Making Stretch Mi Guts for The Next Generation  

The small company Belizean Sweets and Treats has prided itself in being a source for authentic Belizean confectioneries. However, it has no intention of being the only source of such treats, as the founder and owner, Sharlene Williams, has partnered with the Girl Guides Association to teach a new generation the skills to preserve Belizean culture and possibly become entrepreneurs in the future. In this week’s episode of Kolcha Tuesday, we observed as Girl Guides secretary, Marilyn Crawford shows us how to make the candy stretch mi guts. Here’s News Five’s Britney Gordon with the story.

 

Britney Gordon, Reporting

The Belizean delicacy stretch mi guts is one of many treats being passed on to a new generation of people. Through a collaboration with the Girl Guides Association of Belize and Belizean Sweets and Treats, the skills needed to prepare these classic candies are being taught to young girls and women so that the tradition may continue to be passed on for years to come. Sharlene Williams, owner of Belizean Sweets and Treats told us about the endeavor.

 

Sharlene Williams, Owner, Belizean Sweets & Treats

“Belizean Sweets and Treats teamed up with Girl Guides Association of Belize to help to promote the Creole culture, to Save our heritage so that our younger people can grow up and know that they’re a part of something Beautiful.”

 

Britney Gordon

“What exactly are you making here today that you taught them yesterday as well?”

 

Sharlene Williams

“Yes, one of the most exciting things for them was the stretch mi guts the name. They’re like, what is it because they have never heard about it before So, we took on the initiative where we are teaching the guiders how to make these treats and when they go to their individual packs, they’ll be able to give that information to then teach their little brownies, their guiders, or their rangers how to do this.”

 

Marilyn Crawford, secretary of the Girls Guides Association of Belize, is one of the women participating in the classes. She recently learned how to make stretch mi guts and explained why initiatives like this are important for young women.

 

Marilyn Crawford, Secretary, Girl Guides Association

“The purpose of it is teaching the girls life skills. So from an early age, they could learn to maybe fry an egg, boil potatoes and stuff like that. So these skills that we are teaching the girls is to take them through their life. So it depends on how they. How they manage themselves as they get older, because we have to face it that there will be hardship and there will be good times. So when they get in difficulties, they should be allowed to help themselves and know how to get out of that.”

 

Williams walked us through the process of making stretch mi guts. She said that it only takes three simple ingredients, sugar, lemon or lime, and coconut water.

 

Sharlene Williams

“With stretch mi guts it’s a combination of sugar, lemon and coconut water. And You pretty much combine them on the stove. These three ingredients on the stove. Make sure you stir it properly. You have a leeway because it doesn’t start to boil until probably twenty minutes in. But after it starts to boil, that is where you need to keep your foot glued in front of the stove. Keep stirring and stirring because you want an even consistency between it. Some people, when it starts to boil, you will notice that it simmers less, and the syrup starts to thicken. This is where the sugar and everything is melting and it’s starting to look like a beautiful combination.”

 

Williams explained that there are two types of stretch mi guts that she makes available. The traditional, taffy consistency and a hard candy option are made for people who find taffy difficult to eat, such as users of braces or dentures.

 

Sharlene Williams

“There’s actually two types of stretch mi guts. You have the hard candy, which you can suck as a sweet. And you have, like what the name says, stretch mi guts, where you bite it. And you have a lingering piece, it’s like a taffy. With the association yesterday, we ended up making the hard candy. So in today’s session, we are now making the taffy candy. Here we go. For it to be the hard candy, you need to be to seventy-two, seventy-five degrees. But most people do not have a thermometer. So what we did when we were younger, my grandmother would have a little dish with water. When you see your sugar starts to boil less, you would take a little bit from the spoon for it in the water. And if she’s able to pick it up with her hand and you’re able to stretch it in those, you know that you’re almost there. So when you reach that consistency, you It is where you would pull it out, and that would give you the taffy one. Now, if you would boil it a little bit longer, then it would then transfer into the hard candy version.”

 

Williams and Crawford finished the batch by showing us how to stretch each piece as its name calls for, cautioning us to not burn ourselves in the process.

 

Sharlene Williams

“The tedious process is when you go from your pot to the pan. You have to make sure that even before you start the process, that your pan is greased. Because just that little time between transitioning to the stove and you’re trying to grease it, it can turn from taffy to hard candy, and if it’s already at a hard candy, it can go to burnt candy. So you make sure that your pan is greased. You spread it out on your pan. That too in itself takes a little time. But what we have is a spatula, and we would continue to scrape from the sides, scrape on the sides. The idea is to just have an amount in the middle. Because the side starts to cool quicker, and cool, once sugar gets cool, it starts to get hard.”

 

Britney Gordon for News Five.