It's a real ice cream flavor: guinea pig. Anyone who thinks of guinea pigs as cute furry pets might find that idea hard to digest. The rodents are a traditional hot dish in some Latin American countries, including Colombia, Peru and Bolivia. In Ecuador, people typically cook guinea pigs with salt and serve them with potatoes and peanut sauce. But one seller is taking things to another gastronomic level, serving guinea pigs as a cold dessert: ice cream!
Some people like this kind of ice cream made from "cuy", as the animal is locally known. "I was suspicious, but it was tasty," said Marlene Franco, a 78-year-old retiree who tried a scoop at a stall next to a highway linking Quito, the capital city of Ecuador, to the city of Sangolqui.
The stall owner is María del Carmen Pilapaña, whose unusual offering inspires disbelief and laughter among first-time customers. Pilapaña's stall is small. It consists of two tables in an open area. There are dentists' offices and other shops around. Even so, demand is growing. Every week, Pilapaña prepares 150 servings ($1 each) of guinea pig ice cream. She also makes 40 servings of ice cream flavored with beetles, also traditionally eaten as a salty snack, and a smaller amount of mushroom ice cream.
Pilapaña manages to concentrate guinea pig flavor after cooking and preparing a paste from the animal's flesh, adds milk or cream and refrigerates the concoction until it has the consistency of ice cream. The taste is similar to chicken. The beetle and mushroom ice creams include fruits such as pineapple and passion fruit. Beetle ice cream has a slight aroma of wet earth.
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