Sarah: Dulce de lechosa

Lechosa. That’s the word that they use in Venezuela for papaya.

They eat a fair amount of papaya here, prepared in more ways than I can count. I’ve seen it mostly in freshly blended juices that we have with our breakfasts, fresh fuit salads drizzled with sweetened condensed milk, and delicate little pastries in the display case at my favorite cafe.

A few nights ago after dinner, my host mom served me a “postre” that she called “dulce de lechosa”.

Postre means dessert and dulce means sweet, so I was excited to try it!

This is dulce de lechosa. It’s chewey carmelized papaya with cinnamon, a traditional Venezuelan dessert, most commonly served at Christmas time.

 

…and it’s delicious!

It’s also about as close to Grandma’s home-made apple pie as I’m going to get this fall, so I’d better enjoy it!