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FijiFlavors · Magdalena
Mashed green guineo banana with butter and costeño cheese, sometimes topped with a sauté of tomato and onion. It is the typical breakfast of the banana-growing area of Magdalena and of Santa Marta.
Traditional dish from Magdalena
Also known as: mote de guineo, mote de guineo verde
Illustrative images. The pictures in this guide are illustrations based on the real place, not photographs, and may differ from it.
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Cayeye — Magdalena, Colombia
Cayeye is a purée made from green guineo banana, a small banana harvested while still green. The bananas are cooked in salted water until soft, then mashed with butter and grated costeño cheese, a white salty cheese from the Caribbean coast.
The dish comes from the department of Magdalena, especially the banana-growing area: Ciénaga, Zona Bananera, Aracataca, Fundación and Santa Marta. The Mayor’s Office of Santa Marta includes it among the breakfasts at the Samaria traditional cuisine festival, and a bill presented in the Senate lists it among the city’s dishes.
The basic version contains only banana, butter, cheese and salt. Many people add a sauté of tomato and onion on top, or serve it with shrimp, shredded beef, pork crackling or bacon. The texture is creamy and the flavor sits between the saltiness of the cheese and the slight bitterness of the green banana.
It is breakfast food, but it appears at any time in homes and restaurants in the region. A story reported in the press links the dish to bananas discarded during the era of the large export companies in the banana zone, a version without verification.
Green guineo banana (small green banana), butter, costeño cheese and salt. Optional: sautéed tomato and onion, shrimp, shredded meat or pork crackling.
Hot, on the plate, with the cheese mixed into the purée; the sauté or protein is placed on top.
Mainly at breakfast.
Your questions
From green guineo banana, a small banana harvested green, cooked and mashed with butter and costeño cheese.
No. It is savory because of the costeño cheese, and has a slight bitterness from the green banana.
Mainly at breakfast, in Magdalena and in Santa Marta, but also at any time of the day.
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