Moreover, for purists who can’t stand the clear and diluted versions of this drink called -the ‘Americano’-, its eventual consumption is made more bearable when they dip the ‘panatela’ in what some kindly call ‘agüe’calzón’.

Here there is an abundance of pastries to ‘chuponear’: ‘pichardines’, ‘peperechas’, ‘santanecas’, ‘marquesotes’ and ‘quesadillas’ lend themselves to this almost liturgical custom, although many prefer ‘salpor’ and ‘semita’.

Salpor is a small sponge cake made with rice and almond flour, typical of the local bakery, difficult to swallow dry, but ideal to dip in a cup of coffee before each bite.

The term is said to be a contraction of ‘salt, please’, although it also denotes a variety of corn sifted into a very fine powder.

In turn, the semita is a kind of sandwich, only that the covers are two sheets of whole wheat flour, crunchy and of medium thickness, which hold a panela syrup (raspadura), sometimes mixed with pineapple jelly, and sprinkled with sugar.

A peculiarity is the net-like design of its cover, which differentiates it from other local recipes with the same ingredients: flour, sugar, lard, yeast, egg and salt.

There are two types of semitas in El Salvador: the pacha (flatter) and the alta (more voluminous and without filling), but both with the characteristic decoration and a considerable caloric load.

Whether after meals or at mid-morning, salpor, semita or other national pastries add body to the dark infusion, but also to those who consume them, because they do not help anyone on a diet.

These sweets are longed for by the Salvadoran diaspora, those ‘distant brothers’ urge for a piece of their sweet homeland to appease the nostalgia, that little pain that only home cures.

(Taken from Orbe)

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