PROGRAMS: “Natural Sweets and Jellies”

This business is a win-win-win situation. In the rural areas, families were consuming too many processed foods while fruit trees grew in yards; much of the produce came in a few months and couldn’t all be consumed. Men worked in agriculture which provided minimal—and only seasonal—income. Women were seeking work. Could the coconut, mango, pineapple and papaya hold an answer?

Through a grant from Salvadoran Enterprises for Women, fifteen women from four rural villages received training in the production of candies and jellies, products that sell well in rural communities. A local development organization taught the group how to seal products in jars. The women developed a label to improve presentation and thereby sales. The women make coconut and tamarindo candies and dulce de leche—a caramelized sweetened dip made from condensed milk. Mango, pineapple and papaya jellies are produced.

This business makes healthier products available using local, natural resources. Families are consuming fewer imported, processed sweets. The candies affirm and preserve cultural food traditions. And the women are working their way out of poverty.

Some of the producers proudly pose with their canned mangoes and jellies.