Calabaza en Tacha

Wash the pumpkin, cut it in half from stem to base and scrape out the seeds and stringy fibres with a large spoon. Leave the skin on and cut each half into wedges about 6 cm wide, halving any long wedges across so they will lie flat in the pot.

Score the flesh of each wedge in a criss-cross pattern about 1 cm deep, without cutting through to the skin, so the syrup can soak in.

Pare the peel from the orange in wide strips with a vegetable peeler, leaving the bitter white pith behind, then squeeze out the juice.

Put the piloncillo or dark brown sugar into a wide, heavy pot about 28 cm across that has a lid, and add the 250 ml of water, the orange peel and juice, the cinnamon sticks and the cloves. Stir over a medium heat until the sugar has melted into a syrup, 10 to 15 minutes, pressing any hard lumps of piloncillo against the side of the pot as they soften.

Lay the pumpkin in the syrup skin side down, packing the pieces snugly in one or two layers with the largest at the bottom, and spoon some of the syrup over the top.

Bring to a gentle simmer, cover and cook over a low heat for 1 hour, lifting the lid every 15 minutes to spoon the syrup over the pumpkin. The pumpkin releases its own juice at first, so the syrup looks thin at this stage.

Uncover the pot. If the pumpkin is in two layers, carefully swap the top and bottom pieces with a slotted spoon so they colour evenly.

Simmer uncovered over a low heat for 30 to 60 minutes more, basting every 10 minutes, until the pumpkin is dark amber and glossy, a knife slides into the flesh with no resistance and the syrup coats a spoon like runny honey. If the syrup thickens before the pumpkin is tender, put the lid back on.

Turn off the heat and leave the pumpkin in the pot for at least 20 minutes; the syrup thickens as it cools. To serve it cold, chill it in its syrup.

Serve a piece or two per bowl, warm or cold, with plenty of syrup spooned over, and pour a little of the cold milk around the pumpkin if you like.