{"id":22499,"date":"2022-02-10T20:57:08","date_gmt":"2022-02-10T20:57:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/familiakitchen.com\/?p=22499"},"modified":"2022-04-03T15:41:09","modified_gmt":"2022-04-03T15:41:09","slug":"guisells-dulce-de-vitoria-from-colombia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/familiakitchen.com\/es\/guisells-dulce-de-vitoria-from-colombia\/","title":{"rendered":"Dulce de Vitoria de Guisell de Colombia"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

One spoonful of dulce de vitoria\u2014so sweet, so comforting\u2014and writer, poet, BELatina<\/a> senior deputy editor, and foodie Guisell G\u00f3mez is home. Back in Medell\u00edn, Colombia, the city she left at age 3 when her family emigrated to Miami. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even though she\u2019s lived in the States for more than 20 years, \u201cmy heart of hearts is Colombian,\u201d Guisell said at a writing conference<\/a> in 2018. She spoke movingly about a life in exile and described the disorientation of being ripped away so young, so raw from all that represented home: cousins, comfort, belonging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is there a Colombian dish that helps her narrow that divide\u2014and cook her way home? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201dDulce de vitoria,\u201d Guisell answers, instantly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dulce de vitoria feeds her exiled heart of hearts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dulce de vitoria is definitely a treat. It\u2019s like: \u2018Here you go. We love you.\u2018<\/p>Guisell Gomez, Colombian writer, poet, BeLatina<\/a> senior editor, and foodie<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\"Guisell
Miami-based writer and BELatina senior deputy editor Guisell G\u00f3mez in Medell\u00edn, Colombia. This dulce de vitoria recipe takes right back to this time and place.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Part dessert, part after-school and weekend snack, this traditional Colombian postre is made by boiling a Colombian squash called vitoria with unfrefined sugar cane (panela), cinnamon sticks and cloves for about an hour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vitoria squash goes by many other names, including cucurbita<\/a>, fig-leaf and chilacayote. Fun fact: squash is botanically a fruit, even though we mostly cook it like a vegetable. This makes mucho sense when you take a bite of dulce de vitoria. The sabor is all fruta: rich and sugary, with a jam texture. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The squash itself looks like a cross between a spaghetti squash and a mottled watermelon. Inside, the meat is white and fibrous, a bit like breadfruit, with large black seeds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"vitoria
Vitoria squash\u2014also called cucurbita pumpkin, fig-leaf gourd, or chilacayote squash.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

But here\u2019s the thing. Good luck trying to find vitoria squash in the U.S. Believe me, I tried. On a recent Saturday, I drove across Chicagoland to the three biggest markets in Latino neighborhoods. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nada. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201dI have never seen it in the supermarkets here,\u201d agrees Guisell. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So I bought every other type of squash in the Mexican and Asian sections and came home to do a boil-and-taste test. After experimenting, the closest in sabor and texture was clear: chayote<\/a> squash. I peeled, chopped and cooked it with the panela, cinnamon sticks and whole cloves for about an hour. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dulce de vitoria is everything Guisell promised. It is a rich, tangy bowl of caramelized-fruit pudding. A brown-sugary, darker, denser apple sauce. Something like Peru\u2019s mazamorra morada<\/a>, but different. Cozy and comforting. And totalmente delicioso.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201dYou want to make sure that the fruit becomes almost honey-like. It has to be caramel-like in color,\u201d says Guisell. \u201cAnd be sure to remind people that they have the two options of heating it or not heating it when serving.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"panela
To make dulce de vitoria, simmer the squash with cloves, cinnamon, and panela or unrefined cane sugar, shown here.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Dessert for la Ni\u00f1a de la Casa<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

When she still lived in Colombia, Guisell remembers her mother and T\u00eda Udiely preparing this pudding-like postre\u2014just for her. \u201dBecause I was la ni\u00f1a de la casa, they would make this for me when I was younger. They knew I would leave Colombia at one point, so dulce de vitoria is definitely a treat. It\u2019s like: \u2018Here you go. We love you.\u2018\u201c

\u201cAnd because in Colombia, a lot of the women are stay-at-home moms,\u201d she adds, \u201dThey\u2019re always thinking of how they can make something sweet. Not only do they make the dish of the day, but they always think of how they can incorporate something sweet this week. It can be arroz con leche<\/a>, which my mom made a lot, or coladas or dulce de leche cortada\u2014but the point was to add something sweet,\u201d to signal and celebrate familia love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Craving a little sweetness these days? Guisell hopes you\u2019ll try her Proustian cook-me-home. And if you like it, then please, she begs, try her No. 2 favorite Colombian dessert: dulce de leche cortada. This equally traditional treat is made with milk and panela. The milk must be\u2014stay with us here\u2014spoiled, says Guisell. That\u2019s right. \u201cYou want it clumpy. Trust me. You\u2019re going to love it.\u201d (More to come on this second dish. We left a quart of milk out for two days, it went bad, and we made it. Guisell was right. We loved it. The dish is cozy, caramel-like, and delish. Something like arroz con leche, but with a deeper-almond-brown flavor, and sweeter. We will be posting Guisell\u2019s dulce de leche cortada recipe and food story soon!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To Serve Dulce de Vitoria<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Enjoy your dulce de vitoria solo or with a slice of Colombian cheese or the closest next thing, Mexican queso fresco. Guisell also recommends accompanying the treat with a glass of (fresh!) milk, like we do with cookies here in the States.

Is it also traditional to serve this dessert with a glass of aguardiente<\/a>, the licorice-like alcohol of choice in Colombia? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHonestly, yes,\u2019 says Guisell. Because: There is no wrong answer when it comes to this dulce. \u201cPeople in Colombia will just eat it with whatever.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As long as the dulce de vitoria is panela-sweetened and cooked with love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Curious to Make Guisell\u2019s Colombian Dulce de Vitoria?<\/h2>\n\n\n
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\n\t \n\t \t\n \n <\/svg>\n\t Print<\/span>\n\t <\/a>\n\t <\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Guisell\u2019s Dulce de Vitoria from Colombia<\/h2>\n\n
\n \t\t \t\t\tRecipe by Guisell G\u00f3mez<\/span>\n \t\t\n
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