Workers prepare popsicles at an artisanal factory in Salcedo, Ecuador, Thursday, Nov. 28, 2024, amid a wave of power outages, triggered by a prolonged dry spell. Locals say the sisters would drink fruit shakes made with milk from the region’s dairy farms until one of them began collecting the leftovers, turning them into creamy popsicles that became an overnight sensation.
Pumasunta, who runs the small company with his two brothers, said that if the power outages continue this month, they will have no choice but to shut down the plant.Pumasunta said that power outages have halted production and storage, causing much of his product to melt. Germán Soria, president of the association of artisanal ice-cream makers, said that before the power crisis, Salcedo had 80 small- and medium-sized ice-cream plants and three large factories. Now, 30 of these smaller plants have been forced to close.
According to local officials, the power crisis has cost 300 jobs in Salcedo, a town renowned for its fruit-flavored ice-cream, including flavors such as blackberries, and taxo, an aromatic and somewhat acidic fruit that resembles passion fruit. Meanwhile in Salcedo, the collapse of the local ice-cream industry has rippled through the local economy, impacting dairy farms, fruit growers, transporters and mom-and-pop stores that specialized in selling the famous popsicles.
One of those is Corp Ice-Cream, whose factory used to buzz with activity at noon, with its 35 employees working hard to produce up to 20,000 popsicles per day. But during a recent visit to the plant, there was only one employee sweeping in the dark, due to the lack of power.