Every March 19, Bolivian families prepare to celebrate Father's Day and on that date the tradition of sharing a salteña in schools, offices and other spaces has spread in order to commemorate this day.
Just as this date is important to celebrate parents, it is also an opportunity to recognize the Salta artisans who put their knowledge, passion and use various techniques and professional and family secrets that give each Salta empanada a distinctive seal.
Salteña is an empanada made with a crunchy and delicate dough that balances the flavor of salt with a touch of sweetness. It contains a juicy filling very typical of the country called jigote made from beef or chicken. Even now the well-known fricassee salteñas and vegetarian salteñas are made in order to satisfy all tastes. If for some the key is in the filling, for most the secret and characteristic element of this bite is the dough.
This is how Víctor Hugo Quisbert Paredes, owner of Salteñería el Diablo, located in La Paz, tells us that he has been in business for 30 years. Quisbert points out that “quality ingredients are the key to achieving the desired product. To make the dough, we daily use top quality flour, Fino oil, Gordito butter and selected meats, this is how we satisfy our customers.”
For his part, Álvaro Borja has been working in the field for 38 years through his family business founded by his parents, whom he recognizes for their dedication to starting and sustaining the business. “At first it was all trial and error, but over time we have become more uniform and have managed to standardize our recipe. For Salteñería Tiki in Cochabamba, the essential thing is the flour we buy, the Gordito butter with which we have been working for several years and the chili as a complement to the flavor. Added to that is the special touch of my parents who taught us everything about the business,” says Mr. Borja.
The preparation and sale of salteñas is a deep-rooted tradition and it is common to find small family businesses and large salteñaries that offer this delicious snack. The stories of the Salteñería el Diablo and the Salteñería Tiki are the example of decades of work and dedication in the trade, but there are also cases of more recent salteñeros who learned the trade first and then became entrepreneurs, thus demonstrating that this field is both an option to generate resources and to protect national traditions.
Alicorp, a leading mass consumption company, manufacturer of the emblematic FINO oil and a wide portfolio of cleaning brands, among which is Gordito butter, wants to celebrate Father's Day by recognizing the work of the Salta masters who are behind the production of this emblematic Bolivian dish.
“This date is a good occasion to celebrate the Salta workers and parents who prepare this Bolivian culinary delight. That is why we take advantage of Father's Day to highlight their work as artisans, as entrepreneurs and as custodians of the country's gastronomic heritage,” said Jaime Hamel, B2B brand manager at Alicorp.
About Alicorp
Alicorp has operations in 5 Latin American countries and its more than 120 brands reach 30 nations. Alicorp specializes in four business lines: 1) Mass consumption (in the food, personal and home care categories), 2) B2B (industrial flours, industrial butters, premixes and gastronomy products), 3) Aquaculture (balanced feed for fish and shrimp) and 4) Grain milling (soybeans and sunflower seeds).
In Bolivia it has 3 plants nationwide and its brands include: Fino, Sabrosa, Regia, Bolívar, Plusbelle, Don Vittorio, AlaCena, Ángel, Opal, Dento, Sapolio and Uno. Likewise, the company works with more than a thousand farmers dedicated to the cultivation of soybeans and sunflowers.