El Mundo Supermarket

Nostalgia for old-time taste isn't confined to soda.

On the heels of "throwback" Mountain Dew and "kosher for Passover" Coca-Cola comes Malta Goya "clásica," (12 fl. oz., $1). Like those other quaffs it, too, is "hecho con azúcar de caña," but since I have much less experience with malta than with soda, I couldn't quickly detect the difference between this cane-sugar version and the usual corn-syrup brew.

Previously: Del Sur brand brevas con arequipe (six-pack; 150 g.; $3.50), from Colombia, are made with "green" figs, the season's first crop. In Spanish these are the "brevas," which in many fig cultivars are larger, coarser, and less well-regarded than the second crop, the "higos." Size and sturdiness, however, serves them well when a fat wad of caramel, or "arequipe," is applied.

This Cuban-owned business proclaims an "especialdad en carnes, corte Latino Americano," a specialty in meat trimmed to Latin American tastes. On my first, brief visit, I observed one butcher holding up his handiwork for the customer's inspection.

I also observed a few products I associate with Miami, such as Ironbeer and Materva soft drinks. Among several maltas, though, no Hatuey. Malta Falcon (12 fl. oz., 59 cents) balanced a little sweetness with an innocuous dose of hops. It's not syrupy, not fierce, not even exotic: Falcon is brewed in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.

El Mundo Supermarket
42-16 Junction Blvd. (42nd-43rd Aves.), Elmhurst, Queens
718-898-4466

Comments

[Lambretta76]

I think you mean Iron Beer, not Iron City. Someone has been hanging around with Pittsburghers a tad too much.

[Dave Cook]

You're right, both about the beverage and about friends from Pittsburgh. I've amended my post accordingly. Thanks!

[frank]

being italian, i love figs,
but with caramel...that sounds sinfull, i have to try it

[foodrinkery]

Interesting find!