Picarones

Picarones are made from a leavened dough of mashed macre squash and sweet potato with flour and yeast, and the skill is in the shaping: the cook takes a handful of very wet dough, squeezes a ring out between thumb and finger straight into hot oil, and does it in seconds, repeatedly, without measuring. They fry to a crisp shell with a soft interior and are served in threes or fives with chancaca syrup - unrefined cane sugar boiled down with fig leaves, orange peel and spices - poured over. They descend from Spanish buñuelos adapted to Andean ingredients in the colonial period, and they are associated above all with October, when stands multiply around the Señor de los Milagros processions in Lima alongside turrón. Eaten standing, immediately, from a paper plate.

What you actually see

• The shaping - wet dough squeezed into rings straight into the oil by hand.
• The chancaca - unrefined cane syrup with fig leaf, orange peel and spice.
• The dough - macre squash and sweet potato leavened with yeast.
• The October association - stands multiplying around the Lima processions.

When to go

Year-round, mostly in the evening. October brings the greatest number of stands in Lima. A few minutes standing at the stall.

Honest expectations

Very sweet and very oily - they are a treat rather than a dessert course. Frying oil quality varies between stands; choose busy ones. They must be eaten immediately or they go soft. Not suitable for anyone avoiding gluten.

Nearby

Lima's Parque Kennedy and the streets around Las Nazarenas are reliable in the evening.