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Food / Feature Articles

Translated by Cristina Espejo



Josefa Marmanillo was a black slave who, in Lima in the XVIIIth century, would go all the way to the Nazarenas church with a Bible and a rosary, seeking spiritual comfort and refuge from the Cristo Morado, and hoping that he would perform the miracle of healing her paralyzed arms. Until one day, on the first Sunday of October, she came to him with a curious offering: a pastry covered in honey and sprinkled with colorful candies. A sweet ray of light came over the cook’s joints, who healed, while her sweet offering became an important part of religious symbolism in Peru; Josefa’s turrón was born, or Doña Pepa’s turrón, as her friends would call her, and as we know her now.

What no one imagined was that after this tender dessert (made with 1 kg flour, 8 egg yolks, ¼ lard, ¼ butter, a tablespoon of ground sesame seeds, a cup of water and a tablespoon of concentrated anis seed), a range of different pastries would begin to appear, and other sweet delicacies using oranges, figs and the essential chancaca honey as their bases. Tacna Ave. suddenly became a small market teeming with “vivanderas”: picarones, yucca pastries, ranfañotes and turrones.

All of a sudden, an army of vendors began to populate the city’s streets selling sanguito, a dessert made with corn flour, lard, raisins and chancaca honey. And then, of course, these irresistible delights became the temptations that devout Christians were never able to resist.

A sweet fusion

Though many traditional dessert-lovers lament the near extinction of some sweets, such as ranfoñote, Lima has always shown a particular preference for desserts: green figs in syrup, frejol colado, the timeless cocadas and sesame seed biscuits, the best examples of which could be found in a famous bakery near the Nazarenas. Today they are no longer as popular, but there are still some places where they can be enjoyed.
Nevertheless, some other sweet delicacies still maintain an admirable vitality: arroz con leche, suspiro a la limeña, arroz zambito, and of course, mazamorra morada, along with her sister, chicha morada, both daughters of the Peruvian purple corn.
But, considering that pre-hispanic sweets were limited to bee’s honey, roasted sweet potato, fruits and carob pods, since when have desserts rooted themselves so strongly in Peru? According to the chronologist Inca Garcilaso, sweets became a part of our cuisine with the arrival of the Spaniards, when the first sugar cane processing plant was established in Huánuco, the first of many which would appear all along the Peruvian territory, especially on the coast.
In this way, the sweet Spanish recipes, mixed with local creativity, and, above all, native ingredients, would derive in a fascinating array of wonderful new creations.

Beloved mazamorra

These typical sweets could be found on the streets of Lima, such as champús (a warm drink with pieces of pineapple or lemon), alfajores, picarones, humitas, turrones, cookies, candies, mazamorra and ice cream; a great parade of products to satisfy anyone’s sweet tooth.
Time has now taken these friendly street vendors, that decorated XVIIth century Lima, still surrounded by an anti-pirate wall, but the inheritance of their work is still alive. They live, for example, in the corn cobs of the purple corn that, after being boiled with sweet potato flour, dried prunes, dried apricot, cloves and cinnamon, results in a delicious thick pudding sprinkled with cinnamon: mazamorra morada (click here for the recipe), such a representative dessert of Lima, as are mazamorra de chancaca, arroz zambito and suspiro a la limeña.
As things are now, everything seems to indicate that Lima will continue being the kingdom of manjar blanco, cakes, and leche asada, alfajores, crema volteada, suspiro a la limeña, picarones and candied apples. Thank goodness.