By Àlex Gutiérrez Páez |
Paysandú (Uruguay) (EFE) the confectionery, the one that pushed him to create the Chajá.
Three simple ingredients – sponge cake, meringue and its secret cream – were the ones that he put together on April 27, 1927 to shape a dessert that, 95 years later, is among the 30 best cakes in the world, according to the specialized site that makes culinary rankings Taste Atlas.
A dessert full of feathers
Despite the fact that in its origins and for a long time this classic of Uruguayan gastronomy did not have a name, that changed the day a family friend asked Don Orlando for that dessert “full of feathers and with a light body” -in reference to to the meringue and the mixture of sponge cake and cream-, which reminded him of a Chajá bird.
From that moment, this creation adopted the name of that South American bird and word of mouth consecrated it as one of the best cakes worldwide, competing with other confectionery monsters such as the Argentine Chocotorta, the Brazilian Pavé or the Santiago Cake. Spanish.
“It is a source of pride that they choose this dessert and it makes the family very happy, because it gives us the pattern that we continue to do things well, that people choose us for that fact and that the flavor remains the same,” he says in a The great-grandson of Don Orlando and current owner of Confitería Las Familias, Alfonso Nardini, chats with EFE.
Representing the fourth generation at the helm of this family business, Nardini had to take over the business in 2001 at just 21 years of age, due to the premature death of his father and at a time when the country was going through an economic crisis that dragged him into reinvent the business to survive and position itself among the best.
“We continue with the challenge of trying to continue with a recipe that has been maintained since day one,” insists the great-grandson of the creator of Chajá, although he points out that now they also add acidic fruit to the original recipe -like the classic one, which is the peach-, the strawberry and some new product like the fruits of the forest».
Tourist who comes, Chajá who leaves
Recently, on the occasion of the third ‘National Tomato Tasting’ that took place in Paysandú between February 3 and 4, with a varied gastronomic commitment but with the common element of tomato, Nardini’s team contributed by developing a mixture of Chajá and tomato pulp.
“It turned out very good and left people very happy, which is the important thing,” highlights the heir to Chajá, happy to combine profession, tradition and tourism in a single dessert and in Paysandú, a place with just over 100,000 inhabitants that is recognized for its historic creation.
Under their motto, ‘A tourist who comes, a Chajá who goes’, the success of this family of confectioners led them to market their famous dessert in all the supermarket chains in Uruguay, in their franchise houses in Montevideo and in the department (province) of San José (southwest).
“Our intention is to open more franchise houses throughout the country soon, although we are still in the negotiation process,” confesses Nardini, who seeks to expand the points of purchase of his coveted Chajá so that his “dessert full of feathers” continues to fly nationally. and internationally.
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