Recipes from 1875, six generations and customers in Buenos Aires: the sweet story of La Polaca, in Oria
Confitería La Polaca, in Oria, has kept its traditional recipes since 1875: the sixth generation is still at the helm and its sweets reach as far as Argentina.
Automatic translation: this article was translated with artificial intelligence from the original in Spanish. Read the original
In Oria there are flavours that are not to be tampered with. The roscos de viento, esparteñas and cabello de ángel (angel hair) sweets of Confitería La Polaca are still made with the same recipes as always, those of a business that opened its doors in 1875, more than a century and a half ago. Today it is Ana Esther Requena del Águila, the sixth generation of the family, who keeps the bakehouse alive.
As the owner has told La Voz de Almería, it all began in the second half of the 19th century, when several Italian families arrived at the port of Almería. Hers, originally from Naples, opened the confectioner’s in the Almanzora Valley in 1875, the date also given by Turismo Almanzora and the Andalusian regional government (Junta de Andalucía).
Ana Esther had not planned to take over so soon. She trained with the idea of becoming a vet, but a health problem of her mother’s brought forward her arrival in the family business. “I have learnt from my grandfather and from my mother,” she says, and she has since completed her training with courses in more modern confectionery, “because you have to adapt to every era”.
What does not change is the essential part: “The recipes are still made the same way,” she says. Her ancestors kneaded by hand and baked in a village oven; today there is machinery, but, according to Turismo Almanzora, most of the process is still done by hand.
The traditional sweets
- Roscos de viento, esparteñas and cabello de ángel: the house’s oldest and also the most sought-after, according to the owner.
- Roscos de San Blas: the large painted roscos (ring-shaped cakes) of the saint’s festivities. “Legend has it that it protects the throat in winter,” notes Turismo Almanzora.
- At Christmas: almond alfajor, polvorones and mantecados.
From Oria to Buenos Aires
And its sweets do not stay in the village: as well as its customers in Oria and the nearby villages, and buyers from the neighbouring provinces, the confectioner’s sends orders to Argentina, to Buenos Aires, and to France, for those who emigrated and have not forgotten the sweets of their homeland.
In a village in the Sierra de las Estancias, an artisan bakehouse reaching its sixth generation is much more than a curiosity: it is a craft that is not being lost and a thread that links Oria with those who left. The succession, for now, is yet to be decided: there are candidates, but they are still minors. “As they used to tell me, ‘you study and then we’ll see’,” Ana Esther sums up.
La Polaca is at Avenida de Andalucía, 22, in Oria, and its phone number, according to Turismo Almanzora, is 950 785 534.
From elValle Actualidad, we can only hope that La Polaca’s oven stays lit for many more generations.
