Have you ever tried carica in syrup of Dieng Wonosobo? This desert has very unique aroma and taste. Though it is packed in bottle, it has no preservative at all, just contains sugar. This syrup has been developed less 3 decades ago in Wonosobo.

Carica in syrup is made of Carica Cundi Namarsensis, other species of papaya. This species is smaller  than papaya, and usually in one tree can be 20 to 30 fruits or more. It said that it grows nowhere else in Indonesia, only in Dieng of Wonosobo and in Mexico. This fruit could be brought by Dutch in occupation period. The young fruit is green, and when ripe it will be yellow.

The smell is so nice, and inviting. Put ice cube to the syrup, and it is ready to go. The taste of the fruit is just like a blend of jackfruit and mango.

Before the syrup development, carica fruit was just like toy for children in Dieng. They made car or other toys of carica, or even played it as ball. Fresh carica, even the ripe one is sour. As carica processing more popular, it becomes a good comodity for local people. They harvest and sell to market. 1 KG can be Rp.10.000.

And we can cook caryca in syrup at home too. Buy one or two kilograms at market. Peel it, take out the seed. Squeeze the seed that contains jelly to get the extract, this will make the syrup nice. And cut carica to smaller pieces. Put water and the extract from the jelly seed, plus sugar. Boil it, and then put the carica fruit. And done! Simple isnt it? Put in the fridge for cold dessert.