I'll keep going with the snacks, then move on to sea food, deserts and finish with drinks. On the next post I'll talk about when each thing is served, what's it go with, and good places where to get them. Before I forget I'll also talk about the restaurants and fast food chains I didn't mentioned on the last post. So let's get started.
Now I am considering anything that is sold on a small plastic bag or on a stick as a snack.
Tostadas de platanos - This are vertical and horizontal slices of plantains (a type of banana) that are dried then roasted, after being sprinkled with salt, the person who buys a bag can choose to put lime, and/or hot sauce. You can also buy a bag from a store just like a bag if chips and like chips they say what they have in them. I personally prefer from a bender, that way you know it's fresh.
Chicharras - This are pork rinds only difference is they are made fresh, you can choose to put lime or hot sauce. Not much that I can say but you can find them everywhere.
Jicama - This is a root, but it's better eaten raw, and like the other fruits I've mentioned its eaten with salt, lime and hot sauce (it's kinda of the Salvadorean way if you haven't noticed)
Enredos de yuca - These are like french fries, yuca that's been shredded in a way, twisted, then fried. Benders that sell them also sell papas fritas and churros Espanoles.
Churros Españoles - This are not like Mexican churros, they are bigger and you can see it's one whole thing and not individuals. But they are sweet.
Choco bananos - Delicious frozen bananas covered in chocolate, sometimes sprinkles, peanuts, coconut, or cereal it depends on the bender and what they have. There are also bender in the capital that do more then just frozen, they freeze almost everything.
Coco - Fresh coconuts, this is one of the first stands that you'll see once you arrive at the airport, you can have the whole coconut and just drink it then eat the inside with a spoon, shredded coconut with powdered sugar, or the coconut water and inside in a bag.
Now for the rest of traditional snacks or at least what my friends, cousins, and I grew up with were from this company/brand call "Boquitas Diana" or "Diana" http://www.diana.com.sv/iniciogt.html here is the link to they're website, now there are some that I've never seen so you can ask me if your not sure of something. *This page is in Spanish. *Disclaimer: I don't own or work for this company, sponsor it, or get paid for advertisement.*
Seafood, always fresh no matter where you are in the country. Mainly because the country is so small, so shipping fish and anything from the sea is fast. This is one of my favorite things because of all of the fun memories I had with my family at the beach.
Conchas - Oysters, I love them with some lime and salt, best places to get them are of course at the beach and Los Planes, liked I said before the country is small so fresh food travels quickly.
Cocteles - coctel de conchas, coctel de camarones, coctel de pulpo aka: cocktails - shrimp, oysters, and octopus. The sauce used isn't marinera sauce or anything like you might have tried before, as far as I could figure out is like a mix of ketchup, mayonnaise, and mustard with some other ingredients and spices fro the shrimp, but no idea for the oysters or octopus. Still tastes awesome though.
Conchas
fancy*
Pulpo
Tiburon - Shark, not as popular as before because it costs more and some people feel its immoral. I personally never had it, but I'd like to. Note I couldn't find any sharks cooked but I did find the species of shark the I assume is the one being fished.
Ceviche - Ceviche de camaron, ceviche de pescado, ceviche de tiburon. So this is like the cocktails but with more vegetables chopped up and mixed in.
Ceviche de camarones
Arroz con calamares - Rice with octopus, in a way it's like paella but just with octopus.
Couldn't find a pic from El Salvador
Tortas - Torta de camaron, torta de pescado. Shrimp cut up and made into a hash brown ... sorta, the shrimp is mixed in an eggs batter and then fried, for the fish it's the whole fillet battered and fried.
Mariscada - camarones, langosta, pescado, jiba (crabs) so this is pretty a soup with every living creature you can find on the beach: crab, lobster, oysters, shrimp, and fish. Like gumbo.
Camarones entomatada - So shrimp in tomato sauce, nuff' said.
Drinks, these are not alcoholic drinks but traditional drinks, not gonna say too much so let's get to it.
Horchata - Rice milk with sugar and cinnamon, probably heard of it before but unlike the Mexican version we add chocolate, that's what gives it that brownish look.
Cebada - Barley based drink with cinnamon, vanilla, and extract of strawberry, I can't describe it any other way but delicious.
Fresco de marañon - As you can see from the pic the seed on top of the fruit kinda looks like a cashew, that's because it is. Marañon is a cashew, the seed is dried and you get a cashew nut. Delicious fruit and always fresh.
These is another type of marañon
Fresco de tamarindo - Tamarind, no idea how they make it to a drink, I guess they take the inside and make it into a jam then dry it to a powder and then add water.
Fresco de ensalada - This is like a fruit salad in a cup, it's apple, pineapple, pear, marañon, and lettuce. I love it and please don't judge it before you try it.
Frsco de chan con limon - It's lemonade with the chan that are like seeds that sink to the bottom.
Kolashanpan - This is our version of Coca-Cola, a soft drink that summarizes the Salvadorean life style (I know "so deep").
Cafe - Coffee fresh grounded, nothing beats this, not too strong like Cuban, but as rich in flavor as Bolivian.
This is what the beans look like before roasting.
Chocolate caliente - Hot chocolate, now forget everything you know about chocolate. Don't think you know what actual, fresh chocolate tastes like, the only thing you probably tasted is processed chocolate. Switzerland don't know anything about natural chocolate, only how to process it and add sugar. Central American countries are the ones were the best chocolate is grown because it's fresh. Hot chocolate is drank for breakfast and dinner when it's cooler and it can warm you up.
Both with chocolate and coffee are drank with bread, like pastries or just French bread.
Jugo de jamaica - It's made from a flower, has a really sweet/ slightly bitter after taste, still good.
Jugo de arrayan - No idea on how to describe it, but its awesome.
I wanna apologize for taking like two to three weeks to finish this, took way longer than I thought. Sorry guys.
Last note Chiky was the best cookie of my childhood
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