What a coincidence. I turned on "Mexico--One Plate at a Time" the other night, and there was Rick Bayless showing two of the sweets that I adored when I was in Yucatán.
In a segment at the Dulcería y Sorbetería Colón, which has been serving sorbetes (ice creams) for more than 100 years, he showed the same illuminated ice cream menu that I photographed and tucked into more varieties than I had a chance to try.
While I had a double of guanabana and zapote (above), Rick ordered mamey, pitahaya, guanabana, tamarind and others, assembling an icy feast.
The offerings are seasonal. Pitahaya (dragon fruit) wasn't on the menu at the right when I was there. Neither was mamey.
The ice creams are lifesavers when you're melting from Yucatán's notoriously hot weather. It's lovely to sit at one of the sidewalk tables in the evening, cooling off as you watch people out for a stroll.
You come to Colón as you walk along historic Paseo Montejo, a street of gorgeous mansions from the past, many of them now housing businesses.
"Dulcería" means it's a sweet shop too. You'll fall in love with the typical Yucatecan sweets you'll find there (above), especially the famous meringues, which are crisp on the outside but remain magically soft, moist and fluffy inside. They're the little white balls at upper left.
In her book "Cocina Yucateca Tradicional" ("Traditional Yucatecan Cooking"), published in Mexico in 1994, Silvia Luz Carrillo Lara comments that Colón's meringues have never been equalled or surpassed by anybody.
I could have eaten the TV screen as Rick showed how they are made. A syrup cooked with a fresh lime is poured into snowy egg whites and beaten first with an electric beater, then with a molinillo.
The procedure, demonstrated by a woman in the city of Maní, made it clear this was not something I could do at home. Especially because I don't have a portable brazier loaded with hot coals that I can set over the meringues to brown them.
But there is an option--a return to Mérida, where such sweets are commonplace. The meringues appeared again, as luscious as ever (above), at a dinner for my Aromas y Sabores tour group in the city hall.
You can find plenty of these delectable goodies in the municipal market, where guys walk around with trays of pastries and candies on their heads, at bakeries and, of course, at the Colón.
Dulcería y Sorbetería Colón, 500 Calle 62, Merida, Yucatán, Mexico. Tel: 52 (999) 928-1497.
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