Five years after their last presentation, the “nuns of Belorado” will return to the stage of the Madrid Fusión gastronomic fair. This time it will be to present their new brand of chocolates “Erre que Erre”, which they created a few months ago, to distance themselves from the truffles and chocolate sweets that made them famous in their time as Poor Clares and that already led them to participate in several editions. of Madrid Fusionone of the most notable events in the gastronomic world and which in its 2025 edition will be held from January 27 to 29.
According to a press release they have made public, their participation in the event represents “a unique opportunity to share their experience, publicize their work and show their innovations in chocolate making.” During the meeting, the former religious women will present one of the presentations from Madrid Fusión Pastry, the area of the event dedicated to sweet cuisine, titled “Chocolates Erre que Erre.”
For half an hour, the “little nuns of Belorado” – as it appears in the official program– “They will explain in a simple way how they produce their emblematic chocolate,” they say in their press release. “A sweet that reflects the effort, creativity and fight against the adversities that threaten the continuity of the cloistered monasteries,” they add in the text, in which they do not seem to hide their intentions of turning participation in the gastronomic event into another episode of his media campaign.
The former Clares have been invited to the gastronomic event by José Carlos Capel, founder and current president of Madrid Fusión, who already invited them in previous editions, the last in 2020, upon learning about their chocolates through the pastry chef Paco Torreblanca. The public dissemination they obtained in those participations brought them a certain fame in the world of gastronomy that encouraged them to undertake some business avenues – such as exporting truffles to Japan or distributing them in large shopping centers – that ended up failing.
The mobility restrictions imposed by the pandemic and the rise in the price of raw materials caused the then Poor Clares to suffer a drastic reduction in income from the sale of their renowned truffles and chocolate rocks. Added to this were other business shipwrecks such as the forced closure of the Artebakarra rural house (Derio) for lacking a municipal license, or the impossibility of officially selling pets, as its dog kennel was not authorized.
Furthermore, the expenses derived from the restoration of the Orduña monastery plunged the community of Poor Clares into a complex economic situation from which they tried to get out by announcing their break with the Pope and trying to transfer the properties and economic activity of the monasteries to two. civil associations, which have not been recognized by the Ministry of the Interior.
After the appointment by Francis of a pontifical commissioner to resolve the situation of the monasteries, and the subsequent intervention of the bank accounts, the former religious tried to continue selling their chocolates, although they lacked legal coverage since the CIF of both monasteries are controlled by the commissioner. Hence, last summer they created the new brand “Erre que Erre”, linked at the beginning of January to the limited company Obraetlabora SL, based in the Belorado monastery, of which Susana Mateo Cruz, known in her stage as a nun like Sister Sión.
As this newspaper already anticipated, the paradox arises that the current expenses of the new company are assumed by the Federation of Poor Clares (which the ex-religious women blame for their economic problems), so a good part of the income of the new brand of chocolates can be considered as benefits. It will be the brand they present at Madrid Fusión although probably, on the stage of the gastronomic fair, when narrating their experience “Erre que Erre”, they will omit that part of their “fight against adversity.”
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