Final New Yr’s Eve, my husband reunited together with his dad and mom in Havana, Cuba, for the primary time in two years. This go to greater than ever, the baggage allowance appeared a lot too low for all of the objects he wished to take again to his household.
Among the issues he managed to squeeze into his carry-on bag might be thought of important items, akin to over-the-counter medicines and a bathroom bowl seat (that are exhausting to seek out in Cuba lately).
Many immigrants can relate to the expertise of shuttling objects forwards and backwards between their native and adopted nations. I knew my husband’s selections about what to carry can be simply as difficult on his return journey again to the U.S.—particularly when it got here to issues like meals objects, which weren’t requirements however slightly nostalgic items. They fulfill the emotional want immigrants have to remain linked to their locations of origin. This class contains casquitos de guayaba, a conventional Cuban dessert made by cooking peeled, halved, and seeded guavas in water and sugar over low warmth. Because the fruit cooks, the guava’s flesh turns from white to a stupendous and vibrant purple. As soon as comfortable and cooled, the flesh is served with its syrup, together with a aspect of cream cheese or one other comfortable white cheese.
The day after my husband left our residence in Topeka, Kansas, I invited my mother to return with me to purchase some white corn I had seen a neighborhood vendor promoting on Fb. White corn is a nostalgic meals for me. In 15 years of dwelling within the U.S., I’ve solely ever discovered white corn offered at a retailer as soon as—in a freezer at World Meals, once I was a graduate scholar dwelling in Champaign, Illinois. I’ll always remember the colourful label on the plastic packaging: “Large Peruvian Corn.” I believed “large” appeared considerably ridiculous; the exaggerated description will need to have been supposed to distinction the kernels from the candy corn generally out there within the U.S.
We drove over to the handle specified within the Fb publish, although we weren’t in the hunt for corn as a lot because the nice recollections of consuming it again residence in Ecuador, with a aspect of sentimental white cheese. To our shock, we discovered the place was not an precise retailer, however a stall arrange in any person’s yard. The vendor defined that he brings the produce from Mexico in a truck and makes stops at a number of cities on the way in which to Kansas to promote. By the point he arrived in Topeka, he was already offered out of some objects. Fortunately for us, he nonetheless had loads of corn, so we picked a number of ears, in addition to a bunch of recent beans with pods, additionally a uncommon discover.
I used to be excited once I seen the vendor additionally had a field of very inexperienced (unripe) guavas. I picked about six of them and added the fruits to our haul, making a psychological plan to let the guavas ripen over the following few weeks in a hotter a part of the home so I might make my first try at casquitos de guayaba as a shock for my husband when he got here residence.
One other nice shock was a big field beside the person’s truck containing a number of entire zambos (massive leaf gourds), a fruit that appears just like a small watermelon—and one thing we hadn’t seen at any of the so-called “ethnic” grocery shops whereas dwelling within the U.S. The vendor was asking $20 for one. My mother hesitated. In her reminiscence, the worth of a big zambo in our hometown of Quito was only a few cents some 40 years in the past, and even at present wouldn’t price greater than 5 {dollars} on the markets there. “Too costly!” she whispered to me, her again turned to the vendor so he wouldn’t hear.
As we debated whether or not to pay what my mother thought of an exorbitant worth—however which the vendor thought of truthful, given the trouble of bringing the fruit all the way in which from Mexico—he requested us whether or not this meals is well-known in Ecuador. I informed him that as a baby, my grandmother used to cook dinner soups and desserts with the zambos she grew in our yard. I added that zambos may need truly originated within the Andean area in South America. He regarded shocked. “In Mexico, we name it chilacayote”, he stated, explaining it’s mostly consumed as a dessert, cooked slowly with piloncillo (unrefined cane sugar) and cinnamon sticks. The Ecuadorian model of this recipe is sort of equivalent, with the choice of including blended or pureed fruits akin to pineapple, guava, or naranjilla.
We acquired able to pay. My mother determined to go away the dear zambo behind. Out of the blue, the vendor had a change of coronary heart. He supplied it for $15 as a concession, given the particular household significance the vegetable held for us. My mother nonetheless wasn’t satisfied. “Simply assume,” I stated, “You would possibly by no means be capable to discover this right here once more. You don’t actually thoughts spending $15 on a restaurant meal or a couple of objects at a storage sale. We might cook dinner the zambo soup that grandma used to make. It’s greater than price it.” She lastly gave in, and we carried the zambo together with the guava and different produce to our automotive.
After I picked up my husband from the airport, I knew he can be bringing some nostalgic items—he had excitedly informed me about them throughout our every day Whatsapp calls. The meals included mangoes in a can, which I wasn’t thrilled about, given our earlier experiences of the fruit taking over a metallic style and me having to toss it.
As we drove residence, he confessed that he had wished to shock me with home made casquitos de guayaba, made recent earlier than his journey by my father-in-law. We had smuggled these into our suitcases throughout earlier journeys again from Cuba, packed in a plastic container and sealed with duct tape to forestall leakage. Sadly, this time they hadn’t been capable of finding guavas on the market anyplace within the markets of their Havana neighborhood. “That’s too unhealthy,” I stated, then informed him I had deliberate to shock him with casquitos myself. In my case, nevertheless, the guavas had refused to ripen even within the warmest spot of the home close to the heating vent. Situations had been lower than optimum; these had been the coldest weeks all winter in Kansas.
I’ve at all times thought that the meals we affiliate so strongly with the locations we grew up are an aspiration. For that reason, they’re nearly at all times disappointing. The romanticized recollections and excessive expectations that come from the difficulty of transporting them not often match the fact: greens which can be bland, artificially preserved, or generally even tasteless. The ensuing meals fall in need of the meal I idealize in my recollections. In an odd method, then, it’s not the pleasurable consuming expertise, however slightly the following disappointment, that continues to gas unending makes an attempt to satiate these cravings for a style of residence.
Recipes
Casquitos de Guayaba
