Antioquia is one of the thirty-two departments of Colombia. It is located in the Andean and Caribbean regions to the north of Colombia, and borders the Atlantic Ocean, Córdoba and Bolívar. It has approximately 6,500,000 inhabitants and a surface area of 63,600 km², comprising a total of 125 municipalities and generating 13.9% of Colombia’s GDP.
This department is one of the oldest Colombian towns, since indigenous settlements existed before the Spanish conquest. With the arrival of the Spanish Empire, and after being separated from the Popayán Government, the department began to solidify its identity as a territorial unit until it ended up integrating the Republic of Colombia, after its independence in 1810.
Antioquia’s climate is quite particular: summers are short and warm, winters are short and hot, and there is high humidity throughout the year. The average temperature is between 23 and 32 degrees Celsius, and it rarely deviates out of that range.
Due to this, this department presents quite favorable conditions for the production of Panela, which is part of the Antioquia tradition. According to Fedepanela, Antioquia owns 18% of the sugarcane harvesting areas in Colombia and produces 12% of the country’s panela, reaching 14 tons per year and having more than 14 sugar mills distributed throughout the region.
Likewise, Antioquia stands out because of the guided tours that are carried out to visualize the traditional production process of panela, which is still quite frequent in the department.
At Heincke, we are proud to have great allies in Antioquia who provide us with the highest quality panela, whose flavors are characterized by their notes of honey, vanilla, lemon, molasses, arequipe, guava, orange, caramel, sandwich and mandarin. Our panela from Antioquia has a great flavor and an unmistakable tradition.
Source: https://www.eltiempo.com/colombia/medellin/produccion-de-panela-en-antioquia-320578
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