Comments on: Cocona Charapa Salsa

By: chavigalvez

chavigalvez — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 23:49:17 +0000

one thing about charapa! My husband comes from the rainforest area of Peru (we have a huge rainforest area) and he tells me that charapa is the name of a turtle, a river turtle. People that immigrate to more urban areas, are recognized for their sweet and musical accent, and they immediately receive the nickname of charapas!

By: chavigalvez

chavigalvez — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 23:47:09 +0000

Love to see so many comments and so much interest about my dear Peruvian food.
One thing about Peruvian, as I see it, is that nothing is written in stone! that means that if you do not have cocona (only available in certain regions of Peru) you can recreate this recipe with other exotic fruits. You can try using mango for example, but use the mango when it is not fully ripe, that way it will be not too soft, and not that sweet!
Cocona is very acidic so I think mango will work just as well.
Continue having fun and experimenting with salsas and recipes from Peru. It is a new world of creativity and taste. Peruvian food is an art and a passion!

By: Lori

Lori — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 15:07:04 +0000

oooh, that looks good. I’ll have to see I can find something like a “cocona” here in Ecuador.

By: MyKitchenInHalfCups

MyKitchenInHalfCups — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 17:36:18 +0000

The only way I’d ever come close to this is a trip to Peru but I would love to try this.

By: lisaiscooking

lisaiscooking — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 02:08:55 +0000

Sounds fantastic! I’d love to visit Peru and try this.

By: Wendy

Wendy — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 16:58:24 +0000

It sounds wonderful. Too bad we can’t try it in the States. I love all your photos of Peru. They’re gorgeous!

By: yaelian

yaelian — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 11:47:58 +0000

Sounds lovely! Wish I could find cocona and aji charapa and all the other lovely ajis and lucuma and the lovely corn varieties here where I live….

I hope Peru continues to export more and more of things like this. ~Gretchen

By: snooky doodle

snooky doodle — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 07:42:52 +0000

interesting! I ve never heard of cocona

It is something I had not heard of before Peru, now I really enjoy it! ~Gretchen

By: Vicki

Vicki — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 06:10:45 +0000

I’m so sad that I’ll probably never be able to make this! Is there anything that I could substitute for the cocona?

Texture wise, I would try mango; although the flavor isn’t quite the same. ~Gretchen