For this post we're jumping back over the Atlantic, back into the Western Hemisphere. The local Food Lion grocery here had a better than average supply of Mexican cookies (or "biscuits," if you're from other parts of the world), so I bought up a good sample. I went with two kinds from the Gamesa company, one from Galletas Juanita, and and one from La Moderna.
Gamesa is a giant in the world of Mexican cookies, as it's that country's biggest manufacturer of them. The company also makes cereals, flour, and pastas. To give a brief history, back in 1921 the Gonzalez brothers--Ignacio, Manuel, and Alberto--bought up enough stock to control the Lara pasta company. They rechristened it the Factory a Biscuits and Pastas La Industrial, SA. In 1948 the name changed again, to Galletera Mexicana SA. Finally, in 1978, the company changed its name yet again, to Gamesa. In 1990 it was absorbed into the American PepsiCo company.
The La Moderna Group was founded in nearly the same year, in 1920. This pasta-making business was then known as La Fabrica de Pastas Alimenticias La Moderna company, and was owned and operated by the Vendral brothers and Don Alberto A. Henkel. Normally I'd follow the owners and name changes up through to the present, but I'm going to abstain on this one, as the company history is extremely complicated and detailed. Suffice it to say that the La Moderna company recognizes Eduardo Monroy Cardenas as its founder, and he acquired the business in 1959. See the official company website for more information. Besides cookies, La Moderna also sells flour, pastas, and some salty snacks.
I'm going to have very little to say about the final company, Galletas Juanita, because I found their website to be extremely terse. My inability to read Spanish also surely didn't help out matters, as the translation I got seemed a little lacking, too. I can tell you that the logo for their Juanina brand is a girl with pigtails carrying a tray(?) and a flower, and who looks thrilled to be doing so.
Anyway, here are the ratings.
1) Gamesa Barras de Coco, coconut flavored cookies. Made for the Frito-Lay company in the U.S. These were yellowish-brown cookies which were roughly rectangular and about 5 cm. (about 2 inches) long by 2.5 cm. (about 1 inch) wide. They had a rough exterior, and 3 small holes along the center axis. They were crunchy, and had a definite detectable coconut flavor. They weren't very sweet. So I found them to be mediocre at best.
2) Gamesa arcoiris, marshmallow cookies. These were layered, with a base yellow brown cookie platform covered with 4 marshmallow pieces atop this. The shape was square, about 1.5 inches (about 4 cm.) to a side. And the marshmallow bits were 2 pink, and 2 white. These were pretty good. The marshmallow was suitably creamy and tasty, with a satisfying crunch at the base. So not spectacular, but better than average.
3) Galletas Juanita company, Juanina brand of tartaletas surtidas. These were roundish, with scalloped edges and a dollop of hardened jelly in the center at the top. There were four different flavors. The cookie base for all of them was good, kind of soft and chewy. The apricot kind probably had the strongest flavor. Alas, I'm not that fond of apricot, so this wasn't that great. The pineapple kind was more bland, and not that pleasing, either. Conversely, the blackberry variety was good--rather tart, in a good way. And the strawberry kind was tasty, too. Therefore, I enjoyed the cookie part in all of them, but the fruit jelly topping flavors were a little inconsistent.
4) La Moderna Marianitas, pecan flavor. They were roundish, with scalloped edges around the circumference, about 6 cm. (about 2.25 inches) in diameter, and a hole in the center. And yellowish-brown in color. These had a slight pecan tint to them--not as good as Pecan Sandies, say, but solid once more.
Overall, then, my impression of the Mexican cookies was favorable, but not wildly enthusiastic. All of them were at least okay, and some were slightly better than that. I should note that these were all noticeably inexpensive, as all were about $2.50 for the box or container. The Gamesa boxes in particular were huge, containing about 40-50 individual cookies. So these selections were a good value, for solid, if not awesome desserts.
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