Pachamama Bakery
A dessert made without any products of animal origin, dairy, eggs, flour or processed sugars is healthy in abundance. Now, does it taste rich? Normally not if we compare them to the standards of our gourmand pleasures but, with the advent of the cooking revolution based on floors of Pachamama Bakery, we pleasantly fear that we are facing a change in the pastry paradigm.
"I think the world is in a transition moment in which people are more aware of what they eat, of understanding where the products they consume come from, of leaving behind the processed and of reducing the consumption of sugar", comments Valentina Lopez de Haro , founder of Pachamama Bakery. "What I do is work each recipe using few ingredients and that each one of them has its purpose: whether it is high in nutrients, vitamins, proteins or low in added sugars", he continues. A process that he has been learning little by little and that, in its entirety, has taken him years of study to find substitutes for what are normally considered essential ingredients to achieve a dessert.Although theirs have added value, being healthy (not diet) and fair trade, adding up to nutritional terms but also in flavor and texture.
Pachamama
Pachamama vegan pastry Madrid
Valentina was the co-founder of Roots Lamarca but her greatest passion was still pastry, so her path continued to evolve until it gave rise to Pachamama, her most personal project. "Before arriving in Spain I took two sabbatical years to travel around Asia, Africa and America , teaching English through art in different NGOs", she shares. Although it was in balinese where she studied raw vegan cuisine she at the Seeds of Life school, with Sayuri Tanaka. "I also had the opportunity to study vegan pastry in New York with Frank Costigan and I am certified as a sports nutritionist," she adds.
Putting health first in each of her recipes is how Valentina has come to develop the recipes that appear on the menu of her platform online sale with shipments to the entire peninsula , in form of biscuits of seeds and nuts; brownies, raw tarts, truffles stuffed with almond, hazelnut or mushroom cream or candy bars salty with peanut All of her products are organic, suitable for celiacs – with a mixture of almond flour, rice flour and buckwheat flour – and, whenever possible, from local producers.
"we sweeten only with maple syrup, coconut sugar and medjool dates", explains Valentina. "Furthermore, we only work with chocolate organic bean to bar and with each purchase we help plant ten trees at the harvest site".
Each and every one of her products are nutrient dense , unfolding nutritional power thanks to superfoods. "For example, our cookies are high in protein – the large portion has 12 grams –; the truffles have adapt us like reishi and maca, which help lower cortisol levels; the matcha camu-camu bliss ball is amazing for boosting the immune system and the açai almond butter is high in antioxidants."
Confectionery is not the only way in which Pachamama Bakery presents itself, adding a cream line to incorporate in breakfast toasts, pancakes, smoothies and so-called superfood bowls. "They can also be used in pastry recipes or savory dishes like a Thai sauce with peanut butter. Although for me, the best way to eat them is by the spoonful," jokes Valentina.
One of the ingredients that predominates in the creations of Pachamama's plant-based cuisine are the nuts , of origin in Spain and Portugal and always organically grown. The cashew thus becomes the essential element to achieve a raw-vegan dessert for being able to give a consistency mild and neutral flavor. The almond On the other hand, it is included in all creams, biscuits and as flour in cakes, providing a sweet flavor and versatility in its use.
The link that unites Valentina to take and promote a different diet arises from the moment in which she realized that everything we consume affects our way of being and performance. "Carrying a food plant-based I feel full of life, nutrients, energy and power. It's a sustainable way of eating that thinks about the environment and helps my gut," she says.
And how have they influenced of her travels in this way of seeing life? A lot and several times, Nepal being the place where she had the opportunity to live with a local family in Dumrikharka Village . "Just to get there you already had to hike for three hours," she shares. "The food they prepared was from their garden (they had no access to anything else) and every morning we would get up and gather the day's harvest to eat." EITHER balinese , the mecca of plant-based cuisine and where he first tasted the gado-gafo , a typical Balinese vegetarian dish, made with tempeh, tofu, cauliflower and vegetables sautéed in coconut milk.
"My interest in food, ingredients and nutritional composition grows every day. By becoming a mom of two magical little ones it was inevitable to become more aware of food and the relationship I want them to have with food. That is why I look for optimal ingredients and foods for their growth and development", continues Valentina, revealing with her own words one of the project mission keys that she now makes her fully happy and healthy: being able to give parents a choice healthy and real to be able to share with her children.
Hazelnut cream truffles