Lacto-Fermented Costa Rican Chilero

It has been a while since I’ve shared any new lacto-fermented recipes, but I’ve got a delicious one for you today!


I came across this chilero mixture at the San Ramon Feria from the organic stand a few months ago and we were hooked on that stuff. Of course, they pickled the chilero with white vinegar, so Jon urged me to make some chilero and lacto-ferment it to see if it would come out just as good or better.


Amazingly, on the first try, the lacto-fermented chilero came out better than the chilero we bought from the feria. Why shouldn’t it? Raw, living food shouts with pure goodness and makes our guts scream for more! LOL!


The spicy, sweet flavor was so addicting that we ate up the chilero in one meal! Yeah, it was that good! We were having baked potatoes and the chilero was the “cherry on top”… everybody loved it… even my girls were begging for more! I had to literally take the jar away to save what little was left so I could show you guys… which explains the pictures. LOL!

Costa Rican Chilero

• 3 cups grated carrots
• 1 meduim yellow onion, thinly sliced
• 1 sweet red pepper, finely chopped
• 1-2 cayenne or jalapeño peppers, finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tbsp sea salt
• 4 tbsp whey (don’t have it? add 1 tbsp sea salt)
• filtered water

Combine carrots, onion, peppers, garlic and scoop into a quart jar. Gently push down.

Mix together sea salt and whey. Pour into the jar.

Add enough water to cover the veggies. Make sure there’s at least one inch between the veggies and the top of the jar.

Cover tightly with either an airlock or regular sealed lid.

Keep at room temperature and out of light for 3 days before opening.

Store it in a cool place and out of light (pantry, basement or fridge).

Like all ferments... the longer you leave it, the better the flavors will become. If you are a little scared to start fermenting your food... read How You Can Benefit From Lacto-Fermented Foods! This Chilero is super EASY and a great start on your road to exploring lacto-fermenting. Enjoy and have a great day!

Mare


UPDATE: I know I missed the Lacto-fermented Blog carnival by Sustainable Eats, but I figure it would be better late then never. I'll be entering all my LF recipes along with the one. Check out all the recipes that other bloggers have posted! There are some great stuff there.

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South Caribbean Adventures: Caribeans Coffee and Chocolate Factory & Mighty Rivers Ice Cream & CoffeeShop

NOTE: I scheduled this post to go up... We are settling into our new home in Honduras right now, please keep us in your prayers. Head over to our RO4Y blog and read about the awesome things that have happened! Enjoy and thank you!

Green coffee beans freshly roasted, handmade chocolates, raw ice cream, natural peanut butter, raw honey, locally-made coconut oil, homemade Colloidal Silver and Kombucha... Caribeans Coffee & Chocolate Factory  and Mighty Rivers Ice Cream Shop has it all!

With the ocean right across the street... this is the place where you can relax, enjoy the smells of coffee and chocolate wafting through ocean breeze and find good company. This casual & hippy spot is owned by Paul (met him at the market!) and his wife who love the Lord and are very involved with the local community. Everything in their shop are from local, organic sources and fair-trade... totally my kind of place! I think I mentioned before that I used to work at a local coffee shop in Des Moines for about 3 years. I LOVED that job, they roast their beans several times a week and Julie (owner) was the coolest boss ever (and still is!). If you are in the area... stop by and enjoy some delicious coffee made with real cocoa, local milk and fair-trade coffee!

Anyway, while we were there... they were making bars of their baker's chocolate right in the back and the smell was HEAVENLY! I totally forgot that you CAN buy real chocolate with 100% cocoa butter fat from these guys (but not from CHOCORART). You can also purchase their delicious, organic & fair-trade coffee which they roast right in the back along with their chocolates. Purchasing their coffee & chocolate will help them support the local people and their work.

Now, the ice cream they serve is made locally at Mighty Rivers Farm which we stayed at overnight on the way to Puerto Viejo. We also stayed there on the way back and enjoy our time there. I will be writing up a post about their farm soon! Meanwhile, I stuffed myself with their ice cream... made with their own fresh milk and local ingredients. They really go far to bring the best, freshest & natural ice cream on the Caribbean-side of Costa Rica. You won't find this kind of ice cream anywhere else in Costa Rica!

From the left: Colloidal silver (They made it!), organic raw honey, organic raw banana vinegar and locally-made coconut oil.

This is where they roast their beans and make their chocolates. Tabi decided to check out their roaster  :o)

LOVE their coffee bags... totally COOL!

They brew their own Kombucha and on the sign lists all the benefits of drinking 'bucha. Love that stuff! Its a buck for a 1oz shot...

Paul & his wife and their handmade chocolates. So GOOD!

The menus... they serve 14 different flavors of ice cream and have a breakfast/lunch menu that is very simple. We had breakfast there, but the chocolates, coffee and ice cream are the main focus there!

Daddy kissing his baby girl  :o)

Naomi getting a bite out of Grandpa's ice cream... I think he got Maracuya (Passionfruit)

Caught Dave (my father-in-law) attacking his ice cream... yeah its so good! Jon ordered the Black Beach  Shake... which had their coffee, vanilla ice cream and fresh chocolate all whipped in there and topped with more chocolate sauce. VERY similar to what I had at Bread & Chocolate, but I thought B&C was better  ;o)

After breakfast... Here I am eating THREE scoops of ice cream. Yeah, I love ice cream and I loved it even more that it is made with fresh raw milk! Many of you might be wondering if I gained some weight after eating all that good food and ice cream... nope, I did not gain a single pound. Honestly, cross my heart! We were riding our bikes the whole time and that burned everything off! Besides, when we eat good REAL food... weight-gain is very unlikely to happen  :o)

Top: Chocolate Macadamia  Middle: Coconut  Bottom: Mango

I ate every bite, felt no guilt and loved it!! LOL! My all-time favorite is the coconut. I gotta figure out HOW to make coconut ice cream in my kitchen! I tried once, but it wasn't the same... need to keep trying  :o)

While we were enjoying ourselves... I saw 3 horses walking along the beach. It was a beautiful sight! They had no halters or ropes on them... made me wondered if anybody owned them. The dark bay horse (middle) let me approach him and I gave him some love. He was a real sweetie... the gray was a stand-offish, but she did smell me a little. I also got to love on the little guy and he was adorable! I was surprised that he let me touch him and rub his back. Obviously someone has been working with him and lets the horses roam freely.


I had to share this with you... how often does that happen?!


Anyway, sorry if I'm starting to sound like a broken record here... but if you are ever in the area, this place is worth stopping by. Enjoy some fresh coffee, chocolate or ice cream right on the beach! Maybe you'll even see those horses again  :o)

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South Caribbean Adventures: Bread & Chocolate

First, I want to start off by sharing that it is not easy to find a restaurant in Costa Rica that serves fresh, wholesome, delicious food at a low cost. Good food comes with a very high price in Costa Rica… which is why we rarely eat out. If you want a cheap meal… go to a “soda” where you can get beans, rice, meat, fried plaintain & potato salad for less than $6 a person but it is usually cooked with margarine, MSG and refined oils. Not worth it.


But for $5 a person, this place is totally worth it... 

Bread & Chocolate is a deliciously relaxing place that serves fresh, local, organic food at low prices. They really live up to their name perfectly… this place is dripping with the freshest ingredients of bread and chocolate… plus a fantastic breakfast menu using local, free-ranged, organic eggs.


Literally, everything is made from scratch using local and organic ingredients as much as possible… whole wheat bread made daily, locally made raw ice cream, homemade strawberry sauce, locally grown organic coffee and homemade chocolate sauce using local cacao, handmade truffles & peanut butter cups (to die for!!) and it continues all the way down to the mayo! They even confessed on their menu that they are pretty much obsessed with using the freshest ingredients possible and making everything from scratch. That is something to be proud of... I love that kind of obsession!

the awesome kitchen of Bread & Chocolate

One big obsession they have is their brownies… I’m not joking… they have the best brownies in town. I used (remember, past tense…) to love TGI Friday’s Brownie Obsession, but now I am obsessed with Bread & Chocolate's  brownies! You can taste the love and all the real food ingredients... especially the chocolate & butter in these moist, rich squares.

You can get walnut or mint… I loved the walnut, but you can see that the mint is the favorite. The mint was a little too strong for me, but my hubby loved it. They both were delicious… so get both!


Here’s the wonderful feast that we had. We were so full yet felt great afterwards! Shows that real food gives the real fuel to your body needs to feel great.

I had a fantastic coffee ice cream milkshake... it was so good that I forgot to take a picture before I sucked it down. I don't normally drink coffee, but I love coffee drinks like this once in a while. This wonderful drink had raw vanilla ice cream & espresso blended together and topped with real (fresh) whipped cream & homemade chocolate sauce... now you understand why it was so good!

My in-laws enjoyed some french-press coffee... 

My hubby ordered a fantastic breakfast of roasted herb potatoes, homemade biscuit topped with scrambled eggs & homemade mayo with a side of avocados. The biscuit was flaky, delicious and... made with butter. The roasted potatoes were perfect... soft flesh, crispy skin & tossed with herbs, sweet pepper and more butter. Of course, can't skip the eggs... they were soft & delicious. The mayo had a great golden color (egg yolks) and the flavor was so smooth & rich!

I had their French Toast. I had to have it! Made with their whole wheat bread freshly baked everyday. It sounded too good to past up and... it was! First, I couldn't believe how thick the slices were when they put that plate in front of me. Second, I was concern that it would be dry or doughy. It was neither... this French Toast was the best I've ever had (besides my own). They were perfectly moist, crispy and bursting with flavor. It comes with homemade strawberry jam and whipped butter, but you could also get a side of their homemade chocolate sauce... which I did ask for. Why would I past that up?! I devoured every bite and licked up everything. It was so good. So so good!

Next, we order the simple breakfast plate for the girls to share. It had fresh fruit, scrambled eggs and a homemade biscuit. The girls loved it, but they also loved my French Toast  :o)

Lastly, my in-laws shared a huge waffle with strawberry jam and whipped butter. Made with real ingredients and made fresh to order... they were fluffy and had a great flavor, but I loved my French Toast.

So that was our feast! We were all fat and happy... really we felt great.

While we were hanging out and finishing off the fantastic meal we had a great chat with the owner of the place, Tom Franklin, and asked how he got this place going. Tom first came down to Puerto Viejo from Maryland for a change of pace and bought Bread & Chocolate from a young couple who wanted to move back to the states. Since then the focus has remained the same because he loved what they started. Tom has been successfully running this awesome place for over 4 years now! Please stop by and tell Tom how you found out about Bread & Chocolate.

Meet the cool kitchen crew.

Now, I wish I could say that we went back there everyday... but sadly they are closed on Mondays & Tuesdays. I am thrilled that I went at least once and got to enjoy it so much! Thank you Tom and keep up the awesome work!

I seriously didn't want to leave!

This is part of Real Food Wednesday hosted at Cheeseslave!

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South Caribbean Adventures: Puerto Viejo de Talamanca & The Organic Feria

This is the beginning of many posts to come about our adventures in Puerto Viejo de Talamanca located on the southern part of the Caribbean side of Costa Rica. The drive down there was beautiful and a whole different world from the Pacific side of Costa Rica. We drove through a breathtaking rainforest reserve, over many rivers , past large banana & pineapple plantations and miles of coconut trees along the coast. Can you tell that I've fallen in love with the Caribbean?!


Hmmmmm (daydreaming)...


Anyway, I want to tell you all about our time in Puerto Viejo. I didn’t know what to expect, but I had heard that it was a hippie’s paradise… natural, organic and artistic… my kinda place and... I wasn’t disappointed :o)


We arrived Friday night and checked into our small cabin located about a mile outside of Puerto Viejo. I had heard through some people that the Puerto Viejo farmer’s market is open early on Saturdays and almost everything is organic… of course, we had to check it out and explore the town to get a feel of what we wanted to do during our time there. So, the next morning we got our bikes (instead of renting a van for all of us, we hired someone to drive us to our cabin and we rented bikes for our entire stay… much cheaper, great exercise & way FUN!) and took off to check out the market.

The market was very small, but there was much to choose from. You can find fresh chicken, eggs, raw milk, raw cheese, organic fruits & veggies, baked goods and artisan breads. We met and talked with some wonderful people and I actually met a fellow blogger! First I want to introduce you all to Peter & Ancel

They run a beautiful permaculture farm just outside of Puerto Viejo called Finca la Isla’s Botanical Garden. Their primary focus is growing exotic fruits and chocolate. Unfortunely, we weren’t able to visit and explore the farm as they were close during the times we could’ve gone. I was heartbroken… Nevertheless, I am still thrilled that we had the chance to chat with them at the market and hear how they started their farm. 

At the market they sell dried exotic fruits, homemade chocolates & cookies, homemade dog treats (they gave me the recipe! I will share when I whip them up for our dogs), exotic fruit jams & preserves, fruit roll-ups and some fresh fruits & veggies. We bought a couple bags of their dried fruits and some fruit leathers. Of course, I wished we had bought more… they were delicious! I loved the dried fruits because there were chunks of mangosteen in the midst. SO GOOD! Check out their amazing selections... mangosteen jam?! That sounds fantastic!


When I checked out their website, I was super excited (and super bummed because I would've LOVED to be there!) to find that they are passionate about lacto-fermenting, sprouting & making homemade vinegars from fruits. They described their kitchen as a very active place of working with certain yeasts, fungi & bacteria to produce several fermented products such as tempeh, kimchi, kombucha and fruit vinegars. Please visit their site and if you are in the area… let them know how you heard about them!

We came across another table displaying raw honey, organic cacao, organic chocolates, peanut butter, raw banana vinegars, organic coffee and coconut oil. While chatting with the man, Paul, I discovered that he runs the ice cream & coffee shop on the other side of town. We were actually looking for that very place because we had to deliver a box to them from Mighty Rivers (will tell you all about that place). Another thing we discovered was he and his wife are Christians and have been involved with the community for several years now.

That's one thing we found about the town of Puerto Viejo... there is a large community of Christians and it is very family-friendly for a beach town. Yeah, it has the usual party life, but it is not know for that while Jaco (where we lived for a while) is known for its drugs, prostitutes and party life. Comparing the two towns, Jaco (pacific side) & Puerto Viejo (caribbean side).... If anybody asked me where I recommend them to go for vacation in Costa Rica... I will tell them the Caribbean or La Fortuna.

Anyway, while we were hanging out and meeting people at the market, I saw a mama wearing an Ergo and wanted to meet her. Trish is the first mama I’ve met wearing an Ergo in Costa Rica. We started chatting and sharing each other’s stories of why we are in Costa Rica. She then suddenly asked me if I was a blogger and what the name of my blog was. I told her and she couldn't believe that our paths crossed each other in Puerto Viejo of all places! She said she took one look at my girls and thought they looked very familiar. Obviously, from their pictures on my blog! She blogs on Tiny Grass and had her baby here in Costa Rica. It was great meeting you and your family, Trish!

Now, this is not the end of our trip… I am just getting started! I have so much to share with you all about the delicious food we ate, an amazing organic chocolate tour that spoiled us for life & our time at Mighty Rivers Farm. So, don’t miss any of the posts!

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