Page 17 - SOUTH GUANACASTE TOURIST GUIDE

Mozote beverage
Rice & Shrimp
Fish Ceviche
Guanacaste cuisine
Guanacaste offers an unparalleled gastronomic experience, offering a memorable blend of smells, flavors and culinary practices that are based on the region’s cultural wealth.
Guanacaste has the virtue of being a region with a vast wealth of cultural traditions, with highly developed indigenous communities with Mayan and Aztec influences that went on to mix with Spaniards, who brought their own culinary traditions. The result is a combination of cultures for which the Costa Rican palate is very grateful.
Corn
Corn plays a central role as an ingredient in many foods. Some of the traditional foods that employ it include tamales, marquesote, atolillo, atolillo de arroz, atolillo morado, tamal asado, tanelas, rosquillas, rosquillas bañadas, rice with corn, cajetas, cuajadas, tortillas, chorreadas, yoles de maíz tierno, cajetas, picadillos, empanadas and gallina en salsa.
The local beverages are generally made from the fruit-bearing plants of the region, including the guapinol, pitahaya, chestnut and cashew. Local favorites also include the lemony aguadulce, fresh pinolillo, horchata, mozote, leche de burra, chicha, coyol wine and resbaladera.
Seafood
In addition, Guanacaste has been blessed with an extensive coastline, providing access to a rich range of seafood products, mainly harvested by artisanal fishermen and piangueros. This explains why many local dishes are based on fish and seafood from the region’s waters. Examples are fried fish, fish ceviches, shrimp, octopus and squid rings. As well as shrimp with garlic, we have clear and cream shellfish soups, shellfish platters and rice dishes that include shrimp, squid, shellfish, and much more.
A variety of turtle egg dishes are eaten in Ostional.
Tradición
Wood stoves and traditional ovens play an important role in the local cuisine. These require an understanding of how to work with the different temperatures and cooking times, the best wood to burn in order to give the food the right flavor, and even the traditional brushes used to clean the ashes in the ovens.
The traditional towns of the region can be discovered in their sodas, small family restaurants or cafés where you can taste the cuisine of Guanacaste, in the cantons of Santa Cruz, Nicoya, Hojancha and Nandayure. The area also offers international cuisine, including gourmet restaurants.
Bizcochos
Beverages
Horchata
Fried fish
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