The Cathedral Candy Store It has been sweetening the lives of lagoon residents, visitors and tourists for 108 years with its sweet artisans from all the islands and traditional breads, from its already emblematic place located on the corner of Calle San Juan and Calle Carrera, next to the Cathedral, in the old town. historical of The lagoonand that has hardly changed in all this time, already forming part of the history of the city.
With its 108 years of life, it is one of the six hundred-year-old businesses that remain in the municipality, and this is reflected in a preliminary list made by the Department of Commerce of the City Council of La Laguna, and currently has María Jesús Rodríguez, more known as Maisu, at the head of the establishment, the third generation.
She recounts how the business “began in 1914 with Doña Rafaela, who came from Cádiz to La Laguna because her husband was a soldier and she had a candy store in Cádiz and then she opened one here and her first employee was my grandfather, José Hernández Arvelo, who He was with her for a few years and after a while he kept the business.” She has been in the family ever since, which has been achieved “with a lot of work and with great enthusiasm and desire.” “Above all, what we have done is give a voice to all the artisans of the Islands, try to work with all the pastry chefs we can, to make themselves known,” explains Maisu Rodríguez.
Therein lies the key to its success in these 108 years, in being one of the few businesses that continues to offer tradition and crafts at Dulcería La Catedral. “We offer traditional products, which nowadays are very difficult to find. The traditional and artisanal is what people look for in the end, frozen and precooked things, there is a lot of that, and today craftsmanship is valued”, he highlights, counting today with up to a total of 117 varieties of sweets: “Lo The most typical are the rosquetes stuffed with sweet potato, which are the ones that everyone takes, the guava stuffed ones, the chocolate and cream boats, the cream cake with almonds, the traditional lagoon… From Tenerife, they come to us from La Laguna , from Los Realejos, from Arico, Arafo, Tejina… And from abroad, the buns and cookies from La Gomera, the almond cheese and rapaduras from La Palma, the quesadillas from El Hierro, the biscuits from Moya from Gran Canaria… And we also have bread that we bring from Esperanza and Tacoronte, from traditional bakeries.”
Confectionery La Catedral, showcase of La Laguna
And it is that Dulcería La Catedral wants to be a showcase in La Laguna for confectionery and crafts from the Islands. “We don’t make sweets, we had pastry chefs who work only with my parents, but that was years ago, and what we specialize in is being able to give a voice to all the artisans of all the Islands,” he says. A paradise of traditional Canarian confectionery that is open seven days a week, from 08:00 to 21:00.
Maisu Rodríguez grew up in the business and, although she spent 21 years working in travel agencies, “at a certain point my parents (Porfirio Rodríguez and María del Carmen Hernández) were tired and I was sad that the business was not going on and I came with all the enthusiasm in the world”. “For my father it was a great joy that I made the decision, they did not expect it, because my brothers did not want it. And my parents are retired but they are still behind the business and they are very attentive and I consult everything with them, ”she says.
For the family it is a pride to be part of that list of centenary businesses that are still in La Laguna. “We have always been super loved in La Laguna, we have a fixed clientele for many years, thousands of anecdotes, grandparents, parents and grandchildren who continue to buy, and the truth is that it is a pride, we are delighted. This is small and humble, but always wanting to work, which I think is the secret, to have enthusiasm and desire”, says Maisu, who emphasizes that “we all know each other here, it is wonderful to always work with the same public , although people from outside also come, from the peninsula, foreigners… A few days ago a German came to us with a travel agenda and we were on the agenda, and he told us ‘I want this donut’. Our sweets, and those of pastry chefs, have reached Japan”.
Being a century-old business ( Dulcería La Catedral ) has made it witness many changes, but always resisting.
