A dozen nuns have challenged the Catholic Church over the sale of a convent. The Poor Clares of Belorado, a small town in Burgos with barely 2,000 inhabitants, have taken over the news in recent hours by denouncing the sabotage of a real estate operation that concerns one of their properties, the convent of Derio (Vizcaya). This conflict has generated an ecclesiastical schism, since the nuns have stopped obeying the Holy See to follow Bishop Pablo de Rojas, founder of the Pious Union Sancti Pauli Apostoli and excommunicated by Rome.
This news would not have any significance in Comer, if it were not for one of the ways of financing the Order of the Poor Sisters of Santa Clara. We are talking about the production of artisan sweets and organic vegetables that they sell through their website, El Obrador del Convento. It is a common activity among religious congregations, with the nuance that the Poor Clares of Belorado have achieved a certain media projection after participating in at least two editions of Madrid Fusión in 2016 and 2020. And the hands that pray also work .
Under the advice of pastry chef Paco Torreblanca and chef Pedro Subijana, the sweet success of the nuns is due to the excellence of their ingredients and the artisanal preparation of the entire process. The French house Valrhona is its main chocolate supplier. In the workshop of the Belorado convent, with more than seven centuries of history, the Poor Clares are in charge of preparing, packaging and labeling all their gourmet creations.
Among its sweets, its famous truffles stand out, which reach a price of 58 euros per kilo. The nuns are in charge of hand-sprinkling these sweets, which come in six flavors—cocoa, milk, crunchy, coffee, orange and brandy—which they sell in a variety of formats.
The nuns from Burgos also make the icing of their chocolates by hand. Their exclusive boxes include an assortment of flavors such as pistachio, licorice, strawberry or praline, in addition to the mojito bonbon with which they conquered the Madrid Fusión attendees. Its price is 70 euros per kilo. Other of their chocolate creations are the crunchy rocks and meteorites, the pearls, the toothpicks or the so-called sexton’s matches.
Finally, the Poor Clares of Belorado also sell a wide variety of chocolate bars, with cocoa percentages ranging from 32% to 65% and flavors such as orange, caramel or hazelnuts. The website The convent workshop is completed with a peculiar bazaar, where they offer honey, pestiños, propolis candies, angel hair dumplings, coffee liqueur or their own recipe book.
