When I am in El Salvador, I try to cook with local ingredients and try my hand at whipping up a bit of local fare. During the Easter holidays, we received a gift of small marañones - cashew apples. Of course the prized part of the marañon is the seed that hangs down below the fruit. Some people have told me that the fruit is good for much more than animal feed, but I have seen plenty of marañones stuck on popsicle sticks and put into the freezer as a treat for children, and I also have heard that some people make a refresco or fresh fruit drink from the fruit. With the gift of a small plastic bag full of small marañones sitting in my kitchen, I decided to do a bit of research and make something with them. I settled on a refresco. The first step was to remove the seeds from the apples. I naively thought I could dry the seeds and maybe roast them. After all, cashews are delicious. However, with a little researc...
In honor of Halloween...here is the story of La Carreta Chillona This photo was taken in the Cultural House in Dulce de Nombre de Maria, Chalatenango Throughout El Salvador, the midnight sound of squeaky wheels rolling down pavement, cobbles or pathways of a town brings fear to those who hear it. The cart passes by at the time when everyone should be asleep, so that no person of the town would be exposed to the company of cadavers traveling by cart on their funeral route. Some believe the cart is filled with the bodies of those who have dared to look upon the squeaky cart as it passed by. Many people claim to have heard the squeaky cart, and many people will describe its distinctive adornment with skulls, but I have not yet met a person who has taken a peek as it passes by in the night. Historians believe that versions of this tale were spread throughout the Americas by Spanish rulers, who wanted to discourage the local people from venturing out after dark to conspire...
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