Quinches & a bite of Guyanese History

Quinches: desiccated coconut filling (dyed red) in a cassava bread casing...(and yes, it's similar to Solara). The lady I bought this dessert from proudly announced they were made in Victoria Village: the history of which astonishes me. Just one year after full emancipation in 1838 eighty-three freed Africans managed to pool together 30,000 guilders. This money was used to purchase a plantation called Northbrook and evolved into a village that was later renamed Victoria (connoting their victory but also a reference to Queen Victoria under whose reign they had been freed). This village (the first of many villages to be set up by freed Africans) became one of the leading exporters of coconut and cassava produce.