until a toothpick inserted into the flan comes out dry and clean.

Remove from the oven, and remove the flan from the bain-marie. Allow to cool completely while at room temperature, then refrigerate if desired.

Serve at room temperature or chilled.

INGREDIENTS - Papaya (mamão)

Statistically, the most-commonly eaten fruit in Brazil is the banana, with average annual consumption of 75 lbs (35 kgs). I surely wouldn't dispute that number, and the mountainous displays of bananas in every supermarket and in every street market would seem to bear that statistic out. I don't have any figures, but I would guess that the total consumption for the papaya in Brazil isn't far behind. Brazil is without a doubt the world's largest producer of that fruit, and in recent years annual production of papayas has reached a staggering 1.8 million tons. That's a lot of papaya! Papaya is a valuable export crop for Brazil, and a significant percentage of the 1.8 million tons is shipped abroad, but domestic consumption is very high indeed.

The word for papaya in Brazilian Portuguese is mamão, which literally means "large breast" or a bit more vulgarly "big tit." According to etymological dictionaries, this name was given to the fruit because of the resemblance between the shape of a papaya and a human breast. I have a feeling that the name was nostalgically applied by the early Portuguese explorers of Brazil, who were often restricted to all-male company in the early years of colonization.

The fruit itself is a New World species, and botanical paleontologists think that it probably originated in Mexico. It had spread throughout the American tropics, however, long before the arrival of Europeans. It thrives today in almost every tropical area of the world, but only there, as it is highly sensitive to frost. The tree-like plant on which it grows has both male and female individuals, and both are required for fertilization.

mamão formosa

In Brazil, there are two main varieties of papaya - the mamão formosa (beautiful papaya) and the mamão papaia ("papaya" papaya). Both are available year-round, like the other "champion fruit" of Brazil, the banana. The larger of the two, the mamão formosa is elongated and shaped like a rounded-off log. It is green when immature turning golden-red when ripe. It's flesh is a bright reddish-orange, often attaining a vermilion color. It often has a limited number of the papaya's characteristic caviar-like glossy seeds. The mamão papaia is smaller, often capable of being held in the palm of a hand, and much more pear-shaped. It's skin, when ripe, is more yellow than red, and the flesh is a yellowish-orange rather than a reddish one. It often has a much larger percentage of its interior given over to seeds than does the .

Normally the mamão formosa is much cheaper than mamão papaia, at least in my home city of Fortaleza. Compared to North America, where papaya is an exotic and high-priced fruit, all papayas are cheap in Brazil, but the mamão formosa is especially so. For most of the year it's price in the local supermarket is about R$0.80 to $R1.00/kg. That works out to approximately USD $0.50 to $0.60/kg or somewhere between 22 and 27 cents per pound. The mamão papaia is usually about 2.5 or 3 times more expensive, but at that price it's still below a dollar per pound.

mamão papaia

Eating papaya is primarily associated with breakfast in Brazil, and it's as much a part of breakfast as is coffee or bread. I rarely start the day without a large piece of papaya. It keeps well in the fridge for up to a week once it's ripe, and preparing a simple piece of the fruit, with a wedge of lime to sprinkle over, is quick and easy and can be done by the time the water is boiling for the coffee. There are some specific Brazilian recipes for the fruit, however, and the next couple of posts on Flavors of Brazil will feature the papaya. You can find an earlier papaya recipe from this blog by clicking here.

RECIPE - Pork Ribs with Green Papaya

One of the frustrations of living in a non-tropical country is that when tropical fruit is available, it is often immature and under-ripe (not to mention expensive). I remember many occasions in Vancouver when I would see a selection of mangoes, or papayas, or pineapples in my supermarket that were green and hard, when they should have been soft, yellow or pink, and juicy. My love of these fruits when they are in a perfect state of ripeness made me nostalgic for Hawaiian pineapples, Brazilian papayas or Mexican mangoes, and made me eschew these poor specimens which had had to endure shipment to the cold of a Canadian January.

However, even in the tropics, these fruits are sometimes eaten in their immature state. Those complexly-spiced Indian pickles and chutneys are made with green mangoes, not ripe ones. And one of my very favorite Thai delicacies, som tam salad, is made from shredded green papayas. Brazil also makes use of green fruits, and this marvelous recipe from Brazil's state of Minas Gerais, Pork Ribs with Green Papaya (Costelinha com Mamão Verde) is an excellent example.

So, when you are faced with a pile of green papayas at your local Safeway, IGA, Tesco or Carrefour, don't bemoan their unripe state - plan to use them to create this uncomplicated but delectable dish from Brazil.

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RECIPE - Pork Ribs with Green Papaya

2 medium to large green papayas - about 2 lbs (1 kg.)
1/4 tsp. baking soda (bicarbonate of soda)
juice of 2 limes
2 Tbsp. cachaça (tequila can be substituted)
4 lbs. baby pork ribs (2 kgs), separated if purchased as racks
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
6 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 medium yellow onions, finely chopped
salt and pepper to taste
2 tsp. sweet paprika
1/2 cup chopped Italian parsley
1/2 cup chopped green onion (green part only)
1 bay leaf
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Peel the papayas with a potato peeler, cut in half, remove the white seeds, then cut the flesh into 1/2 inch (1 cm.) cubes. Put the papaya in a large bowl, cover with cold water, and stir in the baking soda to dissolve. Reserve.

Bring 2 cups water to the boil in large saucepan. Add the lime juice and cachaça, then add the pork ribs. Immediately remove from heat, and stir to ensure that the all the meat has been turned in the marinating mixture. Reserve.

In another large saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium heat, then add the garlic, onion, and paprika. Cook, stirring, until the onion is transparent but not browned. Remove the pork ribs from the marinading mixture, reserving the mixture, and brown the ribs well in the pan. When they are brown, add approximately 1/4 cup of the marinating  mixture, reduce the heat, cover the pan, and let "sweat", adding more marinating mixture as required to avoid drying out the pork, until the ribs are cooked through and tender, approximately 30 minutes.

Bring 8 cups (2 liters) of water to the boil in a pan or kettle. Drain the papaya cubes in a colander. Rinse with fresh water. Slowly pour the boiling water from the kettle or pan over the papaya, then let it drain once again. Rinse once more with fresh water and let drain one final time. Add the papaya cubes to the pork mixture, and cook over medium heat until the papaya is heated through. Add salt and pepper to taste. Place in heated serving bowl, and serve immediately.

Serve with sauteed greens (kale, spinach, escarole) and soft polenta.

(Recipe translated and adapted from Cozinha Regional Brazileira by Abril Editora.)

Artisanal Products - Mamão com Coco

The local, seasonal and sustainable food philosophy of the Slow Food Movement is not as developed in Brazil as it might be in Europe, North America or Australia, but Slow Food, and its philosophy, are present and expanding in the Brazilian consciousness. Slow Food Brasil has a number of local chapters throughout Brazil, and its website is a good guide to its activities and pursuits.

In Fortaleza, where I live, supermarkets are filled with industrially-manufactured foods, just as they are in most of the rest of the world. In some smaller food shops and markets, however, I'm beginning to notice that artisanal products are starting to become available. As I'm a long-time subscriber to the philosophy of Slow Food, and was an active member for many years in Canada, I search out these products, and purchase them - first, because I'm always curious to try out new foods and food products, and second, because I want to support the local food producing community by purchasing its products.

Today, while I was out doing some food shopping, I discovered a local food producer that was unknown to me. I was immediately attracted to it, as it was from a line of jams and preserves called "Sabores", which if you look at the title banner of this blog, means "Flavors" as in "Flavors of Brazil." I purchased a jar of a fruit compote labelled "Mamão com Coco" which translates to English as "Papaya with Coconut." The label indicates that the product only has three ingredients - papaya, coconut and sugar. It was made without any sort of preservative on August 21, 2009 and has a shelf life of 6 months. It claims to be 100% artisanal. The name of the producer is Joacy Lima Sales, and she lives at Rancho Dourado (Golden Ranch) in the city of Horizonte, about 40 kms. outside Fortaleza. With that sort of information on the label, I don't think any product could be more Slow Food than Sra. Lima Sales' Mamão com Coco.

After taking the photos in this post, I opened the jar just to sample the conserve. It's marvelous. The consistency is like a soft fruit spread, without pectin, and the taste combines the buttery tones of ripe papaya with the tropical creaminess of cocunut. Softened flakes of dried coconut give the spread some textural variety. It would be perfect as a flavoring agent for plain yogurt, served with white cheese for dessert, or spread between layers of a sponge cake. I'm looking forward to the remainder of the jar, and to more products from my neighbor at Sabores.