Guatemalan Dessert: Jocotes en miel

Jocotes (/hoe-ko-tes/) or red mombin are often eaten raw, but you can find them as often in tasty preserves. Jocotes en miel or red mombin in syrup (literal translation of miel would be honey, but in this instance it means syrup or almíbar in Spanish) are prepared as dessert to take to the cemetery on Day of the Dead or Día de los difuntos. The idea is to take foods that are prepared in advance and that do not need heating up or that spoil quickly. That’s why you take fiambre, and whatever fruits are in season prepared as dessert.

To turn any fruit to en miel (in syrup), basically you have to slowly boil it down into a syrup made from water, cinnamon, clove, and panela. Panela is an unrefined food product, typical of Central and South America, which is basically a solid piece of sucrose and fructose obtained from the boiling and evaporation of sugarcane juice.

Come back tomorrow for the camotes en miel. By the way, I take orders… Q2 for the serving , I do deliveries! 😉