Poached Guavas in Spicy Syrup

This marks my first time cooking with guavas. Or eating them fresh, for that matter. I was at the grocery store when a lovely floral honey scent had me floating through the aisle like a cartoon character, following the glorious odour. I was greeted with a jewel box of small green guavas. I bought them. I took them home. I had no idea what to do with them except smell them.

I found, after biting into one, that the skins were soft enough to eat but the seeds are rather hard to ignore. They got a good sniffing and went back into the fridge. Along came Rick Bayless to my rescue! He has a delicious recipe for poaching them in a spicy syrup. Now we are talking!

Photo Credit

These guavas are perfect for poaching and the spicy syrup is heavenly. Seriously, the Body Shop should make a cream out of it. Or perfume. I'd wear it.

They were wonderful served on some plain yogurt, and I'd wager they'd be equally as wonderful on some vanilla bean ice cream.

Poached Guavas in Spicy Syrup
Guayabas en Almibar
adapted from Rick Bayless, Authentic Mexican
for I♥CC Green Week!

3 lbs guavas, small or large
1 1/3 cups brown sugar
1 cinnamon stick
6 cloves
2 large strips of lime zest
2 tsp fresh lime juice
¼ tsp vanilla bean paste (or extract)

• Prep the guavas - peel and cut into halves, scoop out seeds, slice as desired
• Poach - Combine the sugar, sinnamon stick, cloves, lime zest, juice and 2½ cups water and bring to a simmer, stirring. Simmer on med-low for 20 minutes. Strain and return to medium heat. Add the fruit and poach for 10 minutes. Let fruit cool in the syrup. 
• Reduce the sauce - remove fruit with slotted spoon, set aside. Boil the syrup down until reduced to 1 cup. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla and fruit. 
• Spoon over plain yogurt or vanilla ice cream.