Camilo de Blas, the favorite confectionery of chef José Andrés who invented the 'carbayones'

Almost everything in the mouth of chef José Andrés is likely to go viral, either because of his humanitarian work with which he

half the world, because of his empathy or because of his way of spreading our gastronomic wealth, which these days

form of a

:

of the chef from Mieres who lives in the United States and his daughters.

And his journey through Asturias has brought, among other things,

a true sweet reference in the Principality.

"It is an honor and a source of pride. The repercussion has been incredible. These Kings have been something out of the ordinary. On January 3 we stopped accepting orders because we could not cope," acknowledges

(fourth and fifth generation of the De Blas family).

But

, this pastry shop -next to the old El Vasco train station- was already an obligatory gourmet stop in Oviedo (and also in the rest of Spain, because

) .

.

The confectionery opened in 1914 on Jovellanos street, in Oviedo.

In it was born, in 1924, one of the

"My great-grandfather and José Gutiérrez, the master of the workshop, devised this puff pastry base covered with artisan Marcona almond cream, yolk and finished with a sugar bath -detailed Paloma- to represent, at the request of the then mayor of the city, a

that was held in Gijón in 1924".

Located at number 7 Jovellanos street (in 2009 they opened another store in Santa Susana, 8) and also present in Gijón since 2016, however,

"

He decided to expand and set up a shop for each of his three children. One stayed with him in León; he opened a pastry shop for another in Oviedo, in 1914 [today the mother house], and the last one, in Gijón, in 1915.

, and that is why he came to Asturias", explains Paloma, now converted into Biographer of the De Blas.

The 'carbayones', sweet that they created in 1924. MERCEDES BLANCO

He continues: "The one in León ended up closing and today it is a Pans & Company. Just like the one in Gijón, since my great-great-uncle had no children and passed to his wife's family; it worked for a while, but it also closed."

And, there, unaltered by time, continues this

. It is not about doing much, but about what you do is good, with good products. Simple things, of all the life... With that you will succeed for sure", adds Paloma, responsible for the development of the business.

Tradition to the fullest, in products and processes.

Here, what the customer is looking for "are the usual flavors and aromas. We cannot afford to change anything;

We also have a very clear principle: the quality of the raw materials.

.

They bet on local products, "for example,

and, if we can't keep up, we import them, but always with the highest quality.

eggs from a farm closeness that we declare every day one by one... Everything is handmade", emphasizes Paloma.

Nuglass, other of its specialties.M.

WHITE

The star sweet of the house is the

,

.

Let's go to her:

in the 50s that we sell in individual portions; tirolés, a sponge cake filled with praline, covered in milk chocolate that a great-uncle of ours devised";

chocolates;

casadiellas;

little duchess;

strudel;

tarts;

semifreddos...

And

such as "Roscones de Reyes; marzipans; nougats; allegories, which is what we call the monas de Pascua", says Paloma, who until five years ago had another life, far from this family business where they

("27 employees, 14 in the workshop and 13 in stores, and three in Management, my father, my mother and me").

Graduated in Chemistry and specialized in dermopharmacy, she worked for years in Barcelona

and decided to return home.

"My father kept working and everything was going well, but I noticed that maybe he needed someone to lend him a hand, although he didn't ask me, because

. I also returned because

", acknowledges this Asturian who changed cosmetic formulas for pastry chefs.

"In the end, they look quite alike. I started in the bakery and the degree helped me a lot to understand the processes of sweets."

The confectionery is specialized in traditional confectionery.M.

WHITE

But Paloma has not been the only one in the family who previously had another profession.

.

She studied medicine and after finishing her military service, suddenly "life" had other plans for him.

"There are these things that life puts you on that path that it has organized for you. You think that you do what you want, but destiny is a bit set and life already takes care that you and he coincide."

.

"My father and my brother Eduardo were in charge of the business; he was the one

, but he found a job as an economist in Barcelona and left", José Juan relives that

that

All processes are handmade.

And those

were permanent, first in the workshop (18 years) and later in business management.

During this time, the Camilo de Blas pastry shop has remained a gourmand benchmark.

"When the 2008 crisis came, instead of crying,

, we went from being in losses to having more profit than in a normal year. But the most incredible thing is that

Memories like the one he has of that 7-year-old boy, "very mature for his age", who came to the store one Christmas day and

"He told me that he had an illness, that he couldn't eat flour and asked me if I would make him a chocolate cake.

back and I offered him two cakes to choose from. He kept the chocolate raspberry one, which we named after him: Joel.

.

At that time,

.

And it is that "the things that you do for real and out of love will always give you results," concludes José Juan.

The things, the people (or the

) that life throws your way.

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