A traditional Nicaraguan breakfast… at the farm!

When I read that Morgan’s Rock offers a Breakfast at the Farm tour, I jumped at the opportunity to see where ingredients from some of my delicious meals were coming from and learn about what makes the traditional Nicaraguan breakfast unique compared to neighboring countries.

Breakfast at the Farm

Our tour guide Bismar explained the importance and size of the farm. There are approximately 60 people employed on the farm and 50 people employed at the ecolodge. This farm is a large part of feeding the guests and employees.

I was surprised to discover that we were actively participating in our breakfast.

We started with milking the cow. I gave it a go, but I was nowhere near as good as cowboy Richard.

While the ecolodge boils the cow milk for us tourists, the process of boiling the milk does remove quite a lot of the nutrients. In fact, a baby calf would die in about a week if it drank boiled milk.

 

Next we had to select our eggs. Bismar explained that hens start laying eggs at 6 months old, and they produce for one year. At the farm, they do not use any hormones, so chickens have to reach 12 weeks (double the time compared to hormones) before they can become a tasty meal.

 

With our fresh-from-the-farm ingredients, we headed to the kitchen to learn more about the remaining components of our Nicaraguan breakfast.

Although a lot of people think cuajada is bland, I like the texture and simplicity of this cows milk cheese. The process is somewhat labor-intensive (well, at least to someone who has never had to make cheese), but it requires only simple ingredients (yeast, lemon juice, salt) and low-tech methods.

Traditional Nicaraguan Breakfast

If you’ve ever been to Central America, you know that the traditional breakfast has a base of eggs, rice, beans, and tortillas.  But there are slight variations in each country of this region.

So what makes Nicaragua’s take on this breakfast unique?

#1 – Gallo pinto is a traditional rice and beans dishes in both Costa Rica and Nicaragua, but the Nicas use kidney beans while the Ticos (Costa Ricans) use black beans.

Note that if you have ever tried to make gallo pinto at home, it probably didn’t taste the same.  That is because the rice is cooked all day the day before.  I know I don’t have that kind of patience or forethought with planning my meals, but I love that they do in Central America.

#2 – The tortillas are the main Nica secret and taste different from those you will find in other countries in this region.

Nicaraguan Tortillas

I had no idea how much work went into making a delicious tortilla.  (And there really is a huge difference between homemade tortillas and those we buy at the supermarket.)

Corn is dried and then boiled with ashes from the firewood for four hours. During this process, the corn loses its skin and becomes soft.  Next they wash and grind the corn. A little bit of water is added to get the texture of dough.

The tortilla is cooked in a clay pan called a comal on a wood-burning stove. The trick is having the right heat, and a bubble will form in the tortilla. Then you flip it.

It may look simple, but there is a lot of time and effort that goes into the traditional Nicaraguan breakfast.

Throughout the morning, we talked about how little natural, organic food is available and consumed in the US, and there has to be a correlation with the increase in diseases.  Even as developing countries become more modernized, especially in the cities, we can see this trend.

The time and effort of this delicious, natural food is worth it.