On Monday we had visitors to the Crantock’s bakery all the way from Mexico, on a trip to Cornwall to learn more about our shared industry.
Our visitors came from the mining town of Real del Monte and travelled over 4,500 miles for a week-long Cornish visit.
As well as learning about our production processes and baking techniques, the group also tried their hand at crimping Cornish-style, shown to them by our crimping staff.
Learning how to hand crimp the Cornish pasties
Tracey Weeks our operations manager said: “I think they were surprised to learn how fast the team on our crimping line work – we hand-crimp up to four pasties a minute on average, and their technique was different too as the Mexican pasties are typically smaller than a traditional Cornish pasty.”
The historical links between Cornwall and Real del Monte date all the way back to 1824 when Cornish mineworkers settled in the area to help rebuild the struggling mining industry in Mexico.
Today, Real del Monte is the home of pasty production in Mexico; the Mexican version of the product is called the paste and is made to a slightly modified recipe, costing 10 pesos (50 pence).
Our visitors from Mexico
The group is in the county on a fact finding mission ahead of the opening of the world’s first Pasty Museum in March 2012 in the town, two hours from Mexico City.
Real del Monte also holds the world’s only International Pasty Festival which took place for the third time in October this year attracting 20,000 pasty lovers.
Jaime Soto said: “Everyone we have met has been very interested in the history of the Cornish miners in our area and it has been a wonderful opportunity to spread the word over here about the Pasty Museum. We hope that one day we will be able to return the hospitality in Real del Monte.”
