San Vicente is one of the departments of El Salvador where there are more than 50 sugar cane mills: an activity that every year becomes a source of employment for the men of the area, who must take advantage of the production season that begins in November and ends in April of the following year.
Don Santos Guevara has been dedicated to this trade since he was 15 years old and, now that he is 73 years old, he continues to work in this work that his parents taught him and with which he has always supported his family. Its mill is located in San Lorenzo, San Vicente.
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Don Santos knows perfectly the tricks to achieve a good production, from the cultivation of sugarcane to the production of honey, sugar cane sugar and smoothies.
He affirmed that, a year, he grows more than 10 sugarcane apples and another he buys it in neighboring municipalities such as San Esteban, Apastepeque, Verapaz and Las Animas, places also recognized for this type of crops, in addition to coffee.
With the help of 16 employees and his family, Don Santos makes about 48 loads of bundles of candy, equivalent to about 4,704 units per month, a considerable production that he manages to sell with his clients, who are merchants who resell them in markets and fairs. from different parts of the country.
Panela sweet is a product that Salvadorans use to make typical dishes, such as fruit confit, torrejas and nuegados, among others.
Final product
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“The whole process of making products with sugarcane juice has its sequence. There is a time for the sweet, another for smoothies and honey. It is not as easy as it seems, at first it costs, but later we get used to this type work, “he said.
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Don Santos and his workers affirmed that the work of making sugar cane in an artisanal way is very hard for those who dedicate themselves to this trade, because it begins with the sowing and cutting of the cane under the sun, they must deal with the fluff of the cane It causes skin injuries and those who work in ovens endure the heat generated by the flames and are exposed to burns.
However, due to the lack of employment in San Lorenzo, work in milling is a good alternative for day laborers to earn an income, which is why they take advantage of the end of the year season to work with Don Santos.
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An employee grinds the cane to extract the juice that then goes to the pots in which they cook the honey. The final product is the panela sweet used for typical dishes.
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The cane juice, converted into honey with the heat, is placed in wooden molds to make the bundles.
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