Native tropical fruits and the new sweet from Tenerife have been the stars of the last day at San Sebastian Gastronomikain which Paula Salvucci, from the Il Bocconcino restaurant, from the Royal Hideaway hotel, in Tenerife, has been proclaimed the winner of the II Tenerife National Tropical Fruit Dessert Contest.
The Minister of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries of the Council of TenerifeJavier Parrilla pointed out that the island’s fruit “has taken its rightful place on this third and last day.” “The pineapple, the pitaya, the carambola, the red banana, the passion fruit, the guava and the mango are treasures of our gastronomy that we assume as everyday, which tend to go unnoticed on our tables, but today they have been the absolute protagonists of this congress,” said Parrilla.
The morning started with a presentation by the chefs Laura Suárez (Tonka Bean) and Jesús Camacho (Donaire), who were in charge of showing the Congress attendees the revolution of the new sweet cuisine of Tenerife, based on the use of tropical fruits, but also in the insertion of vegetables.
Laura Suárez, Absolute Canary Pastry Champion in 2019, is a pastry chef trained at Diverxo and La Cabra, while Jesús Camacho trained with Jordi Butrón and Jordi Roca and received the Award for the Best Pastry Work in the Canary Islands in 2020 .
The day continued with the election of Paula Salvucci, from the Il Bocconcino restaurant as the winner of the II National Dessert Contest with Tropical Fruits of Tenerife. In this sense, Javier Parrilla stressed that both the dessert contest and the presentation “have had a great following and have contributed to projecting a fundamental part of our local product, but also of our confectionery, as an example of the international trend in creative but healthy desserts”, highlighted the counselor.
Salvucci, for her part, was very happy for having managed to keep this award in Tenerife, for representing the Canary Islands and for having won with a dessert that also connects her with her country, Venezuela. The pastry chef assured that with her elaboration she intended to demonstrate that the mango is a fruit that can provide many textures and flavors and take us from sour to sweet.
Along with her, five other chefs from different parts of Spain participated, such as Daniel Diez (Palacio de Luces hotel, Asturias), Aitor Lopez (Tancat de Codorniu hotel, Tarragona), Laura Dura (Bonamb**, Alicante) , Rubén Sánchez (Epilogue, Castilla La Mancha) and Matías Farfán (Nomad, Alicante).
Among the members of the jury were Alberto Luchini (journalist), Igor Cubillo (Repsol Guide), Carme Gasull (Gastronomist journalist), Paulo Airaudo (chef Amelia, San Sebastián), Lucía Freitas (chef A Tafona, Santiago de Compostela) and Juan Carlos Clemente (chef Tenerife), finally decided the winner:
After the Congress, the Cabildo de Tenerife and Tenerife Tourism they will donate all the leftover food from their gastronomic action to the Gipuzkoa Food Bank.
