Dulce de Papaya Verde con Queso de Bola

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Heavy wide pot or cazuela with at least 6-quart capacity
• •Sharp paring knife for peeling the papaya
• •Large glass or ceramic bowl for the cal bath (do not use aluminum)
• •Wooden spoon for stirring
• •Microplane or box grater for the queso de bola

Instructions

1. 1

   Choose the right papaya

   The papaya must be green, hard, and heavy in the hand. The skin should be dark green with no yellow patches and no soft give when you press it. A ripe papaya will turn to mush in the syrup. A green one holds its shape and goes translucent like stained glass. At the Lucas de Gálvez market in Mérida, the señoras will hand you the right one if you tell them it is for dulce. They have done this before.

   If the papaya bleeds white latex when you cut it, that is the sign you wanted. The latex means it is unripe. Rinse the pieces under cold water after cutting to wash it off.
2. 2

   Peel and cut

   Peel the papaya with a sharp paring knife. Halve it lengthwise, scoop out the white seeds and the soft membrane, and cut the flesh into rectangular batons about the size of a thumb. Uniform pieces cook evenly and crystallize evenly. Lopsided pieces give you some that fall apart and some that stay raw.

3. 3

   The cal bath

   Stir the cal into 8 cups of cold water in a large glass or ceramic bowl until it dissolves and the water turns chalky. Add the papaya pieces. Submerge them with a plate if they float. Leave them to soak for two hours. This is the step nobody outside Yucatán talks about and it is the reason real dulce de papaya holds its shape like crystal. The cal locks the cell walls. Without it you have papaya jam.

   Cal is sold as 'cal mexicana' in any tienda mexicana and at the masa counter in mercados. It is the same cal used for nixtamalizing corn. Do not substitute baking soda. They are not the same thing.
4. 4

   Rinse, rinse, rinse

   Drain the papaya and rinse it under cold running water for a full five minutes, agitating with your hands. Then soak it in fresh cold water for 15 minutes and drain again. The cal must be gone. If you taste a piece and it is bitter or chalky, rinse longer. The cal does its work in the bath; what stays on the surface ruins the syrup.

5. 5

   Build the piloncillo syrup

   Combine the chopped piloncillo and 6 cups of water in a heavy pot wide enough to hold the papaya in a single layer. Add the fig leaves, the canela sticks, the anise seed, and the orange peel. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring until the piloncillo dissolves completely. The syrup should be the color of dark amber and smell of cane, leaf, and spice. The hoja de higo is what marks this as yucateco. It gives the syrup a green, almost coconut-like perfume that nothing else can do. No me vengas con atajos. If the fig leaf is missing, the dulce is not the same dulce.

6. 6

   Cook the papaya in the syrup

   Add the drained papaya to the syrup. The liquid should just cover the pieces. Bring to a gentle simmer over medium-low heat. Cook uncovered for 2 to 2 1/2 hours, stirring gently every 20 minutes with a wooden spoon. The papaya will slowly turn translucent, starting at the edges and working in, until the pieces look like pieces of amber glass. The syrup will reduce by about half and thicken to a loose honey consistency. Do not let it bubble hard. Hard bubbles break the pieces and burn the syrup at the bottom.

7. 7

   Know when to stop

   The dulce is ready when the papaya is fully translucent, holds its shape when you lift a piece with a spoon, and the syrup coats the back of the spoon and leaves a clear path when you draw a finger through it. Pull the pot off the heat. Leave it to cool in the syrup for at least one hour. The papaya keeps drinking the syrup as it cools and that is when the flavor settles in. Pulling it out early gives you a dulce that tastes flat.

8. 8

   Serve with queso de bola

   Spoon the papaya into shallow bowls or onto Talavera plates with a generous puddle of the syrup. Grate or shave a thick layer of queso de bola directly over the top while the dulce is still slightly warm. The salt of the Edam against the dark sweetness of the piloncillo is the entire point of the dish. One without the other is half a recipe. Así se hace y punto.

Chef Tips

• •Buy your cal at a tienda mexicana, at the masa counter in a mercado, or from a paleta vendor who makes their own. Hardware-store lime is not food grade and will poison you. If the package does not say food grade or cal mexicana, do not use it.
• •Hojas de higo are easy to find if you know somebody with a fig tree. They are sold at some mercados in Mexico and at Latin produce stores in California and Texas. If you absolutely cannot find them, the dulce will still be good with just the canela and anise, but you will be missing the green note that makes it yucateco. A substitution is a compromise, not an upgrade.
• •Queso de bola is sold under the name Edam at any well-stocked supermarket. The red wax version is what you want. Do not substitute aged cheddar or parmesan. The texture and the salt level are wrong.
• •Piloncillo varies in hardness. If your cones are rock-hard, chop them with a heavy knife or microwave them for 20 seconds to soften before adding to the pot.

Advance Preparation

• •Dulce de papaya keeps refrigerated in its syrup for up to three weeks in a clean glass jar. It gets better after the second day as the syrup penetrates fully.
• •Make it at least one day ahead for any special occasion. The flavors settle and the papaya finishes drinking the syrup overnight.
• •Do not freeze. The texture of the papaya breaks down once thawed and the dulce turns watery.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 250g)