Rings of squash and sweet potato dough, fried and drenched in a spiced syrup of chancaca.
What makes it picarones
A yeasted dough of squash and sweet potato.
Shaped into rings by hand and fried.
Chancaca syrup, spiced with cinnamon and cloves, sometimes fig leaf and orange.
Where it comes from
They're often said to descend from Spanish buñuelos, with squash and sweet potato worked into the dough — a change usually credited to Afro-Peruvian cooks. The rings are pulled by hand and dropped straight into the oil, and they're eaten hot from the stall.