SLP, Mexico.- A Catholic priest from Santiago de Cuba presented to his followers the alternative they use to make a drink that pretends to be “coffee”in the midst of the grain shortage in the country.
Parish priest Leandro Naun Hung, who offers his services in the San José Obrero Parish, which includes more than 50 Christian communities in the mountainous area of Gran Piedra and the Baconao Coast, shared on Facebook the recipe that they have had to incorporate for the lack of coffee: “The poor man’s coffee.”
As revealed in his video published in Facebookin which he talks with residents of Santiago, the banana pods are collected, the seeds are extracted and dried and then toasted, ground and transformed into the energy drink that is usually the breakfast of Cubans.
“We don’t have coffee and the coffee we have right now is this,” said one of the Cuban women who accompanied the priest in the conversation.
In addition, he revealed that banana tea is made for the kidneys. “I am 54 years old and for as long as I can remember, my family has made platanillo coffee. And here everyone drinks platanillo coffee, combined with store-bought coffee or grain coffee as well,” the Cuban explained.
This tradition is not exclusive to Santiago de Cuba, as it has also been adopted, in the midst of the crisis, in other Cuban towns.
The critical shortage of food has led Cubans to delve into the art of simulation to recreate some of the island’s typical dishes without having the ingredients they contain.
Residents of the province of Holguín assured last year CubaNet They prepare the infusion with plantain, which “is not coffee, but you can drink it.”
Luisa Bárbara Martínez Silva, a resident of the Los Pinos Popular Council, in the municipality of Antilla, agreed that the production process was similar to that of coffee.
“The case is opened, the grains are taken out and dried in the sun. When they are dry, they are put on the stove and roasted, like coffee, and ground. That is what we are giving for breakfast to the children so they can go to school,” the woman told this newspaper.
Martínez Silva made it clear that the platanillo infusion has nothing to do with coffee, “it is a hoax.”
Coffee production in Cuba has suffered a marked decline in recent years, a fact that has had a negative impact on the availability of the product on the Island.
Until a few years, the Caribbean country was able to satisfy the national demand for coffee. Currently, production decreased by almost 50% compared to 2019.
