The guava fruit has played an important role in Cuban-American cuisine, emanating in Florida
If anybody is qualified to talk about guavas, it’s somebody from “The Big Guava” (i.e. me)… or more popularly known as Tampa, Florida. I had no clue this was one of the city’s nicknames until the quickly defunct music festival Big Guava spent a couple of years in town. Long story short, the moniker dates back to the late 1800’s when a Spanish immigrant businessman failed to create a guava production business that inadvertently led to the growth of the cigar industry in Ybor City, something the city is still globally renowned for today. In those days, Ybor City was the City of Tampa. There wasn’t much else there. Ybor City, and more specifically the cigar industry, was the foundation the city of Tampa was built on. The odd importance guavas had on the growth of Tampa wasn’t lost on Tampa Bay Times columnist Steve Otto, who coined the nickname “The Big Guava” in the 1970’s.
The largest port on Florida’s west coast, Tampa has long had ties to Cuba, but those ties grew stronger in the early 1900’s when the cigar industry moved to Ybor City. At its peak, with more than 200 cigar factories and tens of thousands of workers, Ybor City became the “cigar capital of the world“. It’s ironic, or coincidental perhaps, that guavas led to the growth of Ybor City – a place steeped in rich Cuban heritage – because guavas are an iconic component of Cuban cuisine and culture. Guavas trees grow wildly and abundantly. Guavas are commonly used in Cuban pastries and desserts. Nothing beats a good Guava Cheese Pastry.
As an aside, Tampa has some of the absolute best Cuban food in the world outside of Cuba: shoutout La Teresita and West Tampa Sandwich Shop.
The Guava fruit has seen a thing or two. It’s been around for several thousand years. Archaeologists believe the crop originated in Peru, around 800 BCE. The fruit is especially popular among Latin American, Spanish, and Portuguese cuisines, which makes sense given its geography and world history. The fruit grows abundantly in warm, tropical climates, like the Caribbean. Spanish conquistadors first discovered the fruit in Haiti and introduced it to Europe.
Tampa isn’t the only place in Florida with a rich history tied to guavas. If Tampa is known as “The Big Guava” then South Florida should be known as “The King Guava”. I flip between two definitions of South Florida: 1) everything south of Orlando or 2) everything between Ft. Lauderdale and Homestead. This is one of the few places in the United States where guavas have a chance of thriving. According to the Coral Gables Museum, the crop brought prosperity to the area in the 1800’s, after being imported from Cuba some time shortly before. The land the City of Coral Gables sits on today was once almost entirely a guava plantation. Cuban influence on South Florida goes far beyond guavas, but the fruit is still a central figure. Pastries, or “pastelitos” are nearly as synonymous with Miami as “bagels” are to NYC. If any fruit were to be the face of pastelitos, it would be guava.
Cuban cuisine is fascinating because it often fuses European with Latin American, Caribbean, and African techniques and flavors. Cuba was first occupied by Spain in the 1500’s. Once a sleepy colony, Cuba grew into the world’s largest exporter of sugar by the mid 1800’s. This required a large workforce, and, if you’re aware of the state of the world during this period of time, you’ll understand that the workforce was mostly African slaves. Over half the population of Cuba in 1840 were enslaved. Also during this period of time, and just like the land a mere 90 miles north (United States, Civil War), conflict was brewing in Cuba. Eventually the people of Cuba would revolt, the Ten Years War would ensure, and independence would officially be recognized as an independent state in 1902.
Cuba’s independence opened its economy to the United States for the first time. The tobacco industry was quickly transplanted north, first to Key West before settling in Ybor City. Sugar still dominated Cuba’s agricultural industry, and most of it was traded to the United States by this time. Spain had practically ceased commerce with Cuba, and the United States quickly became Cuba’s largest trading partner. It makes perfect sense given the proximity to the United States, but it wouldn’t last long due to political conflict between the two countries. A strong nationalist movement that resulted from the Ten Year’s War would eventually give way to an outright revolution in the 1950’s. Rebel – and communist – leader Fidel Castro would take control of the country in 1959. An embargo ensued. The United States-Cuba relationship would become the center of the Cold War, and the geopolitical aberration Cuba had been synonymous with continued to evolve.
The United State’s embargo of Cuba had global ramifications, but the rest of the world didn’t follow. It mostly remained open to Cuba. Diplomatic relations between the European Union and Cuba were struck in 1988. To this day, the EU remains Cuba’s largest trading partner and foreign investor. A significant portion of Cuba’s tourism revenue comes from European travelers as well. The United States’ embargo of Cuba left a massive void for someone to fill, and the European Union has more or less tried to fill it.
Everything and everyone has history. And, more often than not that history is fascinating to the average person. But, the history of Cuba is truly unlike anything else. It’s a small but beautiful country, with beautiful people and a beautiful culture. It’s gone through turmoil. It’s caused turmoil. It’s been front and center on the world stage. It’s an aberration. Despite the United State’s embargo, the proximity to South Florida proved to make it impossible for Cuban culture – and literally people – not to migrate north. As someone who grew up in the South Florida (Tampa counts right?), the ingratiation of Cuban – and more broadly Latin American – culture is wonderful. It’s palpable. And, there’s nothing more palpable than a guava cheese pastry.
The guava cheese pastry is a perfect example of Cuba’s wide range of culinary influence; puff pastry filled with guava jam and cream cheese. Or in other words, one part European, one part Cuban, one part American. It’s widely believed that cream cheese portion is the result of American influence both in Cuba pre-embargo and in South Florida with the proliferation of Cuban immigrants during the fallout of Fidel Castro’s communist takeover. Beatriz Porto, owner of Porto’s Bakery, a popular Cuban Bakery in Southern California talked to the Epoch Times about the influence the Cuban population of Miami had on the popular guava cheese pastry:
“I remember my father mentioned after coming back from a trip from Miami in the ’70s that they were doing variations of different guava pastries with cheese,” she said. “That’s when he and my mother began to work on the ‘refugiado’ recipe we have today.”
Refugiado is the trademarked name for Porto’s Bakery’s version of a guava cheese pastry. The guava cheese pastry is so well known that even Entenmann’s makes a version, which means you can find them in grocery stores nationwide. It’s interesting how American cuisine influenced the cheese into the pastry, and Cuban cuisine influenced the pastry onto the United States.
As I mentioned multiple times, nothing beats a guava cheese pastry… especially now knowing its fascinating origin story. There’s a lot chaos and conflict in this world, and there always will be quite frankly. It may sound silly, but the following is true: the guava cheese pastry is a positive result of messy global conflict. It’s is a blend of European, Cuban. and American culinary influence that evolved through conflict and crossed borders despite a strict United States embargo on Cuba that left global ramifications. If that’s not a testament to the human spirit, I don’t know what is. Most Cuban immigrants’ stories of coming to the United States are fraught with trial, tribulation, and heartbreak. Cubans have and continue to prove that the human spirit and quest for the best life possible is boundless. The guava cheese pastry has proved that culture and creativity is boundless. So, if you know someone who doesn’t think globalization isn’t a good thing, just talk to them about the Guava Cheese Pastry.