The secrets of a family candy store MARÍA DURAN PREPARES TO BE THE NEXT MATRIARCH OF DOÑA MARÍA GORDILLO DULCES TIPÍCOS. By Molly Wilson
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ocked away in María Mercedes’ house, a black USB stick and a recipe book sit – the only copies of the secrets that produce Antigua’s most famous traditional Guatemalan candies. María Cristiano, María Mercedes’ mother, always kept key elements of the recipe directions a secret from her staff, only teaching her family the specifics of how to make candies such as canillitas de leche, cocadas and colochos de guayaba. Her daughter, María Duran, digitized the recipes and uploaded them to the USB before bringing them both to her mother’s house and leaving her to hide them so Duran herself wouldn’t know where they were kept. That way, she couldn’t tell anyone. Everything made in Doña María Gordillo Dulces Típicos is now taught to staff and cooked by memory.
María Duran and her mother, the matriarch, María Mercedes stand behind the counter of their candy store. They are the fifth and sixth generation of women to run the family business. | Photo by Nataly Basterrechea
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For the family who runs Doña María Gordillo Dulces Típicos – a high-end traditional candy store in the heart of Guatemala’s most famous tourist city – the name María comes with a set of family expectations, including guarding the secrets, spanning six generations, that make the dulcería unique. No one is allowed in the kitchen unless they are family or one of roughly 20 employees who get to know some of the secrets, including the recipes. María Mercedes Duran, 27, is María Mercedes’ only daughter. She’s next in line to take over the dulcería. “I have that responsibility to continue the family business, not because my brothers can’t continue, but I know it’s a women’s enterprise,” Duran said.
