Perad, Guava Jam or Cheese

Perad, Guava Jam or Cheese

Perad is a another well known Goan delicacy that serves two purposes, it can be eaten for breakfast on toast when it is not fully cooked or as a dessert when fully cooked.

This recipe will teach you to make the thick dark red Goan Perad. Perade is how my mother spells it in the Jam form is removed a little earlier from the fire when its light red in color, it does not solidify and is viscous in nature, while the cheese is solid and has a different texture that you will realize if you have eaten or plan on making it, so lets get cooking.

Ingredients:

1 Kilo Guava Pulp
800 Grams Sugar
1 Sour Lime
1 Tablespoon Butter

Procedure:

Guavas Being Weighed

Boil the Gauvas after removing the the black patches on the skin, spoilt parts perhaps and the ends of it, after washing them thoroughly.
Guavas with the Ends Removed
Slice the gauvas straight through the centre so that it becomes easier for you to remove the seeds from the center of the fruit.
Sliced Guavas
Once you remove the seeds from the center do not get rid of them but collect them seperately in another container.
Remove the Seeds from the Guava
Once you have removed the seeds from the center of the Guava you need to to liquidize the good parts of the gauva by putting them in a blender.
Cleaned Guavas in a Mixer
Yes that’s the Guavas in the blender we also tend to call them mixers here in India. So this is done to get your Guava puree.
Guavas getting Pureed
Once your Puree is ready pour it out into a sieve or a muslin cloth so that you can filter out all the seed remains.
Pureed Guavas
You will have to do the same with the pulp and the seeds that you removed from the guavas earlier, blend it just for a minute in the mixer and then strain it.
Pureed Guavas getting sieved
Once your done with the seiving you can place it on the fire.
Seiving the Guavas
Now comes the work, the most important part of making this dish is that you should not allow the bottom of the puree to get burnt. This means you will have to continuously stir the dish at ocassions especially when it begins to boil.
Guava Puree on the Burner
The best thing to do is to keep the puree on a slow burner, it will take a good amount of time but patience always pays.
Filtered Guava Seeds
So just for you to know thats what the discarded seeds look like, you can throw that out.
Add Sugar to the Guava Puree
Yes its time to add the sugar, which is done soon after you put the Puree on the fire, now keep stirring.
Stir the Guava Cheese
Yes you can see the colour begin to change in a couple of hours, you can see it becoming reddish orange below. You can add the juice of the sour lime now and keep stirring.
Guava Jam
When its a little darker than the image above you can remove some of it for the jam and bottle it.
Guava Cheese in the Making
Keep stirring until it gets the dark red colour that you can see in the image below.
Dark Red Guava Cheese
Yes its ready at last, if you aren’t used to cooking your hand will be hurting by now.
Guava Cheese Settling
Just before you pour it out into a tray you need to have oiled it so it comes out of the tray easily when its cooled.
Guava Cheese
There you go the perad is ready to be consumed, it would require a couple of hours for it to cool. Then slice and dice as per choice and relish another Goan delicacy.
Packing the Perad

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Sunshine
9 years ago

Hi, I tried out this recipe today – made Perada the first time. It turned out nice except that the texture and colour didn't come out quite perfect. Do the type of guavas one uses make a difference to the texture and colour?

Shims
9 years ago

Excellent recipe! Mine turned out pretty much like the ones in the picture.. All thanks to the step by step instructions!

Clyde
10 years ago

Im so glad you enjoyed it veronica, and getting it perfect is not an easy task, kudos!

Clyde
10 years ago

🙂 i do hope you had a nice time with your little helper 🙂

lime is added to mellow down the sweetness and to help with the color, what color did yours turn out to be excluding the lime

Clyde
10 years ago

dark brown happens when it gets touched at the bottom, ensure you stir it often 🙂

Veronica Paul
10 years ago

Lovely recipe. I tried it a couple of months ago when guavas were in season, and the perad came out perfect. I particularly like the fact that the proportion of guava to sugar is more, else it would be too sweet and sugary.

Vanessa
10 years ago

All these years mama made d ssweets n I gobbled them up..now I'm a mama so its my turn to make n my kids turn to eat 🙂
Tried the guava cheese, its amazing. Mwah thanks Clyde..I omitted the lime..why do u add it? How do u store the the pieces of guava cheese without them sticking?
Today I'll make kalkals with my 4 year old..m sure he will enjoy rollin them with a fork 🙂

Anonymous
Anonymous
10 years ago

Dear Clyde, Thanxs for the recipe. I am successful doing guava Jam or cheese in 1st attempt. I have done exactly how the above recipes is said. But the colour came to dark brown. The taste is good and it took 1 and 1/2 hour. Thanxs and keep posting more recipes.

Clyde
11 years ago

yes it does require continuous refrigeration unless your going to eat it all up real soon, in the fridge it will last longer but remember this is all natural no preservatives….

Clyde
11 years ago

glad to know you never gave up 🙂 awesome sauce

q
q
11 years ago

Hello!
Thank you for the step by step detail, it was very helpful because I don't cook. So, I tried the recipe for the jam and surprisingly its turned out to be a hit. But could you please tell me how long the jam lasts and does it require refrigeration?

Thank You

Ayessha Saeed
11 years ago

Thnk u so much fr sharin ur recipe..i read aboyt the goan cheese delicacy in newspaper..nd dn came across ur recipe..nd i have made it with the step by step guidance u gave,.i got the color red too…yeayiiii…now its cooling down..fingers crossed..

samira
11 years ago

hi just made the perad and it looks same as yours. tastes delicious..thank you.

samira
11 years ago

Hi! i'm samira from assam..read ur recipe just now and very delighted to know abt it..surely going to try soon.yesterday i made guava jelly but it was not so good..not like the one that we buy from stores generally bcz even after seiving the sandy granules of guavas remain which is not good to taste,even the colour was not so good…it was pale brown and did'nt look very delicious.so i'm very sad.plz help with some valuable tips. thank u.

Lila Kutty
Lila Kutty
13 years ago

Hi Clyde my husband zimblee loves guava cheese and now after reading your recipe I'm goin to try it out hopefully it turns out well.If not then I'm goin to harrass you for some good tips.Thanks

Dipa
14 years ago

– thanks for posting this, my kids just love bebinca and guava cheese – I tried your mom's recipe today and the guava cheese came out awfully well. I read on the bebinca recipe that your Mom takes orders for bebinca. I am located at Bangalore. Would you be able to send me the bebinca here and would it stay fresh for some days after some days or does it have to be eaten immediately? Whenever we come to Goa (not as often as we'd like tho'!) we come away with store-bought bebinca boxes which don't last more than a day or two after our return (not because they get spoilt but because the kids and I finish it all!)

@Sanjana – I guess you cooked it too long – you need to remove it when it comes away from the sides a little and away from the bottom of the pan around the ladle when you stir. Don't wait till it rolls into a ball. Also checked out another recipe for guava cheese and I understand the colour of the guava cheese depends on the colour of the pectin in the seeds. If its pinkish, then it turns out the way Clyde's mom got in the picture, otherwise if the colour of the pectin is white then it turns out brownish red. So mystery of the lovely colour is solved! Either way – it tastes great! Hope it comes out well the next time you try it!

September 16, 2010 2:30 AM

Dipa
14 years ago

I tried this out today and its come out awfully well, though not the lovely red colour yours (and my sis-in-law's who is a Goan and gets this for the family every Christmas). I checked out other guava cheese recipes – I believe the colour depends on the colour of the pectin in the seeds – if its white it becomes brownish red, if its pinkish it comes out like yours and Elaine's (my sis-in-law) – tho I think she also adds a bit of pink edible colour. My kids just love guava cheese and bibinca. I checked out your bibinca recipe but it looks far too time consuming to make (I work!). I read that your mother takes orders for bibinca, could you please provide more details about that please and also does home-made bibinca stay fresh for some days? We are at Bangalore, please let me know if you can courier it to us here. Whenever we go to Goa we always buy boxes of bibinca which disappear in a day or two of our return! Would love to try some of your Mom's!

gautam
14 years ago

A Punjabi family offered us freshly made hot Gajar [carrot] Halwa, rich with ghee, nuts etc. with slices of Perade and scalding fresh cream on a very cold, windy day. Killer on the arteries, but amazing combination. Try it!

Anonymous
Anonymous
14 years ago

Your Perad, Guava Jam or Cheese is wonder full
but if u try washing guava cut tip n bottom cut in 2 halve remove seed weight halves if 1 kg sugar 800gms
discard seed boil halves n grind them it's easy n time consumein
rest every thing is great

Anonymous
Anonymous
14 years ago

Your recipes r great they r really goan what my great grand mai used 2 make when i was a little kid in 1960 she was 106year's old n o she was so good in sambra dry prawn curry von all wedding (ross) food o i miss all that n i m a cook 2222 but not as good as her
n ur beautiful photo is fab i must say
on bhalf o one n all i must say a big thankUUUUUUUUUUUUUUu

cash
14 years ago

thanks clyde for brilliant tips…your mum is a superstar and ofcourse you too for putting it out there for us to learn our traditional goan cooking…A big thanks to your mum.

Izabel

Anonymous
Anonymous
14 years ago

Thankyou Clyde, i see that your site has some real gem recipes. will keep visiting to check out more.

Clyde
14 years ago

@ Cash

You need to use 1 tea cup water per kilo as the gauvas get soft with steam, it has to be soft enough to slice it in half easily and scoop up the seeds so you could say for about 10 minutes or so after the cooker starts hissing not even a whistle and the butter has to be added at the end just before its ready…

veena cardoz
veena cardoz
14 years ago

u cud also thicken the blended gooey ,delicious pulpy stuff from the blender to a microvave dish. jus make sure u cover it n kepp stirring in between …..making sure ur microvave setting is not on high .as it reaches the final stage add ur butter n lemon juice.saves u hours of stirring n u can multitask too while ur perad is getting thick in the microvawe.

cash
14 years ago

Hi Clyde, could you pls advise how much of water you use for the boiling and for how long does the guava have to be boiled…I see yr mum used a pressure cooker…pls advise how many whistle did she give to pressure cook the guava…
thanks much

cash
14 years ago

Hi Clyde thanks for the wonderful recipe..can you please advise when do you add the butter to the recipe…or is it just used to butter the serving dish before spreading the perad into it…

thanks
Izabel

leena
leena
14 years ago

yes iwill surely do this dish thnks for the lovely recipe

luckysanjana
15 years ago

hi Clyde……..aaaaah now i quite understand what happened…….see I had a dry mixture to begin with…………..so i guess in the time that her mixture takes to evaporate i scorched mine……..hmmmmmmmmm i had a tough time cutting that toffee……………lol……..and i dont really see myself trying it again……….lol but yeah you never know ….damn your moms peraad looks abolutely wine red………..its haunting me………..lol………..came by to check out your moms bebinca today…..and do somemore snooping………..

Clyde
15 years ago

@ hi Sanjana, 🙂 lets start with theres no added color, this is a recipe handed down by my mothers mom and so on… haha

mom says, the color begins to come in when its in the liquid stage…as you can see in the pictures the color comes in slow…

she also said that 1/2 kilo takes u three hours, some tips are use the slowest flame

you can also turn ur flame off inbetween go out come back and start again, the longer u cook it darker the color..

mother also states that you ended up burning the dish, cause you cooked it too fast, sweets come with practice and no one gets it in the first go…

I just found out that when you put the seeds in the mixer you also add the water that the guavas were boiled in and then strain it, this is why it doesnt look as liquidized as yours… I apologize for this, so my mother is kindof guarding her secrets, but i think this should be perfect now…

mom is not too happy to give out all her secrets, your lucky that I am so liberal haha 🙂 sorry for the trouble..

luckysanjana
15 years ago

hi just got off the gas stove so to speak……..well i think I followed all the steps……….okie and i kept stirring……..when i reached the light brownstage it was already leaving the sides of the pot…..and hey i never got to red…..i kept stirring hopin gthe color would change put finally it had gone so dry it was rolling like a ball so to speak in the pot……and im afraid i might have made guava toffee and not guava cheese……so i got it off the fire and even before i could get it out off the vessel it was beginnin gto harden………so im wondering where did i go wrong and ofcourse needless to say i didnot reach color red……i took it off the fire while it was brown…..

i took half the qty that is just 1/2 kgs guava and 400 gms sugar……….hmm and one more thing my pulp did not look as liquidy as yours???i wonder why????

at this stageim quite ready to believe that you didnt stir it to color red and that you added color red………hahah……seriously how could you have got that deep red………..

okie i started the heating process at 11.30 and its now one ……..so i dont think i stopped short………….hmmm why then did the color red elude me……………

Clyde
15 years ago

The 1 tablespoon of butter is used to give the perad a sheen.

Anonymous
Anonymous
15 years ago

What do you use the 1 tablespoon butter for.

anita
anita
8 years ago

Hi Clyde,
Mine turned out to be the excellent colour, bit did not leave the sides yet…wen put in water its guee…is it done yet…

Savio Fernandes
4 years ago

Thanks for your all your recipes Clyde!! I’ve tried so many and all were amazing… like the Surreal beef olives, Roast beef, Feijoada, Prawn Chilly Fry…etc. and all turned out just perfect as I followed the instructions to a T( I’ve got pics too..will send if allowed.. hehe.. 😉 ) But… this time I went wrong somewhere along the way…with the guava cheese… Please help me out here…. all is perfect; taste, texture, colour(no added colour),etc, but when rolled out it is still soft and just will not harden enough to cut(still sticks to the knife when I try, even with a buttered knife)…. what do I do to remedy this ? Thanks in advance . Cheers! :-))