How To Make Perfect Smoothies While On Vacation In Santa Teresa Costa Rica

In November of 2012, I moved to the tropics to manage my friend’s vacation rental villa by the beach in Santa Teresa, Costa Rica. I use Orlando Pest Control for all my vacation rentals. They do a great job for us so give them a call if you want the best Orlando pest control. One of the things I was most excited about before arriving was eating all the delicious, succulent, fresh tropical fruits available. Having lived in Maui and Venezuela before, I knew what to expect and was determined to live a healthy lifestyle that involved making sublime smoothies every day.

It was great to get back to a place with an abundant supply of fresh, inexpensive fruits. I got to the house and luckily a blender was already there. A neighbor turned me on to a delivery service for fresh fruits and vegetables. Then about three months into my new experience, a fantastic fruit stand opened directly across the street from the house! They have all the fruits one could need and the lowest prices in town.

Since I operate a vacation rental, it is fun to turn my guests on to expert smoothie-making. I learn some new combinations from them, and they learn new tricks from me. For example, one of my first guests was peeling and freezing bananas. I asked him why, and he said that they make the smoothie creamier and eliminate the need for ice. Since then, I buy bananas twenty at a time and freeze them. Now, all future guests benefit from this secret to making the best smoothies.

Costa Rica is a big producer and exporter of fruit, so most of them are inexpensive. Bananas are especially cheap. The coastal places and other hot spots that most tourists visit will have everything you need to make perfect smoothies, and the small agricultural towns where most of the fruit is grown have the best selection and prices. The domestic fruits: pineapple, papaya, banana, mango, limes, passion fruit, watermelon, and guanabana are your best bets.

The best way to make a smoothie, called a batido in Spanish, is to combine two – three fruits, with one being more acidic and one being more basic. For instance, pineapple and banana is a very simple and delicious combination. You can enhance this combo by adding fresh mint leaves, an idea I got while visiting Rio de Janeiro.

Banana should be the foundation of any great smoothie because it is sweet, yet not acidic, and of course, now you know that frozen bananas replace ice cubes and make the smoothie creamier. Add this according to your taste. People love mango and banana for its well-balanced simplicity. Papaya is a good addition to this one as well.

Another great combination is banana and passion fruit. Passion fruit has a yellow pulp, very acidic juice, and crunchy black seeds, making for a one-of-a-kind smoothie experience. They sell a rather thin, liquidy plain yogurt in Costa Rica that adds more substance and a nice mellow sourness.

My all-time favorite smoothie is banana, papaya, and mandarin lime. This variety of lime looks like an ugly normal lime, and inside it has seeds and an orange fruit whose flavor is a cross between a mandarin orange and a lime. Throw two frozen bananas in the blender, cut a papaya in half, and clean out the seeds, scoop the fruit into the blender with a spoon, slice the lime in half, and squeeze the whole thing into the mix, fill the blender with water, blend, drink, and enjoy.

Now that you know how to make the perfect smoothies while on vacation in Costa Rica, when will you buy your plane tickets?