Guava Duff

Guava duff is the Bahamian dessert, and it is a descendant of British boiled puddings adapted to what grows here. A sweet dough is rolled flat, spread with guava pulp, rolled up like a swiss roll, wrapped in cloth and boiled or steamed for an hour or more, which produces a dense spiral of pale dough and pink fruit. It is sliced and served warm under a sauce of butter, sugar, egg and rum, beaten until thick and poured over. Making it properly is laborious enough that it has become an occasion dish, and the sauce is where cooks compete. Some versions bake it instead, which purists consider a different thing.

What you actually see

• The spiral - pale dough rolled around pink guava.
• The boiling cloth - the traditional method, wrapped and simmered.
• The rum sauce - butter, sugar, egg and rum beaten thick.
• Guava - the fruit itself, grown across the islands.

When to go

Year-round. It appears on most Bahamian restaurant menus and at fish fries, and it is a fixture at Christmas and Independence gatherings. It is best warm, so avoid the ones sitting under a lamp.

Honest expectations

It is very sweet and very heavy, and the sauce doubles both. Restaurant versions are often baked and pre-portioned rather than boiled in cloth, which changes the texture entirely. Quality varies enormously; a good one is memorable and a bad one is a stodgy disappointment. Not for anyone avoiding alcohol, since the sauce carries a good deal.

Nearby

Fish fries at Arawak Cay and across the family islands serve it.