Through its official Facebook page, Dulces de la Rosa recently shared its latest goal: breaking the Guinness World Record for the largest mazapan in Los Angeles, California.
Dulces de la Rosa, the iconic candy company from Jalisco known for its quality and community values, achieved a new Guinness World Record for both its home state and all of Mexico by creating the world’s largest mazapan in Los Angeles.
From Friday, October 25, to Sunday, October 27, visitors gathered at Plaza de Las Banderas, 20 Civic Center Plaza in Santa Ana, California, to witness this historic moment at a completely free event.
Dulces de la Rosa partnered with “Los 32 por México y más,” a nonprofit dedicated to preserving Mexican art, culture, and traditions, aiming to celebrate Mexico’s heritage and the Latin community in the United States. This giant treat represents not just a sweet but a symbol of proud Mexican roots.
How Big Was the World’s Largest Mazapan?
The celebration began at 11:00 a.m. with performances of the national anthems of the U.S. and Mexico. Half an hour later, 20 employees from the company, dressed in white coats and following strict health guidelines, began to pour ingredients into the giant mazapan mold, which measured 3.6 meters (11.8 feet) in diameter and 1.6 meters (5.2 feet) in height.
After careful preparation, the giant candy was complete, setting a new Guinness World Record with a massive weight of 10,438 kilos (23,015 pounds). This new record surpassed the previous one set in Guadalajara in 2018, which weighed 8,296 kilos (18,287 pounds).
The event, held in Santa Ana, featured prominent guests, including Gerardo Quirino Velázquez, mayor of Tlajomulco de Zúñiga; Gustavo Padilla, director of CUCEA of the University of Guadalajara; Don Salvador García, leader of the Jalisco Federation of Clubs in Southern California; Mike González, leader of Los 32 por México in Santa Ana; and Enrique Michel, candy entrepreneur and CEO of Dulces de la Rosa.
Did you know that mazapan is not of Mexican origin?
Although this candy is a symbol of Mexican sweets today, its origins trace back to 16th-century Spain. According to historian Carlos Vizuete Mendoza, the earliest record of mazapans dates to 1512 in Madrid, part of a royal request for “sugar fruits and mazapans from Toledo.” This traditional Spanish candy, protected by a Denomination of Origin, has Arabic roots from the term mantha-ban, meaning “seated king,” referencing the Hispano-Arabic cultural blend.
Mazapan tradition soon spread to other parts of the world, even reaching Leonardo da Vinci, who crafted edible sculptures from mazapan for the Italian court of Ludovico Sforza. In Mexico, this candy took on its own style, incorporating pumpkin seeds and peanuts instead of almonds, giving rise to the iconic Mexican mazapan.
Over time, the Mexican candy has evolved to include creative shapes and flavors, such as mamey, orange blossom water, and rose essence. During the colonial period, nuns at Mexico City’s Jesús María convent crafted full-course dishes as miniature mazapan replicas. In Querétaro, nuns from the Convent of La Cruz even welcomed Emperor Maximilian with mazapan and candied “angel hair.”
In the 1950s, peanut mazapan by Dulces de la Rosa became widely popular, and Guadalajara emerged as a hub for this tradition, celebrating World Mazapan Day annually. In 2018, the brand set a previous world record in Guadalajara with an 8-ton giant candy, requiring five hours of dedication.
This latest achievement in Los Angeles, besides breaking a Guinness World Record, has united and inspired the Mexican community in the U.S., celebrating tradition and shared effort.
