Sometime in 10th century France, probably during a jam-making marathon, someone hit on the idea of making confitures sèches, ‘dry jams’ or fruit pastes as a way to preserve excess fruit.
In the English-speaking Caribbean we call fruit pastes, fruit cheeses—because of their cheese-like texture. Almost any fruit can be made into a fruit cheese, but guava and mango are by far the favourite fruit.
Guava cheese is a chewy, fudgy treat made with fresh guavas, sugar and optional spices. This delicacy has its roots in the Portuguese colonies on India’s west coast and was apparently brought to the Caribbean region via the Portuguese in Brazil. Each Caribbean country has their own guava cheese recipe, or try Grenada’s version, with added nutmeg.
Spice Island Bites provides curated subscription boxes containing authentic hand-made snacks and hard-to-find ingredients from Grenada and the wider Caribbean.
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