Cas fruit margaritas
Tropical climates produce amazing varieties of delicious fruits. One that I don’t come across very often in San José, but is found throughout Costa Rica, is a citrus fruit from the guava family called cas. The round or oval fruit, 3-6 cm long has a thin, yet tough yellowish skin and is squishy when ripe. The ready-to-eat fruit exudes a sickeningly sweet scent that makes you want to draw it up to your nose again and again like a gardenia blossom.
Known as Costa Rican guava in English, Psidium friedrichsthalianum, has various names throughout Latin America: cas or cas ácida in Costa Rica, guayaba ácida in Guatemala, guayaba agria in Colombia, guayaba de danto in Honduras, guayaba de agua in Panama, guayaba del Choco in Ecuador, guayaba montes in Mexico, guayaba in Nicaragua, and arrayan in El Salvador.
A friend brought a handful over a couple of months ago and blended up the most thirst quenching drink. Just four cases with about three cups of water and ½ cup sugar was enough to make a full pitcher. Fresco de cas or cas juice is very sour initially, like lemonade, but after adding sugar it turns sweet and tart. The biggest difference between cas juice and lemonade is the consistency. Cas juice is thick with an ice cream-like texture and doesn’t have lemonade’s pulpy bits.
The lemon flavor reminded me of that lovely cocktail called margarita, so I decided to create my own cas concoction and add a little bit of rum to the mix. I think I’ve stumbled upon something here!
Read more about the diverse world of Costa Rican fruit here.
