Guest/We found the “Gold of the Incas”!
We are excited to welcome Guest Contributor Liliana Valle, Chief Fusioneer of Mistti, the Peruvian-inspired gourmet bakery. Liliana Valle is a social entrepreneur and creative baker of Alfajores – yes, those trend-setting Alfies. Mistti does corporate affairs, weddings, showers…you name it! We hope to hear from Liliana and Mistti more often at Zomppa.
More popular than chocolate?!? Yes, you heard right, unlike in the US, chocolate is not always preferred in Peru. We love lucuma! It is a subtropical fruit native to Peru. As a kid I always had lucuma ice cream but I didn’t know that so did everyone else. Demand for lucuma ice cream in Peru far exceeds that of chocolate. On a recent trip to my native country, I was able to visit a lucuma farm. I learned so much more about this “Gold of the Incas,” as this exotic fruit was once called due to its incredible health benefits. It has high levels of fiber, beta-carotene, vitamin B3 and iron. It is also said to be effective against depression and aging. Give me three scoops please!
We had to have the ice cream!
This fruit’s flavor and aroma are hard to describe. You’ll hear some say that it tastes like maple and sweet potato or caramel custard or even like pumpkin. You just have to try it and decide for yourself! As for finding the fruit or even the ice cream in the US, it might be a challenge. One might be able to find it at a Peruvian restaurant but it is not easy to source yet. This might be a great reason to take a trip to Peru. If you need other reasons to go there, just let me know!
Mr. Parodi is the owner of Helados Ovni, one of the top two lucuma ice cream producers in the country. He welcomed us into his home where he has the lucuma farm. Thanks Mr. Parodi!
Category: Mexico, Lat & South America, Travel & Culture
I’m intrigued by the nuances of flavors that it resembles. It sounds like it could taste like a custardy pumpkin pie without the spices. It sounds tasty.
I would sure love to try this fruit and the ice cream! Very neat!
I’m pretty sure I had lucuma flan at a restaurant in DC a couple of weeks ago, not a Peruvian one either. It was awesome. Thanks for giving me some background on it and thanks for the pictures!!
Very interesting fruit. I would love to to one day….of course the ice cream, too
great post, great fruit, and of course ice cream is always welcomed..
sweetlife
I’ve never heard of that fruit but I’d love to try it!
Very interesting. I’d never heard of this fruit before. I think it might take quite a while before it reaches this side of the ‘pond’.
I’m so glad you’ve enjoyed the blog post and it is great to hear that Tonija got to try it!
How interesting…never heard of this fruit…would love to try it sometime.
How intriguing! The fruit or should I say the leaves on the tree, look so familiar to me – I think the lucuma might be related to the sapodilla which it resembles and which grows in most of southeast Asia. It tastes like caramel or maple syrup and if the two are anything alike, I can imagine how delicious the lucuma is!!
Oh, my word! I love lucuma! Thank you for reminding us of this delicious flavor–especially in ice cream (and cookies)!