Ayote en miel

Ayote en miel is a traditional food this time of the year. It is especially popular during the Day of the Dead. Below are two recipes for ayote en miel. The first is the way I’d cook it if I was in the US. The second is the way we made it here are the house, complete with photos.

Cinnamon brown sugar acorn squash
1 acorn squash
3 whole cinnamon sticks
2 ¼ cups brown sugar
2 ½ cups water

Directions:
Cut squash in half and clean out interior (take out all the seeds and stringy part). Cut each half in quarters (4 pieces). In a medium saucepan on medium heat, combine brown sugar, cinnamon, water, and squash. Arrange the squash (skin down) in the sauce pan in a way that allows all the squash to be almost covered in water. Cook on medium heat for about 2 hours, check on the squash every 30-45 minutes making sure that it is not running out of water. Towards the end the sauce should be a light syrup. Let the squash cool and the syrup thicken for about 10-15 minutes before serving.

—OR—

Ayote en miel Salvadoran style
2 ayotes
1 or 1½ corn husk wrapped panela
Water
Cinnamon sticks

Directions:
Chop ayote in half with machete. Scoop out seeds using a knife and spoon. Cut into pieces using a large knife or machete. Rinse off pieces of ayote and put in a pot. Throw panela against the ground to break it into pieces. If this doesn’t work, use a rock. Put panela into the pot. Put cinnamon sticks in pot. Add some water. Cook for about 2 hours. Eat it right away and right out of the pot.

Look out! She's got a machete!

Two ayotes just waiting to be eaten

A jack-o-lantern!

Right after she cut through the ayote I screamed as

 if she'd cut my foot. She let out a little noise and then

yelled, "Puchica Alicia!!"

The inside of the ayote

Ready to sacrifice the next victim

Scooping out the seeds

Ayote in the pot

Chop, chop, chop

Rinsing the ayote

There's the tongue

Ready to throw the panela

Holding half of the panela

Panela - unrefined whole cane sugar

Breaking up the panela

Ayote and panela

Cooking away

 

All done

Delicious