National Drink · Toasted Corn and Cacao
Pinolillo
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Nicaraguans call themselves 'pinoleros' after this drink, and the word turns up in popular songs as shorthand for being Nicaraguan.
Pinolillo is made by toasting corn and cacao together, grinding them into a fine powder with spices, then mixing that powder with water or milk into an earthy, slightly bitter drink. It's sold from street stalls and markets across Nicaragua, drunk cold as an everyday refresher rather than reserved for special occasions.
Why it's made this way: Its popularity runs so deep that Nicaraguans are colloquially called pinoleros, making pinolillo one of the clearest food-to-identity links anywhere in Central America.
More from Nicaragua
Part of World of Street Food — 3443 dishes from 118 countries.
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