Tejas: Peruvian delicacies from Ica

Inspired by the Stillwater Workshops in Kuranda and their kiss wrapped sweets, I searched on the Internet for the word Tejas and was surprised to find that there was Tejas del Solar, a site run by Carmen Almenara, a Peruvian who now lives in Australia and who seems to have taken tejas to a different dimension altogether!

Besides being the Spanish name for the American state of Texas, the Peruvian Tejas, are a traditional sweet, which we used to eat at home when I was a child. They are a delicious combination of caramelised orange filled with manjar blanco (blancmange, or dulce de leche), a rich type of caramel, and then coated with fondant. As a child I found that just as nice were the tejas filled with a pecan nut!

On her website Carmen mentions that seeing the reaction on people's faces when they try a teja for the first time is the most rewarding experience of all! She says that her recipes have evolved as result of the combination of her heritage and the blending of natural ingredients from her home country Peru and Australia.

Her delicacies are prepared by hand in small batches, which guarantees the uniqueness of each piece. They are also covered with the finest Belgian Callebaut chocolate and they come in many different varieties, like:

Tejas del Solar flavors

• Aussie - Macadamia nuts and lemon myrtle
• Passion tejas - Australian passion fruit and roasted pecans
• Original tejas - Roasted pecans
• Coco tejas - Moist coconut centre
• Orange tejas - Caramelised oranges
• Ginger tejaS - Caramelised ginger
• Café tejas - Infused with chocolate coffee beans from Guatemala
• Turrón tejas - Enhanced with nougat
• Chilli-choc tejas - Australian pecan nuts, spiced with chili and cinnamon

Gift boxes

Tejas del Solar come in specially-made gift boxes of 6, 12, or 90 pieces. Each box is hand-tied with a Peruvian woven ribbon and they are the perfect gift to celebrate special occasions, or simply to enjoy over a cup of coffee.

In July 2010 I came across Helena Chocolatier, a company that makes Tejas and Choco Tejas in Ica, a city in southern Peru. Click here if you would like to read the Helena Sweet Story! To the right is also a video about the production process by the Discovery Channel in association with Gourmet Magazine. Below is also a gift box of 12 packs of tejas.