Guava Reduction Sauce

Here’s an overview of some of the benefits of consuming guava. Note that you can make tea with the leaves and that it grows very well in our region!

In pre-pandemic days, the long guayaba (guava) season in San Diego gave my dearest Sinaloa relatives ample time to visit and stock up on guayabas to take home and cook up batches and batches of guayabate (a type of guava jam or paste). My dad especially loved this sweet treat. Seeing so many of my very loved aging relatives struggle with diabetes, I felt very conflicted about being the abundant source of such a sugar-loaded treat. I loved the excuse to have them visit, but hesitated as I couldn’t help but think about the after-effects of the visit. While guayabate certainly has its place in my home and heart, I have been looking for other ways to consume this delicious fruit.

On its own, guava fruit (and leaves!) are packed with healthy vitamins, minerals and medicinal properties. After you’ve had your fill of this fresh fruit, you can always cook with it! Here’s a recipe that uses far less sugar, seems quite versatile and is much quicker to prepare. (Guayabate in its paste form takes hours to cook down, then days to dehydrate via our oven in very low heat.) You can use this reduction sauce over your favorite protein (be it tofu, tempeh, salmon, poultry or lamb) or spread it over your next grilled cheese sandwich!

INGREDIENTS

3 to 5 ripe guavas (to yield about 1 cup guava puree)

1/3 cup tangerine juice (can sub with orange juice or water and 1/8 cup honey or sugar if need be)

1 splash of lemon or lime juice (totally optional!)

1 tbs honey or sugar (also optional, but even with the honey, this is a pretty low-sugar recipe compared to other recipes out there! You can always increase sweetener amount to your liking.)

a splash of red wine vinegar (also completely optional!)

a sprinkle of salt

INSTRUCTIONS

Chop guava into pieces and transfer into a small pot along with the tangerine juice and honey.

Bring to a boil over medium heat, then reduce to a simmer for 5 minutes or so. You want the guava to cook down to a mush, but not get so dry that you can’t push through a strainer to remove the seeds later.

Remove from heat, add the splash of lemon or lime and then pour through a metal strainer over a cup or bowl. Use a spoon to stir and push the puree through while seeds remain in the strainer. Discard seeds.

Stir in the sprinkle of salt and taste. Here’s where you can the splash of red wine vinegar and extra honey if need be. If you want the sauce to further thicken, transfer back into the pot and simmer some more until you get your desired consistency.

Slather it over your protein of choice (tofu, tempeh, salmon, poultry, lamb…) or transfer it to a small jar and save it for your next grilled cheese sandwich. It will keep in the fridge for the better part of a week.

Guava Spinach Muffins

Our guava harvesting crew at work!

I don’t bake muffins very often, but my basic muffin recipe (that started out inspired by a protein-rich zucchini bread back when I was a high school teacher looking to feed my kids well on those long testing days) has seen several funky incarnations. This is a new one, now that I’m looking to use what I have around (I’m learning to eat with the seasons!) and feed my two hungry, growing little kids. My goals: it must be sweet enough for them to love it, not so sweet that I feel guilty about feeding it to them and enough protein and greens in there that it’s almost a meal for my stubborn little newly-turned two-year old. Sigh! Ok, so here’s the late fall recipe—-

Ingredients:

1 cup walnuts

⅓ cup coconut oil

2 tbs molasses

1 tbs maple syrup

2 tbs fruit preserves (I used strawberry, and only added this ingredient because I ran out of maple syrup…you could skip this and add two more tbs maple syrup instead)

2 eggs

½ cup almond milk

2 tsp vanilla

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 tbs cinnamon

¼ tsp nutmeg

zest from one orange

1 cup chopped guava (which is about three large guavas, de-seeded…here’s how)

1 cup spinach (finely chopped)

1 cup oat flour

1/2 cup almond flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Warm up the coconut oil until it’s liquid. I did this by placing the metal mixing bowl on the stove top while the oven preheats.

3. Crush and toast walnuts for two minutes in a cast-iron pan with a little syrup or fruit preserve to candy them up. You can also do this step in the oven by laying out the walnuts on some parchment paper, drizzling with syrup and toasting for about 5 minutes).

3. Take the liquified coconut oil and add the molasses, maple syrup, fruit preserves (if using), eggs, almond milk, vanilla, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Mix well.

3. Stir in the guava, spinach and orange zest.

4. Stir in the flours.

5. Pour mix by the spoonful into muffin tin lined with baking cups.

6. Sprinkle tops with the candied walnuts.

7. Bake for about 20 minutes. Check with a fork when you start to smell them. If the fork comes out clean, then they’re done.

Makes about 16 small muffins

Simple Guava Punch

Guava fruit (in Spanish, guayaba) comes in different flavors and colors, and its leaf, in particular, has many traditional medicinal uses.

So, today, the weather finally turned cool and my bones are already asking for warmth! The abundance of guavas in our backyard and our friends’ farms provides a key ingredient in the most exciting drink to warm up to—Ponche! The traditional recipes are delicious and complex—something to plan ahead for holiday parties. But, in just a little while, you can make this warm, sweet, aromatic drink that people young and old enjoy. You can keep it simple, or get fancy with it and experiment! Here’s a little recipe to get you started:

Simple Guava Punch

Ingredients:

5 guavas

4 cinnamon sticks

1 small piloncillo or 1/4 cup brown sugar (plus a tsp molasses, if you have it around) Note: While this ingredient is essential to the traditional versions of ponche, for those of us working to reduce the amount of sugar in our diets (Too many diabetic elders in my family for me to feel good drinking super sweet beverages anymore!)—I’ve made this without the added sugar or piloncillo, or with half the sugar, and since that’s the only version my kids have around at any given moment, they love them all!

Additional options to experiment with—oranges, apples, pears, raisins, prunes, hibiscus, tamarind, clove, tejocote…(You can add any, all or none of these!)

Instructions:

Slice up guavas (and other fruit you might want to add) as thin as possible and put in a pot with 2 cinnamon sticks, 1 liter (that’s about 4 1/4 cups) water, and any other ingredients you’re trying out including the piloncillo or sugar.

Cover, bring to a boil and immediately reduce the heat to simmer for at least 20 minutes.

Strain and serve hot. Makes about 4 cups.

Final tip—if you make this at night and let it sit overnight in the covered pot, it will taste even better in the morning when you reheat, strain and serve.