According to the owners of the La Pajarita chocolate shop, at 14 Villanueva Street, in the Salamanca district, it seems that sweets and our memories have always been united. “To give an example of how our sweets take our customers on a trip to their past Sweetest: We have a maintenance manager who has been in the candy industry his whole life but has only been with us for a year. Do you know what he told us when he tasted our candies? 'My great-aunt Cristina'. It was the first thing that came to mind, the taste led him to connect with the memories of him because we work with the same flavors that we've always worked with."
One of the shop windows.
The Bow Tie and its pink and violet candies , as well as their chocolate or marshmallow and brown icing bow ties, are living history of Madrid . One that is now in its sixth generation – with Rocío Aznárez and her husband Carlos Lemus currently continuing the business – and whose charming premises remain intact in the Salamanca district of Madrid, right next to the National Library.
“My father was in charge of the business at the same time as my grandparents but he decided, after 20 years, to work as an employee. My grandfather at the age of 89 years (4 years ago) decided to move away from La Pajarita to be with my grandmother but Carlos and I took over from him when he decided to retire ”, explains Aznárez smiling. “ We took over because this can not die , is a badge of Madrid”. A year after retiring from the business, her grandfather passed away. “So you can see what it meant to him. It was his life”.
Chocolate bow ties.
Her grandfather left behind a thriving business but he had no choice but to align himself with technology in order to move forward. “ We had to start from scratch. Business has always been wonderful, but my grandfather, at 89, he had it all on paper . Not a computer, it was all in his head, ”recalls Aznárez wistfully. "We had to digitize the boxes that were made the old way , hire an illustrator to vectorize the logo and print them. what we did was move a business from the 50s to modernity and that was certainly an effort ”, he explains of a business that began with Mr. Vicente Hijós Palacio at number 6 Puerta del Sol 170 years ago after a visit to the World Exhibition in London – where crystallized sugar candy was presented – and with a name given by Unamuno during the time when it became fashionable to name shops.
“Back then the workshop was in the caves. Then he moved everything to the San Francisco Race. Then we come to Villanueva Street, where we are now, but the workshop has been in Villaverde for seven years,” Rocío tells Condé Nast Traveler.
Two generations of La Pajarita: Rocío Aznaréz and her father.
Many years have passed but little has changed since they made their first candy in an artisanal way and with great enthusiasm. “ We have expanded production since then but everything remains traditional. The only difference is that instead of boiling the mixtures with charcoal, which is how it was done before, now we do it all electrically ", describes Aznárez. "That and that the cranks of the machines were previously manual, by muscle, and that now they are mechanical... the same machines, but mechanical", adds Lemus.
In the meantime, the recipes remain the originals. “Our essences are unique, in that we will never cheapen. They are natural, the usual ones… and that means they are very expensive and exclusive . We even have our own recipes”, they relate honestly.
Glace brown.
The candy and chocolatier teacher that she has been making the product with them for almost a decade, they are students of the masters who dedicated a lifetime to La Pajarita, so everything stays at home. "Well, yes I will tell you that the only thing that will have changed is the sizes . At the beginning of the 20th century, for example, chocolates were like a tennis ball. Not anymore, people like smaller ones, to try a lot and a little”.
And what are the favorite creations of the new generation? "The purple in caramel and the milk chocolate bow tie. And the chocolates , few in Madrid are like ours, with a very thin layer and a super special ganache”, says Aznárez. “ The violet and the rose are the typical flowers of Madrid and when giving them shape it seems that what people liked the most were the first ones. It was something very Madrid at the time."
The molds that give life to the most famous violets in Madrid.
“Mine are truffles… well no, the brown glacé, made as it was done almost two centuries ago, confit chestnuts". In fact, look (he says pointing to a small safe at the top of the room we are in, just above the store): there is the recipe," adds Lemus. "My grandfather did not let her go until his hand failed him, until he physically could not protect her, he let no one see the recipe," says Aznárez.
Preparing the showcase.
La Pajarita is currently the official supplier of the Cortes Generales and sweetens the sessions of other institutions, such as the Council of State, the Judiciary, the Assembly of Madrid and numerous royal academies and professional associations. Even the Mandarin Oriental Ritz Hotel, which offers its guests a selection of La Pajarita products.
"But the best thing about our business is the clientele , who has always been very faithful”. So much so that they still listen to stories of grandchildren who nostalgically remember the visits they made with their grandparents. Or of those who cannot return from a trip to their city without their box of sweets. ”Before it was the typical souvenir from Madrid", they tell us. And sincerely, we hope that they will do it again. Because, if something succeeds in this business, it is give us a round trip ticket to our childhood memories and flavors that have been disappearing from the map. Flavors that undoubtedly deserve to be remembered and savored with a smile. Long live La Pajarita!