The Washington Post - USA (2021-10-27)

KLMNO

Food

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 27 , 2021. WASHINGTONPOST.COM/FOOD EZ EE K E

NOURISH

Overnight oats are an old standby,

but the simple trick of adding

pumpkin puree makes them a

seasonal treat that’s ready to go. E4

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A bakery in

Tucson

prepares for

Día de los

Muertos by

baking the

symbolic treat

Pan de

muerto:

A labor of

loaves for

dear souls

Sandra Franco of

La Estrella

sprinkles colored

sugars on a pan de

muerto after it has

been glazed with a

syrup made from

honey and

cinnamon.

An ofrenda, or

altar, at one of La

Estrella Baker y’s

locations in Tucson

honors the dead

with d ecor ated

skulls, loaves of pan

de muerto, photos

of loved ones and

marigolds. The

ofrenda serves as a

gateway for the

dead to reenter the

world of the living.

ma,” says Joseph Postman, retired

curator and plant pathologist at

the U.S. Agriculture Department’s

National Clonal Germ p lasm Re-

pository.

Cutting into the fruit the first

time is a strange experience. The

flesh is dense, dry, a little woody

even. The core has an almond-like

shape, and the membrane con-

taining the tiny mahogany seeds

— the endocarp — is thick and

tough. Slice the fruit into wedges

and t hen carefully cut out the core

by making a deepish V with a

paring knife or using a melon

baller. For kitchen tool geeks, a

SEE QUINCE ON E6

BY DEBORAH REID

Special to The Washington P ost

The wintry s eason will see more
of us embracing time in our kitch-
ens. Conditions are right for find-
ing a cooking project with a mod-
est learning curve and big re-
wards. It’s an opportune moment
to discover quince, the final act in
the year’s fruit season.
Quince is ginkgo-leaf yellow
when ripe, and the pome is sensu-
al to the eye and in hand — all
Rubenesque curves and dimples.
It was a symbol of love, happiness
and fertility for the ancient
Greeks. But its sauterne scent is
the real seduction: honey, ripe
pineapple and antique roses.
“In the orchard, the ripe fruit is
so fragrant it’s a challenge to eval-
uate individual varieties for aro-

Cook q uince and watch

it go from wan to ... wow!

RECIPES ON E6

Poached Quince l Kale and Herb

Salad With Poached Quince l Goat

Milk Pudding and Poached Quince

With Rose Water

The Washington Post published a

recipe for Pumpkin Spice Cake,

which may have launched the

trend. (We’ve updated the recipe

at washingtonpost.com/recipes.)

The original and updated reci-

pes have in common that they

don’t call for a premade mix.

Instead, you combine individual

spices out of the pantry. With a

pumpkin (pie) spice blend from

the store, the work is done for you.

My advice: Ta ke it a step above by

making your own blend to have

on hand. By doing so, you gain the

convenience of a premade blend

but one that’s fresher and more

vibrant than what’s at the store,

with plenty of room for personal-

ization. Plus, you can make as

SEE PUMPKIN ON E6

BY BECKY KRYSTAL

Before there was pumpkin

spice latte — and pumpkin spice

Oreos and cereal and deodorant

and pumpkin spice everything

else — there was pumpkin spice.

Or pumpkin pie spice, depending

on who is talking about it and

marketing it. Either way, this aro-

matic blend has been maligned

and mangled until it’s often no

longer recognizable or even good.

At this point, even the super-

market shelf jar of pumpkin pie

spice seems like a purer distilla-

tion of the concept, so far from its

origins as we now are. Those

origins? As my colleague Maura

Judkis pointed out a few years

ago, there’s a compelling case to

be made that “The call is coming

from inside the house!” In 1936,

Pumpkin spice is better

when you blend a batch

RECIPE ON E6

Pumpkin Spice Mix

TEXT BY G. DANIELA GALARZA, PHOTOS BY CASSIDY ARAIZA

IN TUCSON

D

ía de los Muertos, the festival that honors the

dead, falls on Nov. 1 and 2 every year and is

celebrated in Mexico and throughout Latin

America. This year, it also marks the 35th anni-

versary of La Estrella Bakery, where the Franco

family has been baking pan de muerto — sweet, round

loaves full of symbolism — for Día de los Muertos since

1985.

“We actually opened on Oct. 31, 1985, just in time for Día

de los Muertos,” says Erica Franco. Her parents, Marta and

Antonio Franco, founded the bakery after immigrating to

Tucson from central Mexico in the 1970s. To day, L a Estrella

operates three locations. Marta, Antonio and Jose Franco

(Antonio’s brother) are on-site every day. Marta and Anto-

nio’s children help manage the business, too: Jorge is the

head baker, and Erica Franco, Sandra Franco and Isabel

Montaño manage the books, special orders, wholesale

deliveries and partnerships with local schools and univer-

sities.

When covid-19 hit, the bakery — which makes dozens of

types of breads, pastries and cookies in addition to flour

tortillas a nd tamales — turned into a makeshift community

center. “We closed for one d ay, just to sort of figure out what

we were going to do,” Erica Franco says, “but when we

reopened the next day, we had a line out the door. People

wanted t o check on us, to check on their neighbors, a nd they

just wanted their bread.” The lines can be especially long

starting in mid-October through mid-November, when La

Estrella starts selling its locally famous pan de muerto.

The bread’s base is soft and rich, with lots of eggs,

butter, sugar, cinnamon and orange zest. “Traditionally,

SEE ESTRELLA ON E8