Ingredients
The fruit
- 1 kgcraboo
- nance fruit
- ripe and yellow
- washed
- stems removed
The syrup
- 300 gsugar
- or to taste
- 500 mlwater
- 1cinnamon stick
- 3whole cloves
- optional
- a strip of lime peel
Sometimes added
- a splash of rum
- stirred in at the end
- a pinch of salt
- to sharpen the sweetness
To serve
- warm or cold
- in small bowls
- with the syrup
- or over ice cream
Directions
- Keep children well away from the pan. Leave it out entirely for children. Wash the craboo thoroughly in cold water. Rinse it through two or three changes of water.
- Rub each one gently between your fingers. Pick out any damaged or split fruit. Discard anything that is bruised or mouldy. Remove any stems still attached to the fruit. Keep only firm undamaged yellow fruit. It takes only a moment to check them over. Put the sugar and water in a heavy saucepan.
- Warm it gently until the sugar dissolves fully. Stir it only until it is clear, then stop. Add the cinnamon stick and any cloves. Add a strip of lime peel as well. Simmer it for about five minutes to infuse.
- Add the craboo to the simmering syrup. Hot syrup splashes badly if fruit is dropped in. Add a little water if it is not. Simmer the fruit gently until it is soft. Give it about thirty minutes at a gentle simmer. Keep it at a gentle simmer rather than a boil. Stir it gently and only occasionally. Shake the pan gently instead if you can. The fruit should stay whole rather than pulped.
- Lift the fruit out and reduce the syrup if needed. The syrup may be thin after the fruit has cooked. Boil it a few minutes to thicken it. The syrup should coat the fruit lightly. Stir a small pinch of salt into the syrup. Salt sharpens the sweetness considerably. It should not taste salty at all.
- Stir a splash of rum in off the heat. That keeps the alcohol and the rum flavour. Leave it out entirely for children. Let it cool in the syrup before serving. It tastes better after standing an hour or two. Spoon the fruit and syrup into small bowls. Serve small portions rather than large ones. It is served warm or cold quite happily.
- Warm brings the aroma forward more strongly. Cold is more refreshing in hot weather. Spoon it warm over vanilla ice cream. The contrast of hot and cold works well. Put a small dish on the table for them. It keeps a week refrigerated in its syrup. Keep it submerged in the syrup throughout.
Technique
- The stones stay in the fruit throughout and remain in the finished dish. They are hard enough to crack a tooth, so tell everyone at the table they are there, put out a small dish to spit them into, and supervise young children closely.
- Boiling sugar syrup is far hotter than boiling water, sticks to skin and keeps burning — never touch or taste it hot, and lower the fruit in gently rather than tipping it, since hot syrup splashes badly.
- Rum added at the end goes in off the heat and stays in the dish, so say clearly if you have used it and leave it out for children.
Substitutions
- Frozen craboo, often labelled nance in Latin American shops, works genuinely well for stewing; tinned nance in syrup also exists. There is no close substitute — its smell and flavour are genuinely distinctive and nothing else tastes much like it.
- Craboo is also steeped raw in rum with sugar for months to make a strong fruit liqueur, which is a separate preparation the atlas records alongside this one. Cloves, lime peel and a pinch of salt are all used in some Belizean households.
Variations
- Craboo has a genuinely powerful smell often described as cheesy or fermented, which some find strongly off-putting and others delicious. That division is real and the atlas records it plainly — the smell is not spoilage but simply what a ripe craboo smells like, and the taste is sharper and sweeter than the smell suggests. It becomes very strong as it cooks and fills the kitchen; open a window if it bothers you.
- Use firm fully yellow fruit: green ones never soften properly and overripe ones collapse entirely. Ripe craboo drops from the tree on its own and is gathered from the ground rather than picked, so wash it through several changes of water.
- Keep it at a gentle simmer for about thirty minutes and stir only occasionally, shaking the pan instead where you can — hard boiling and vigorous stirring both break the fruit apart, and it should stay whole. Let it cool in the syrup and rest an hour or two, better overnight, as it absorbs syrup and the flavours settle.
History
Craboo trees fruit in the Belizean rainy season and the sharp cheese-like fruit is stewed or steeped in rum.
Frequently asked questions
What is Stewed craboo?
Stewed craboo is a dessert from Belize: small yellow nance fruit stewed in sugar until soft and pungent. Craboo trees fruit in the Belizean rainy season and the sharp cheese-like fruit is stewed or steeped in rum.
How long does Stewed craboo take to make?
Stewed craboo takes 10 minutes of preparation and 40 minutes of cooking. The recipe makes serves 6. It is rated easy to make.
What can I substitute in Stewed craboo?
Yes, within limits. Frozen craboo, often labelled nance in Latin American shops, works genuinely well for stewing; tinned nance in syrup also exists. There is no close substitute — its smell and flavour are genuinely distinctive and nothing else tastes much like it. Craboo is also steeped raw in rum with sugar for months to make a strong fruit liqueur, which is a separate preparation the atlas records alongside this one. Cloves, lime peel and a pinch of salt are all used in some Belizean households.
What is the most important thing to get right in Stewed craboo?
Add the craboo to the simmering syrup. Hot syrup splashes badly if fruit is dropped in. Add a little water if it is not. Simmer the fruit gently until it is soft. Give it about thirty minutes at a gentle simmer. Keep it at a gentle simmer rather than a boil. Stir it gently and only occasionally. Shake the pan gently instead if you can. The fruit should stay whole rather than pulped.
