MEXICAN CANDY PASTE RECIPES

Steps:

• Bring tamarind pulp, water, and orange to a boil in a pot; continue to boil for 30 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool for 30 minutes.
• Pour tamarind mixture into a colander placed over a large bowl. Mash and scrape against the side of the colander until all the juice and pulp drips into the bowl. Dump remaining seeds into a strainer and repeat the process; remove the outer casing around the seeds by hand and toss out the seeds.
• Blend outer casings with juicy pulp in an electric blender.
• Return mixture to the large pot and add sugar, Tajin®, and butter. Bring to a soft boil, stirring constantly. Heat to 240 degrees F (115 degrees C) or until a small amount of syrup dropped into cold water forms a soft ball that flattens when removed from water and placed on a flat surface.
• Remove from heat and let cool, about 2 hours.
• Fill a pastry or plastic sandwich bag with the candy mixture and squeeze onto plastic spoons. Place plastic spoons onto a cookie sheet and chill until firm, about 1 hour. Coat with more Tajin® if desired, wrap with plastic, and close with a twist tie.

Steps:

• With (Habs)- my bent mind at work again... ( of course it's untried with Habs but it should work as it's just basic reduction.) I made something quite similar to this with Quinces in my Greek phase...(thinking here and deciding to rephrase this). When I was cooking and eating Greek food...... Makes about 3 c. Peel the guavas, cut into halves and remove the seeds, then chop roughly. Put into a large, heavy saucepan with 1+1/2 c. of water. Bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer about 35 min, or possibly till very soft. Towards the end of cooking time, mash with a fork.. (With about 5 min ago I would put the seeded Habs in)! Drain and rub the fruit through a sieve. Weigh the Puree and place in the rinsed and dry saucepan with an equal weight of sugar and 2 Tbsp. of lemon juice for each 500g of fruit. Stir over low heat, then increase heat and boil rapidly till the mix becomes very thick, candies and turns red. As the mix thickens, stir with a wooden spoon to keep from burning. The paste is ready when you can barely push a spoon through it. Turn into a dish and smooth the top. Dry out for about 12 hrs in sunshine or possibly a hot place. (An oven set on its lowest temperature can be used.) The paste is ready when it can be cut with a warm knife into hard slices. Serve with bread and a white goat or possibly sheep lowfat milk cheese or possibly cut into squares, or possibly sprinkle with icing sugar and serve as a sweet. Now which's positively an evil thought..... The basic guava recipe is authentic Mexican, the habs are the result of boredom on my part, and the posting comes from my knowing where a couple of unguarded guava trees are..