Читать книгу Cubanisms - Pedro García-Menocal - Страница 16

If you are “a punto de caramelo” (you are “about to become candy” or “about to become caramelized”) then you are ready for action, ready to go, and alert. The phrase is a cooking term when using syrup to make sweets or desserts. As a cook heats the syrup, it passes through several phases until it gets to that point when it is about to “become caramelized,” which for certain sweets, desserts, and candies has to be just right. So, when cooking, if the food comes out “a punto de caramelo” then it is absolutely perfect and delicious.

If you can’t find caramelos, perhaps you can eat some churros, a very popular confection made with fried dough and traditionally eaten with sugar and hot chocolate. Not exclusively Cuban, but loved by Cubans nonetheless. It is the sort of thing that is delicious and which will put you into a diabetic coma if you’re not careful. Everybody loves churros!

Sugar cane juice has many names in different parts of the world, such as caldo de caña in Brazil and nuoc mia in Vietnam. In Cuba and other parts of Latin America, it is called guarapo. Obviously very sweet. Pleasant to drink when freshly squeezed. Guarapo is also a colloquial term for booze, and guarapeta means “drunkenness.” “Pepito had a major guarapeta the other night in South Beach!” Guarapote, with an “o” instead of an “e,” means a “big guarapo.”

Guayaba (guava) is a very popular fruit served as a dessert in Cuba, often with cream cheese. Pan con timba