A purple Peruvian pineapple dessert

The best of Peruvian Cuisine (Lo mejor de la Cocina Peruana) 2009 César Chacón, Cuzco Peru

Loving a new challenge, I've been wanting to make this dessert for some time and although friends said that they had spotted purple corn in various greengrocers I couldn't find any. Les bought some seeds so we could grow our own. 

As this has been a very, very hot summer with little rain the corn struggled and we felt we'd have to try again next year. But, one of the cobs had a few kernels and I thought I'd give it a go anyway and lo, success.

“The richness and variety of Peruvian food originates from the meeting of the native and Spanish cultures. . . the diverse climatic conditions present in the three different geographic regions of Peru (coast, mountain and jungle) have had a vital role in the development of an infinite number of tastes, flavours, smells and colours that make Peruvian cuisine unique within the Americas” the authors.

Desserts (Postres): Mazamorra morada

Ingredients: ½ kg purple corn; 1 apple; ½ pineapple with the skin; 1 quince; 1 large piece of cinnamon bark; ½ tsp anis; 3 cloves; ½ cup of  plums; ½ cup of cherries; 2 lemons; 1 ½ cups of sweet potato or chuño flour: 1 kg sugar

Preparation:

1. Boil the purple corn in 3 litres of water, then drain and place the purple water in a pot and leave over the heat.

2. Add the sugar, the cloves; the cinnamon and the fruit, peeled and cut into cubes. The plums and the cherries should be washed and added whole.

3. Leave it all to cook on a low heat. When ready add the sweet potato flour which should be previously dissolved in hot water.

4. Stir for around 15 minutes and add the lemon juice, place the mazamorra in glass dessert dishes and pat a sprinkle of ground cinnamon on top. This dessert should be served cold.

Easy to make and delicious, Anne