Costa Rica has mixed influences when it comes to its cuisine as Costa Ricans have cultural inspirations from the Spanish, the Indigenous communities, and the Africans.

Its location also served as both a biological and cultural bridge between the north and south of the American region, producing unique dishes.

Costa Rican cultural cuisine is believed to be divided into four sectors such as the gastronomy of the Central Valley, Guanacaste, Puntarenas, and Limon.

Guanacaste is famous for its wide usage of corn, rice, and beans due to having pre-Colombian and colonial influences.

Puntarenas is mainly about artisanal fishing, with its cuisine related to seafood. Limon has variations of tropical cuisine with different flavors and popularly uses coconut milk in its dishes.

On the other hand, the Central Valley is popular for its meat, sweets, and pastries.

READ NEXT: Bolivia: 3 Popular Exotic Bolivian Dishes You Need to Try During Your Visit

Costa Rican Sweets

With Costa Rica's rich culinary culture, its sweets will be something you will want to experience at the end of every meal. One of Costa Rica's favorite desserts is the coconut flan.

Costa Rica has made its own signature with the popular Latin American dessert, incorporating the use of coconut with its usual ingredients of milk, vanilla, eggs, sugar, evaporated milk, and condensed milk.

Cajeta de Coco

Another coconut dessert is the Cajeta de coco. It is considered a traditional Costa Rican dessert, usually made of condensed milk, grated coconut, butter, sugar, and wafer crumbs.

All of the ingredients are combined and formed into small balls. After forming coconut balls, the dessert is traditionally placed in special paper cups and chilled for breakfast or during the day.

Cajeta de coco is recommended to be eaten with a cup of tea or coffee. Children also typically eat this dessert on rainy afternoons when they cannot go out and play.

Tres Leches

Costa Rica is also known for tres leches. It is a cake made with full-fat milk, condensed milk, and evaporated milk combined to create a fluffy texture that melts in the mouth.

Tres leches cake is a national favorite and is usually served with a thin layer of whipped cream.

Torta Chilena

Torta Chilena is the resort of Costa Ricans' innovative way when recreating Chile's thousand-layer cakes.

Chile's thousand-layer cake comprises 15 to 20 thin layers of pie dough, while Costa Rica only has six to eight layers of pie pastry and makes each layer just a bit thicker.

However, torta Chilena is traditionally filled with dulce de leche, which gives the Latin American taste. The dessert is sweet, caramelly, and rich, making it a perfect pair for freshly brewed coffee.

Torta Chilena is usually made up of white flour, cornstarch, butter, eggs, cold water, salt, dulce de leche, and homemade meringue frosting.

Melcochas de Natilla

Melcochas de Natilla is a traditional Costa Rican candy made from sour cream and sugar. It is usually served during the festival of melcochas de Maria, which is celebrated in San Ramon, Costa Rica, every December 7.

Despite its being known as sour cream candies, Melcochas de Natilla can be very sweet. Its texture ranges from hard semi-hard to taffy-like softness.

READ MORE: Traditional Latin American Diet: History of Latin America's Rice and Beans

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Mary Webber

WATCH: 5 Traditional Costa Rican Foods to Savor & Full of Flavor - From AmigoFoods