Although Sancocho is not regularly made on a daily basis nowadays, it continues to be the most typical dish for Good Friday, and a highly regarded “plate-filler” any time of the year.

Up until the end of the 19th century, fish in Gran Canaria had to be sold daily, and was only consumed at coastal towns, as there were no ways of keeping it fresh. However, around the turn of the 20th century, changes began to creep in to our cuisine: our range of foods began to increase thanks to the technique of salting. Around this time sancocho made its presence felt.

Many are the events, landmarks and relations that link Gran Canaria to the Caribbean island of Cuba. Yet, one of the sweetest of all these comes in the form of a recipe that has lasted the test of time and has gone beyond frontiers: the bizcocho sponge-cake of Moya.

Here at this northern Gran Canaria municipality, suspiros are not the only famous delicacy. Bizcochos are a highly popular sweet, the recipe for which came here from Cuba by the hand of Chá Manuela, who came to live in the town and passed the recipe on to two local neighbours, Seña Jacinta and Candelarita Rivero. Amelia Ojeda learnt the recipe from them, and proceeded to open her artisan factory with a hundred-year-old oven, and with the help of her brother started production.