Cas Pulp
Cas is a sour, green/yellow fruit that grows in Tropical areas such as Nicaragua, El Salvador and Guatemala, but has its origin in Costa Rica, Cas trees can produce fruits through all of the year, making it a great option for preparing “Frescos” as known here in Costa Rica. At the finca we have found it more practical to prepare the pulp and store it in the fridge or freezer until needed, that way you will only have to add some sugar in order to get your beverage.
- Harvesting Cas:
Normally the fruits fall from the tree in a natural way, so harvesting cas is a matter of going to the tree and looking for the fallen ones. The only considerations you need to have are: a) Make sure you don’t see any insects coming from the fruit. b) Look for the closed ones, no matter if yellow or green. When the fruits don’t meet these requirements, it’s best to throw them back to the earth (Somewhere a bit far away so that you don’t get confused in the next harvest)
2. Cleaning and cutting
Once you have the fruits the next step is rinsing and peeling them. We have found two ways to doing so described as follows: a) Peeling with a knife: If you are a knife pro you can just peel the fruit, taking away all the rind and also a bit of the upper brown part as it is a bit hard. b) Scoop the fruit out: This method consists in cutting around 10 cas by half with a knife and literally scooping the fruit out with a spoon (I’d recommend a hard plastic one as usually the metal ones have edges that can be hassling with time). Start scooping from the upper part so that you don´t get the hard part of the fruit. Be aware as sometimes, specially when it comes to the ripe (or yellow) there could be some small white worms,if you see them, don´t use that fruit. Finally, if you see a fruit with brown spots or really dry, it’s better not to use it.
3. Pulp extraction
After getting the peel apart, it’s finally time to blend. Take the fruits to the blender and add a bit of water (make it rise about 5 cm below the fruit). Blend for around 40 seconds and take the mix to a bowl with a strainer on top. Help yourself with a serving spoon and rub the mixture in order to help it pass to the bowl. Be patient, every once and then you can clean the strainer from down with a normal spoon. Once you only have the seeds left, take them away and repeat the process as many times as needed.
4. Store and enjoy!
The final step is to store your cas pulp in the fridge so that you have it ready for your fresco anytime, just add water and sugar if wanted. If you have more than you need, you can always store in in the freezer and take it out whenever needed. Enjoy your homemade delicious Costa Rican Beverage!
5. Compost the residues
Extracting Cas Pulp also means having lots if peels and organic residues, so we strongly encourage you to compost them and bring the back to the land, if you don’t have your compost place yet, you can dig a hole in the soil and simply place the peels covered by soil and leaves.
Thanks for reading, best wishes.