Guava, also known as guayaba (the Spanish name) and Bangkok apple, is a round to oval shaped subtropical fruit that is actually classified as a berry.

Guava is native to Mexico, Central America and northern South America, but is now cultivated in tropic and subtropic belts around the world.

The skin of the immature fruit is bright green in color, but becomes yellowish green, maroon or yellow when ripe. The flesh is creamy white or rosy pink, depending on the variety. The taste is reminiscent of a cross between an Asian pear and a crab apple: refreshing, fruity, mildly sweet and tart. The texture is firm and crisp, like an Asian pear.

Guava can be eaten fresh, used in desserts or for nectar/juice, preserves or sauces. A guava contains about four times the amount of vitamin C as an orange.

Some guava varieties have white flesh, others have rosy flesh. Photo courtesy Baldor Food.

Guavas are ripe when the aroma wafts up from the fruit: You can smell it, sweet and musky, without putting it to your nose. Ripe guavas have a two week shelf life if refrigerated, or about a week if left at room temperature.

Guava cake, made with guava nectar. Photo courtesy My Recipe Magic. Here’s the recipe.

WAYS TO SERVE GUAVA

The first way to test the waters could be with a simple box of guava nectar. Ceres, Goya, Hero, Jumex, Kern’s and other brands are available in many food stores.

You can drink the nectar or use it in recipes: baking, sauces, smoothies, etc.

If you’re keen on the guava flavor, the next step is to buy a fresh guava and let it ripen. Use it in everyday recipes:

And here’s an easy savory sauce for grilled proteins from Melissa’s chef Ida Rodriguez.

RECIPE: SAVORY GUAVA SAUCE

Ingredients

 
Preparation

1. CUT each guava in half. Scoop out the pulp and place in a bowl.

2. HEAT oil in a suacepan and sauté onions until they are soft and translucent. Stir in the remaining ingredients. Cook, stirring constantly, until the sauce thickens.

By the way, guava is delicious with cream cheese. In our youth, our mom had a passion for cream cheese sandwiches with guava preserves. We always joined in.

Our earlier tip for prosciutto and peaches reminded us of this recipe, an appetizer for prosciutto, figs and Brie.
Per La Tortilla Factory, which provided the recipe, it’s a classic Sonoma County combination, enjoyed as an hors d’oeuvre or a snack. We like them with a beer or a glass of wine.

La Tortilla Factory makes these pinwheel sandwiches with their Multigrain Extra Virgin Olive Oil SoftWrap, a tortilla that’s 9.5 inches in diameter and, as the name indicates, is softer and more pliable than a standard wrap.

SoftWraps are also available in Traditional and Tomato Basil. Depending on the flavor, one tortilla delivers 8-9g protein and 48%-52% DV of fiber—about 52% of your recommended daily intake of fiber. What we especially like is that each wrap has only 100 calories.

 
Prep time is 5 minutes, plus 2 hours of chilling time.
 
RECIPE: PROSCIUTTO & FIG APPETIZER WRAPS

Ingredients For 2 Servings

 
Prepration

1. PLACE tortilla on a flat work surface. Warm Brie in microwave 10-20 seconds to soften.

2. SPREAD Brie over entire tortilla. Top with prosciutto, fig and lettuce. Roll tightly. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate 2-3 hours.

3. REMOVE plastic wrap and slice into 1-inch pieces. Serve with wine or beer.

The Sorbabes (as in sorbet babes) are two friends who met in New York City and followed their calling as specialty food entrepreneurs. They founded the Gourmet Sorbet Corp. in 2012.

They may not even know it, but they have taken sorbet to new heights.

By using creamy, nondairy ingredients such as coconut milk, peanut butter and fudge swirls, they’ve created a sorbet texture and complexity that’s entirely new to us.

These flavors have the creaminess of ice cream, while remaining dairy free, cholesterol free and very low in fat (flavors with coconut milk and fudge ripple contain a small amount of fat; some flavors are fat free). Some are vegan.

Flavors very seasonally, but here’s what we’ve been enjoying this summer:

 
But there’s more greatness to come.

 
And there’s the rub.

As a new company, Sorbabes has limited distribution in the Metro New York area. We hope that their participation last week in the country’s largest specialty food trade show has gotten them clients nationwide.

Until then, you’ll have to petition the best food store in town to bring the Sorbabes to you.

For more information visit GourmetSorbet.com, and check out the Facebook page for a recipe for Strawberry Rhubarb Sorbet with Lemonade.
  

[1] Peaches with prosciutto and a drizzle of balsamic, from Briscola by Charlie Palmer in Reno’s Grand Sierra Resort.

American-made prosciutto from LaQuercia in Iowa (photo © Murray’s Cheese).

[3] Prosciutto di San Daniele hams are salted for less time than the Parma hams (prosciutto di Parma). They thus have a sweeter and more delicate flavor (photo © Principe).

[4] Prosciutto and melon (here honeydew) is the classic preparation (photo © Good Eggs).

Juicy summer peaches beg to be enjoyed in as many ways as possible.

For a delicious first course or a dessert, pair them with prosciutto and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar (photo #1)—an update to the classic melon or figs with prosciutto (photo #4).

To amp up the first course, add fresh chèvre and some lightly dressed mesclun.

You can also replace the prosciutto with serrano ham. Here’s the difference.

Serve the dish with prosciutto-friendly Italian white wines such as Italian Moscato, Pinot Grigio or Prosecco.

Or, look northward and grab an Alsatian-style Pinot Gris, Gewürtztraminer or Riesling.
 
 
WHAT IS PROSCIUTTO

Prosciutto is the Italian word for ham; specifically a dry-cured, uncooked ham that is aged for 400 days or longer.

It originated in the hills around Parma, Italy, in pre-Roman times.

In northern Italy, in what is now San Daniele, Celtic* people first began curing meat with salt. In the area of Parma, it was made by the peasants.

The traditional process of curing is still practiced like an art form in both of these cities. The result: delicious prosciutto that, when thinly sliced, melts in your mouth [source].

The pigs are fed a special diet of whey and grains, and the hams are trimmed and massaged with natural sea salt before aging.

Prosciutto is served in thin slices (photos #2 and #3), showing off rosy-colored meat with a pearl-white marbling of fat.

Prosciutto di Parma, called Parma ham in English, is made from only two ingredients—pork leg and sea salt.

What makes a great prosciutto is the artisan curing that creates prosciutto crudo (raw prosciutto, distinguished from cooked ham, or prosciutto cotto).

The pork leg is carefully hand-rubbed with salt. It then passes through a series of curing rooms of different temperatures and humidity levels.

Prosciutto made in the Parma and Langhirano areas of Italy’s Emilia-Romagna province is D.O.P.-protected by the European Union (in English, it’s D.P.O. or Domaine of Protected Origin).

Prosciutto from other cities is also D.O.P. protected, but Prosciutto di Parma is the most famous export.

Prosciutto-style products are made elsewhere in the world. La Quercia, in Iowa, is a fine domestic producer (photo #2).
 
 
MORE WAYS TO ENJOY PROSCIUTTO

Prosciutto is served plain as part of an antipasto or appetizer plate.

In Italy, restaurants serve prosciutto in overlapping folded-over slices with bread or bread sticks as an appetizer, or wrapped around melon slices (photo #4), with dates, figs or pears.

The ham is incorporated into many recipes: wrapped around chicken, rolled with veal scallopini and diced into pasta and risotto.

Find recipes at ParmaHam.com.

But if you want to enjoy it as an Italian ham sandwich—on crusty baguette-style bread with arugula, tomatoes, mozzarella or provolone and a sprinkle of vinagrette—we think it’s an improvement on the American version.

A drizzle of honey or some honey mustard also works.

Call it the sophisticated ham and cheese sandwich.
 
 
> THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF HAM

*Although Celtic bands probably had penetrated into northern Italy in earlier times, the year 400 B.C.E. is generally accepted as the approximate date for the beginning of the great invasion of migrating Celtic tribes [source].

How delicious: oysters lightly cooked on a
cedar plank. Photo courtesy Bleu Northeast
Seafood | Burlington.

Simple yet sophisticated, cedar planking is an easy grilling technique. The wood plank adds a smoky and woodsy flavor to meats, vegetables and especially seafood.

Executive Chef Doug Paine of Bleu Northeast Seafood in Burlington, Vermont is currently cooking Cedar Plank Roasted Whole Trout with Malt Vinegar, Rhubarb and Dandelion Cole Slaw. A delicious recipe that uses everyday ingredients, Cedar Plank Trout pairs exceptionally well with a farmhouse style saison beer.

But you can start small. How about grilling oysters?

RECIPE: WOOD GRILLED OYSTERS

Ingredients

1. PREPARE the grill with hard wood. Apple, oak or maple is recommended for flavor. Charcoal or gas will also work, but it won’t have the same smoky aroma.

2. PLACE the oysters on the grill with the cup side down. Grill them for about 5 minutes or until they open.

3. USE tongs to remove oysters from the grill and place them on a towel carefully, so as to not spill the juice inside.

4. ALLOW oysters to cool for a few minutes, then remove the top shell. A paring knife may be needed to cut the oyster from the shell.

5. SPRINKLE with the grated horseradish and spoon a few drops of vinegar on top. Enjoy with a beer. The two dozen oysters will disappear quickly.

Cedar planks add woodsy aroma and flavor to grilled foods. Photo courtesy Elizabeth Karmel | Amazon.