Africa-Press – Cape verde. The Ribeira do Calhau Agri-Food Processing Unit began producing hibiscus jam (bissap as it is better known among us), seasoned cheeses and cheese spreads, bringing innovation to the range of processed products.The idea of producing bissap candy was born out of a colleague’s concern after realizing that they were discarding a lot of product, which should be used, with the production of juices from dried bissap flowers,” Ronice Rodrigues, one of the four female heads of families who have worked in this unit for 10 years.
“We were making bissap juice and she had the idea of using the flowers after we made the juice to make sweets. We decided to try it and started investing in it. Until now, people have little knowledge of this production, but all the samples we took to the Feira Urdi 2023 were sold out”, declared Ronice Rodrigues.
According to the same source, despite being sweet, they decided not to add too much sugar to preserve the natural flavor, maintaining its characteristic acidity so that it could serve as “a good option to accompany toast, bread, biscuits or other dishes”.
At the moment, he added, the production of these sweets is made to order and will only be available in commercial establishments in São Vicente in 2024, along with cheese spreads and seasoned cheeses.
However, there are already other products on the market with this unit’s seal, such as papaya and date sweets, and other fruits depending on the season, as well as pickles, teas, dried (dehydrated) seasonings and various pastes, namely eggplant, coriander, carrots, peppers, garlic, work through which they earn their living.
However, according to Ronice Delgado, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, production has decreased, but the unit intends to revitalize itself by bringing other product options to customers
“We opened in 2013 and in 2017 the unit became a micro-enterprise. In these 10 years of existence we have seen that we have had a lot of demand and many people like our products. Before 2019 things were going well, but after Covid-19 production dropped a lot,” he declared.
Created in 2013, the unit is run by four female heads of families who work in the transformation of agricultural products from Vale do Madeiral and Calhau.
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