Fiesta Drink · Fermented Corn Brew
Chicha
📷 Closely related photo — Photo: Ando228 / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 3.0
The corn used is first left to sprout for several days before fermenting, a step that converts its starch into the sugar the fermentation actually needs.
Corn is soaked, sprouted, and fermented with sugar and water into a tangy, mildly alcoholic drink. Vendors sell cups of it from big jugs at Guanacaste's town fiestas and topes (horse parades).
Why it's made this way: Chicha's fermentation techniques trace back to Guanacaste's Chorotega heritage and remain most visible today at the province's oxcart and cattle festivals.
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