Guava paste for slicing

A fruit paste, not a dairy cheese

“Guava cheese” names a firm fruit confection, not a preparation made with dairy. In the Caribbean, guava cheese is cooked into a concentrated, cuttable sweet; Brazil's related goiabada family also includes firm guava paste, with goiabada cascão retaining pieces of fruit. Similar texture and ingredients connect these foods, but they do not establish one formula or one invention story.

The atlas labels this recipe an adapted trial for slicing. It starts with cooked, sieved, seedless pulp and gives a measured ratio of 1 kg pulp to 800 g sugar and 30 ml lime juice. That ratio belongs to the atlas adaptation; it is not a quantity set from either source recipe.

A thickening trial

Combine the prepared pulp, sugar and lime juice in a wide heavy pan and reduce the mixture. Stir more carefully as it thickens so the dense paste does not catch on the pan. The atlas gives a practical texture check: a spoon drawn across the base should leave a clear track, and a cooled sample should become sliceable. If the sample remains soft, the batch can be used as a spread. These are consistency cues, not measured time, temperature, acidity or safety endpoints.

The adaptation does not explain how to prepare the cooked pulp from raw guavas. It gives no reduction time, final yield or scaling rule; leave those values open rather than estimating them.

Different sources describe different batches

Loop Barbados's 2013 household recipe uses 15 large guavas, 750 g sugar, the juice of one sour lime or lemon and three drops of red colouring. It boils and peels the fruit, removes the seeds, cooks the pulp to a ball-like mass, then rolls it out to cool and cut. Its airtight-tin suggestion is part of that separate household recipe; it does not validate the atlas ratio or a jar process for this trial.

Ralston's Brazilian goiabada cascão technical sheet describes a packaged commercial product made from guava pulp, fruit pieces, sugar and citric acid. The sheet reports pH 3.60–4.00 and 76–79 °Brix for that product and provides a commercial date and storage statement. Those measurements are not targets for this home adaptation, and its manufacturing and packaging details are not a home canning process.

Kraft Heinz's SURE.JELL guava jelly recipe uses prepared guava juice, pectin and a boiling-water-canner process. It is a different product and formulation; none of its ingredient amounts or processing steps are transferred to this paste.

Cold storage and serving

Pour the paste into a lined shallow dish, cool it and refrigerate. The atlas describes this trial for refrigerator or freezer storage only. It gives no storage duration and does not supply a validated home-canning process. University of Minnesota Extension distinguishes cold-stored fruit spreads from shelf-stable canned products and directs readers to use research-based recipes for canning; its general guidance does not validate this formula.

Cut a firm batch to serve with cheese or use it to fill pastries and sandwich biscuits. A softer result works as a spread. A paste that looks firm or holds a slice has reached a texture target only; that appearance does not establish shelf stability.