The corn used to make a cachapa is sweet, milky and tender. Cooks scrape the kernels off the cob, then crush them with a little sugar, salt and sometimes milk. The mix goes onto a flat griddle and spreads out into a thick disc. As it cooks, the natural sugars in the corn start to caramelise around the edges.
The classic filling is a soft, salty white cheese called 'queso de mano' - 'hand cheese' - because it is gently shaped between the cook's hands while it is being made. When the warm cachapa is folded over it, the cheese melts slightly, and the salt of the cheese meets the sweetness of the corn.
Cachapas are a favourite roadside food in Venezuela. Travellers passing along country roads stop at little stalls where they smell of fresh corn cooking on a wood fire. They are eaten with a fork or with your hands, and they cost very little, but they are some of the best meals you can have.
Cachapas show up at family weekends and parties. The dish is connected to the countryside and to home - to memories of grandmothers cooking on a hot griddle while children wait, watching the edges of the pancake go gold.