Papaya Balls

This recipe comes from a friend of mine from Trinidad. She serves these candies every Christmas.
- Ready In:
- 55mins
- Serves:
- Units:
2
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ingredients
- 1 papaya, peeled and grated
- 1 teaspoon lime zest
- 2 teaspoons lime juice
- 3 cups sugar (approximately. use 3/4 cup sugar per every cup of papaya)
- green food coloring or red food coloring
directions
- Squeeze excess juice out of the grated papaya.
- Measure the papaya: to every cup of papaya, add 3/4 cup sugar.
- Mix the papaya, sugar, lime peel and lime juice in a saucepan.
- Cook slowly over medium/low heat until the mixture "gels".
- Add a few drops of food coloring.
- Cool.
- Shape into balls and roll the balls in granulated sugar.
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Chewy tropical candy. (Note that the nutrition information isn't really correct, because the recipe amount of sugar is only for one cup of papaya, not a whole fruit.) I got about six cups of squeezed grated pulp from a large papaya, so used 4 1/2 cups of sugar. I used about two tablespoons of lime juice. I heated the syrup mixture to soft ball, which is a good bit past where it starts to gel. The candy was a little sticky but malleable after cooling slightly. I just made the balls and let them finish cooling overnight, without rolling in more sugar.Reply
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My step-son was doing a report on the Caribbean and I decided to make this candy to go along with his oral report. I had a little trouble getting the mixture to gel. I thought it was finally there and allowed it to cool, but the consistancy wasn't right for rolling into balls. I reheated and added about 1 T. of arrow root starch and cooked about 5 more minutes, on medium-high heat (stirring constantly). That seemed to help, but once it cooled, it was still difficult to roll. The finished product reminded me of a gum drop in appearance. I don't like papaya, but I thought it tasted pretty good for papaya. My stars are not based on taste, but on the difficulty I had with the recipe.Reply