A Sweet Heritage from Tocumbo
PHOTOS BY DANIELA LOERA
What is the first memory you ever had of trying a paleta? Maybe it was when ice cream trucks arrived outside your neighborhood, playing that memorable jingle. You’d ask your parents for money and run outside carrying the dollar bills in your hand, along with the other kids in the neighborhood. Or perhaps it was from someone pushing a paleta cart along the shores of South Padre Island? Kids swimming in the sea would run back when they spotted the paleta cart, eagerly asking for their favorite flavor. Maybe you were one of those kids. But for others, their first memory of paletas is inherently part of who they are since birth, as Gerardo Alcázar, co-owner of La Pale, shares, “We were all literally born in paleterias. We have been eating and making paletas since birth.”
Paletas, similar to popsicles, are frozen desserts made with fresh natural fruits and are water or cream based. Some also include vegetables, herbs and/or spices for unique flavor combinations. They are extremely popular in the Rio Grande Valley when the weather hits triple digits and the air becomes thick with heat and humidity. What we crave to cool off from the blazing inferno of summer is a paleta from the nearest paleteria in town, most of which have over 30 different flavors on their menus, which makes choosing one so hard! Try something creamy, like a Ferrero Rocher-inspired paleta, which I did at La Chula Michoacana and, may I add, it was delicious. Select a classic perhaps: coconut, mango con chamoy or limón? Better yet, how about una paleta de nuez, with pecans? Whichever of the many flavors at the paleteria that you choose, your taste buds will be delighted.
Paleterias are Mexican-style ice cream shops whose origins can be traced to a small town called Tocumbo in Mexico’s state of Michoacán. In one origin story in Eater Detroit magazine, writer Serena Maria Daniels credits Tocumbo resident Rafael Malfavón with spreading paletas to nearby villages in the 1930s. Daniels also references how Tocumbans Agustin Andrade and Ignacio Alcázar introduced, to Mexico City, their paletas from Tocumbo in the 1940s. Ignacio’s brother Luis eventually joined him in the paleteria business.
Gerardo Alcázar and his wife Daisy began La Pale Frozen Fruit Bar in Brownsville when they purchased a shop in 2019. “Literally, from one day to the other, we were ice cream shop owners. When I met the gentleman who sold the paleteria to us,” Daisy shares, “he was also from Tocumbo, where they call this small town ‘la cuna de las paletas,’ the cradle of the paletas.”
Gerardo’s father Rafael is also from Tocumbo, and his entire family has the paleteria culture embedded into their heritage and ancestry, which began with Ignacio and Luis. “I was born into the family business in Mexico,” Gerardo says. “I remember my abuelito having shops and pushing carts around town. I was 15 when I began helping my dad Rafael at his shop in Brownsville.”
Gerardo and Daisy have now partnered with H-E-B to sell La Pale paletas in 105 stores in Texas. The two are also finalists in H-E-B’s 11th annual Quest for Texas Best competition. One of their favorite things is witnessing their customers’ reactions upon trying their paletas. “Customers tell us the quality of our ingredients and recipes are unique and reflects the real Michoacan taste and rich culture,” said Daisy.
No matter which paleteria you visit in the Valley, each will have paletas made from what seem like ancient recipes passed down from generation to generation. The owners of these places all share a few commonalities: immense passion, love and the sharing of knowledge of paletas to their customers.
Cornelio Ordoñez, owner of La Chula Michoacana, grew up in Chicago and moved to the Valley eight years ago. He learned about paletas at age 17 from three Mexican paleteros, all masters of their craft. “Yo aprendí a hacer nieves y paletas más o menos hace diecisiete años que yo aprendí,” says Cornelio. Before machines with paleta molds made it easier to churn out paletas by the dozen, Cornelio learned how to make them from scratch.
“Antes era si muy difícil,” he says. “Eso fue algo que me costó trabajo y aprenderme las recetas de algunas eran muy difíciles que de otras pero sacar las paletas era mucho trabajo. Me tardaba y me enojaba.” Cornelio explains how the hardest part of making paletas when he first began was the process of taking the paletas out of the molds without having them melt. He says the process is much less labor intensive.
“Ahorita tengo de Nieves más de 40 sabores y de paletas son come unos 70,” says Cornelio, who shared he has an impressively large menu of 40 flavors of ice cream and about 70 paletas. On my visit to his paleteria, he insisted I try the Ferrero Rocher-inspired paleta. To this day, I cannot forget this paleta’s rich flavor, which, alongside mango and nuez, is one of his shop’s best-selling flavors.
Cornelio proudly shares that the taste of his paletas lasts a long time. “Puede sentir lo que estás comiendo. Y eso a nosotros en la cultura Mexicana nos gusta mucho.” (“You can taste what you’re eating, which is what we, in our Mexican culture, call love.”)
So it’s no wonder that as the summer sun heats our bodies and our valley, we crave the sweet flavors of a paleta, spread by word of mouth, and passed down from generation to generation. Next time you have a paleta, remember to thank the little town of Tocumbo that made this sweet, delectable treat come to fruition en nuestro valle.
La Chula Michoacana has two locations: 100 S. Main St. in McAllen and 2415 E. Griffin Pkwy. in Mission.
La Pale Frozen Fruit Bar is located at 3525 International Blvd., Ste. D in Brownsville.
