Sweet Bean Confection

Sweet Bean Confection!!

My sweetest childhood memories of Easter have undoubtedly been and will be around the “Frejol Colado (Sweet Bean Confection)” prepared with great eagerness by my grandmother, my mom and aunts, and of course the dispute among my cousins ​​and I for having the ladle or scraping the pot at the end of the day.

It is a long process but rewarded with a delicious and aromatic delicacy that has an exquisite texture like mousse, which is savored alone or accompanied by bread.

Many said that African slaves in the 16th century at the southern plantations in Cañete, Chincha and Ica were the ones who first made “Frejol Colado”, others that it was created by the nuns of the time, the truth is that in the mid-19th century it was called "potos de colado" because they were served and distributed at Easter time in small containers made of dried squash.

The name "Colado (Strained)" is given because this is how the dough was known as a result from sifting or straining the parboiled beans through a tablecloth, thus obtaining a smooth puree that was then mixed with the other ingredients.

Ricardo Palma (Peruvian Writer) in the Pregones (Street Cries) in his Peruvian Traditions Book (1883) mentions:

At eleven o'clock the Melonera and the mulatto woman from the convent sold

Ranfañote, Cocada, Bocado de Rey, Chancaquitas and “Frejoles Colados”

Frejol Colado!!