Picarones: Squash Doughnut Technique

Overview

Picarones — the Peruvian street doughnut made from squash and sweet potato, fried in rings and served with fig or quince syrup — is the direct Peruvian descendant of Spanish buñuelos (fritters) adapted with Indigenous Andean sweet potato and squash. The specific technique: the squash and sweet potato provide both sweetness and natural starch for leavening the dough; the yeast provides additional CO₂; the combination produces a dough light enough to fry to airy crispness without added sugar.

Key Principles

- **Squash and sweet potato:** Cooked and blended to a smooth purée — provides starch, moisture, natural sugars, and the orange colour

- **The dough:** Purée, flour, yeast, anise (whole seeds — the essential aromatic) — mixed to a soft, slightly sticky dough that requires a warm proof of 1–2 hours

- **The shaping:** Wet hands to prevent sticking; the picarón is formed into a ring directly in the hot oil by inserting a wet thumb through the centre

- **The syrup:** Chancaca (raw cane sugar block) dissolved with fig, quince, or orange peel — poured warm over the fresh picarones

Source

Peru (Acurio)