Tracking down Granitos from Humacao, Puerto Rico

If there is one thing we love, it is solving (or attempting to solve, as the case may be) enigmatic food mysteries from around the world. Among the most elusive foods we have learned about recently is the granito, a canoe-shaped Puerto Rican rice flour fritura, stuffed with cheese. As far as we can tell, granitos are found only in the town of Humacao, on the Eastern coast of the island. The preparation is fairly simple and requires few ingredients, which are then eventually fried up into a finished product. Check out Granitos in production in Humacao, or this Granito sideshow from Slow Food Puerto Rico. RecipeLink has a simple-sounding recipe, which we may soon try. However, a RecipeLink poster has stated that the previous recipe is actually for almojabanas, a sibling of granitos. Other posters have commented that almojabanas are not a fair substitute (text in Spanish) and true granitos are stuffed with cheese, and don’t have cheese incorporated throughout.

Slow Food PR has some information about how granitos came to be, as told by one Mrs. Bartolo Rodriguez. Apparently, the original recipe for granitos was inherited by her father, Mr. Rodriguez, from Don Vicente Vazquez  in the sixties. It was Mr. Rodriguez who came up with the signature canoe shape, and it was his daughter, Mrs. Bartolo Rodriguez, who added the cube of cheese to the center of the granito.  On the site they are also referred to as “granos,” Spanish for “grains,” no doubt where the rice-shaped granitos or “little grains” earned their name. You can read the complete story in Spanish on the Slow Food page. Origin nonwithstanding, I still haven’t been able to find an approved recipe for granitos. So can anyone find describe a true recipe for these enigmatic snacks?