A friend who visits his family in Puerto Rico brought me a 1-pound tin of guava paste as a gift. It's very good with cheese. But since there's so much of it, I'm looking for other ways to use it.

I've had it about 6 months. How long does it keep?

It should still be fine. Guava paste is rather like fruit leather -- it's very dense and sweet. It's really beautiful stuff.

Try arranging alternate slices of guava paste and slices of good cream cheese on a small plate and drizzle on some guava juice if you have it.

Douglas Rodriguez does stuff with guava that's dynamite. One thing is guava paste used as a filling in little cookies or turnovers made from sweet cream cheese dough.

Another idea is to put a thin slice of guava paste between thin slices of a spicy salami. It is out of this world. You could easily serve it as party food.

-Lynne

Lynne Rossetto Kasper
Lynne Rossetto Kasper has won numerous awards as host of The Splendid Table, including two James Beard Foundation Awards (1998, 2008) for Best National Radio Show on Food, five Clarion Awards (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2014) from Women in Communication, and a Gracie Allen Award in 2000 for Best Syndicated Talk Show.