Fermented maize drink served in gourds at Guanacaste fiestas — a Chorotega tradition of Costa Rica’s northwest, brewed for community festivals and religious celebrations in the Nicoya peninsula.
Home production of alcohol is licensed or restricted in most of the atlas’s readership, and the ferment depends on wild cultures in vessels used repeatedly.
What goes into it
- maize
- tapa de dulce, the local raw sugar
- water
How it is made
Maize is ground and cooked into a thin porridge, sweetened with raw sugar and left in a covered vessel for several days while wild yeasts and lactic bacteria ferment it. It is served cloudy and only lightly alcoholic, strained into gourds.
How long it takes: three to five days
How it is eaten
From a gourd at a fiesta patronal or a turno in Guanacaste.
History
A Chorotega tradition of the northwest, brewed for community festivals and religious celebrations in the Nicoya peninsula.
Frequently asked questions
What is Chicha de maíz?
Chicha de maíz is a wine & spirit from Costa Rica: fermented maize drink served in gourds at Guanacaste fiestas. A Chorotega tradition of the northwest, brewed for community festivals and religious celebrations in the Nicoya peninsula.
How is Chicha de maíz made?
Maize is ground and cooked into a thin porridge, sweetened with raw sugar and left in a covered vessel for several days while wild yeasts and lactic bacteria ferment it. It is served cloudy and only lightly alcoholic, strained into gourds. It takes three to five days.
Can I make Chicha de maíz at home?
No, and the atlas gives no method for it. Home production of alcohol is licensed or restricted in most of the atlas’s readership, and the ferment depends on wild cultures in vessels used repeatedly.
What goes into Chicha de maíz?
Maize, tapa de dulce, the local raw sugar, water.
How is Chicha de maíz eaten?
From a gourd at a fiesta patronal or a turno in Guanacaste.
