EL CENTRO\u2014Catholics and Christians in the Imperial Valley and around the world are celebrating Dia de Los Reyes, or Three Kings Day\u2014a holiday commemorating the day the three Wise Men gave gifts to baby Jesus.<\/p>\n
Traditions include leaving gifts in shoes and eating a ring-shaped bread called Rosca de Reyes. A small doll representing baby Jesus is baked into the bread, and whoever finds the doll in their slice must host a party on February 2, also known as D\u00eda de la Candelaria.<\/p>\n
Bakeries and stores around the Valley have been baking and boxing the Rosca de Reyes in anticipation of the celebration. Sweet Nothings Pastry and Coffee Shoppe in El Centro spoke to the Imperial Valley Press about the much-loved holiday tradition.<\/p>\n
Located at 115 South 6th Street, the bakery specializes in vegan and gluten-free desserts.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re sugar-free and gluten-free,\u201d owner Elsa Lugo-Ordona said. \u201cWe have a lot of people calling in and placing their orders.\u201d<\/p>\n
Last year alone, her bakery sold close to 45 roscas, with even more shipped outside the Imperial Valley.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe shipped out to the LA area, some to the San Diego area,\u201d Lugo-Ordona said. \u201cWe shipped them to Arizona, the Foothills in Yuma.\u201d All the roscas are sent directly to people\u2019s homes.<\/p>\n
Despite being sugar-free, Lugo-Ordona explained that the rosca fruit toppings are selected to keep the sugar content at a minimum. The cherries have no added sugar. \u201cThe whole rosca is about 12 to 14 inches, so they won\u2019t have more than five grams of sugar total,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Preparation for the holiday begins months in advance. Lugo-Ordona said she and her team begin ordering inventory as early as October, noting that the baking, however, doesn\u2019t begin until orders are placed.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t use preservatives, and we don\u2019t like to freeze them if we don\u2019t have to,\u201d she stated. \u201cWe want it to be as fresh as possible.<\/p>\n
Orders often start coming in in November, when customers are already planning for Dia de Muertos, Christmas, and Three Kings Day.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow that we\u2019ve been here five years and most of our customers are return customers, they already know to place orders way in advance,\u201d Lugo-Ordona said.<\/p>\n
Sweet Nothings has also built a following online beyond the region, with customers travelling from San Diego County, Riverside County, and Arizona.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a lot of people coming in from out of town,\u201d she said. \u201cThey tell us, we saw you on Google, or TikTok, or Instagram.\u201d<\/p>\n
As demand ramps up, Lugo-Ordona credits her team for keeping operations running smoothly.<\/p>\n
\u201cJuanita is our lead baker, and Teresa is my other baker,\u201d she said. \u201cThey\u2019re amazing young people. I don\u2019t know what I\u2019d do without them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even with last-minute orders coming in, Lugo-Ordona said her priority is her customers.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to keep our customers happy. And make sure that anyone who needs something sugar-free or gluten-free gets what they need,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EL CENTRO\u2014Catholics and Christians in the Imperial Valley and around the world are celebrating Dia de Los Reyes,…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":497990,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[67307,30658,17382,18120,10319,223789,40228,210,87860,223787,1182,223788,67,132,68,127999],"class_list":{"0":"post-497989","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nutrition","8":"tag-baked-goods","9":"tag-bakery","10":"tag-cooking","11":"tag-cuisine","12":"tag-desserts","13":"tag-epiphany-holiday","14":"tag-foods","15":"tag-health","16":"tag-imperial-valley","17":"tag-king-cake","18":"tag-nutrition","19":"tag-rosca","20":"tag-united-states","21":"tag-unitedstates","22":"tag-us","23":"tag-western-cuisine"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115851704582965670","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/497989","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=497989"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/497989\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/497990"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=497989"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=497989"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=497989"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}