NOGADAS
More than 30 years Víctor Núñez (Ibarra´s artisan entrepreneur) has maintained this sweet tradition. After the death of his mother Ana de Núñez, a pioneer in the commercialization of nogadas and blackberry syrup, Victor's brothers decided to close the business, but he wanted to continue with the production of these sweets.
PREPARATION
After 5 hours on the fire in large pans, the panela becomes honey, the preparation requires time and patience, then Victor puts on a pair of industrial gloves to avoid burns and calmly holds the hot handles of the pan to transfer the product to another pan. Once the panela has been diluted by the fire and poured into the other bronze pan, Victor takes a wooden paddle to begins to move the preparation.
Meanwhile, one of his assistants places pieces of tocte. "The measurements to make the nogadas must be exact," says Victor, while he moves the panela with force, because when it cools, it thickens and is more difficult to stir.
The nogadas and blackberry syrup are made every week and upon request.
THE RAW MATERIAL
White or black, sugar or panela, is the raw material used to make the nogadas, which, according to Victor, have been prepared for more than 100 years.
He says that they were called "the sweet of the big houses", referring to the landowners of the time, who considered the nogada their dessert.
In fact, in the past, every house had a walnut tree.
After several decades, this sweet was commercialized in the form of nougat, and later, nogadas were sold packed in the traditional boxes we all know.

FRUITS SYRUP

Arrope de mora has own history, and its origins date back to the Otavalo canton, but later it spread to Ibarra and its reception was so great that everyone associated arrope and nogadas with the city of Ibarra.
"My mother had to look for the ideal recipe for arrope," says Victor and clarifies that arrope is not a jam nor is it a jelly. In fact, it is a liquid honey that can be used in different ways; its shelf life is one year. It is a handmade product that does not contain any kind of preservatives.
Currently, Víctor Núñez has turned his business around and has transformed the presentation of the traditional nogada into attractive presentations with new flavors. The arrope is now available in strawberry, pineapple, passion fruit, soursop and he continues to work on new flavors.