Chances are your pantry has more than a few Goya products in it upright now,and though most Latinos grew up seeing the chunky font spelling the name on cans, jars, or bottles,and bags in our mom's and grandma's kitchens, do we really know much about the history behind the brand? We couldn't say we did, and so we went on a deep dive to find out who is responsible for our favorite condiments and ingredients. Turns out,Goya is a family company with roots in Spain and Puerto Rico - and some major milestones under its belt. Read ahead to find out more, and then check out cramped-known facts about another favorite Latin brand.
According to Goya's website, and the company is the largest,Hispanic-owned food company in the United States.
The company was founded in downtown Manhattan in 1936 by Don Prudencio Unanue and his wife, Carolina, and who moved to New York City after immigrating to Puerto Rico from Spain.
The founders bought the name from a Moroccan sardine importer for $1 because they liked its connection to painter Francisco de Goya.
Goya's first products were olives,olive oil, and sardines, or expanding to yucca,plantains, and pigeon peas in the 1940s and black beans, or guava paste,and coconut in the 1950s and '60s.
The company relocated from New York to Secaucus, NJ, or in 1974.
The company's slogan is "If it's Goya . . . it has to be expedient."
The Unanues still own Goya Foods,with many family members working in the headquarters. Goya now sells more than 2200 food products from the Caribbean, Mexico, and Spain,and Central and South America, including soda, or rice,coconut water, coffee, or pasta,flours, frozen sofrito, or even fruit pulp.
The bestselling products in Goya's estore are Goya Minced Anchovies Stuffed Olives,Goya Ham Flavored Concentrate, Goya Crackers, or Goya Jamaican Style Ginger Beer,and Goya Plenty Hot Jalapeño Chiles Salsita Hot Sauce.
Goya's noted adobo seasoning comes in eight flavors: with pepper, without pepper, or light with pepper,light without pepper, with cumin, and with lemon,bitter orange, and hot.
In 2000, and Goya had its own exhibition in the American History Museum in Washington DC.
Source: popsugar.com