4:30 Carmen's Costa Rica Kitchen · before the sun, on the Nicoya peninsula

People ask what we did differently. We got up, and we made the corn.

The corn went on the fire before the sun came up every day of my childhood. I cannot promise you anything about your health. What I have is one hundred and eighty entries on the corn, the beans, the plot, the animals and the household.

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The Costa Rican Way, the book The 30-Day Costa Rican Kitchen Challenge, the workbook

The Costa Rican Way

199 pages · 180 entries · 12 chapters · PDF and EPUB · read on any device · 7-day refund

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Put your email in the box and two things open on the very next page, both free: the whole 30-Day Costa Rican Kitchen Challenge, and Chapter 1, The Morning Corn. Thirty days on a smallholding on the Nicoya peninsula, one plain thing each day. There is nothing to install and no card to enter.

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5:00Still dark

Everyone who has heard of Nicoya expects the same five things. This book gives none of them.

Below is exactly what people usually come looking for, and what they get instead. I would rather lose the sale than promise you what is crossed out.

Nothing on this page is a promise about your health, your weight or how long you will live. I am not able to make that promise, and I am not going to pretend otherwise.

$9.99. Once. The corn still goes on the fire at five in the morning.

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A food or two that add years to your lifeThe claim behind most books like thisNo such food exists

The real meals a Nicoya farm family actually lived onChapters 1 to 4 · 60 entries

A strict diet or eating plan to followUsually sold alongside the claimNo plan was ever followed

A whole year of growing and gathering it yourselfChapters 5 and 6 · 30 entries

One secret ingredient nobody else knowsThe usual hookThere was never just one

Family, village and the daily rhythm, in fullChapters 7 to 9 · 45 entries

A doctor explaining the scienceHow these claims get their authorityCarmen is not a doctor

Her own belief, always named plainly as beliefEvery chapter, marked as opinion

The words “Blue Zone” on the coverA trademark, not a factSomeone else’s brand name

The real place, and what actually happened thereChapters 10 to 12 · 45 entries

Twelve chapters, and not one of them makes a promise that is crossed out here.

This book makes no claim about your health, your weight or how long you will live. It describes one household’s way of life in one place. What you take from it is yours to decide.

6:00The sun is up

“Corn that has not met the lime is not food yet. It is only corn.”

Chapter 1 of the book is The Morning Corn, fifteen entries, and it is the free chapter. This is the shape of it, one morning at a time.

The Puff
  1. The evening before

    The Lime, and Why We Never Skipped It

    The dried corn went into the pot with water and a little lime. Corn cooked that way is nixtamal.

  2. All night

    The Pot That Sat All Night

    Then it was left to stand, and the house went to sleep around it.

  3. 4:30

    Washing the Nixtamal at the Pila

    In the dark it went to the pila, the washing basin, and was rinsed until the water ran clear.

  4. 5:00

    The Piedra de Moler

    Then the grinding stone, and a long time at it, until the corn was masa, the dough.

  5. 5:15

    Knowing When the Masa Was Right

    Nobody measured. You knew by the feel of it in your hand.

  6. 5:30

    Palmeando, the Tortilla Shaped by Hand

    A ball of masa, patted flat between the palms, turning a little with every pat.

  7. 5:45

    The Comal on the Fire

    Onto the comal, the flat iron plate over the fire, and turned.

  8. 6:00

    The Puff

    And if everything before it was right, it puffed.

That is one morning, in eight of the book’s 180 entries.

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NoonThe plot, the house, the year

12 chapters, 180 entries, 199 pages.

Every entry is one page. The old way, in her own words. Then how you might bring a little of it into your own home today. Then one line worth remembering, and a photograph, because a description of an old pantry is worth far less than a picture of one.

You do not need to read it start to finish. Open it wherever your own life needs it that week. Tap a chapter to see its fifteen entries.

The real meals a Nicoya farm family actually lived on

Chapters 1 to 4 · 60 entries
  1. 1The Morning Corn15 entries
    1. The Troja, Where the Year Was Kept
    2. Shelling, and the Job Given to Children
    3. The Lime, and Why We Never Skipped It
    4. The Pot That Sat All Night
    5. Washing the Nixtamal at the Pila
    6. The Piedra de Moler
    7. Knowing When the Masa Was Right
    8. The Comal on the Fire
    9. Palmeando, the Tortilla Shaped by Hand
    10. The Puff
    11. The Cloth, and Keeping Them Soft
    12. Yesterday’s Tortilla
    13. Tortilla de Queso
    14. Chorreadas, When the Corn Was Young
    15. Corn Three Times a Day, and Never Tiring of It
  2. 2The Black Pot of Beans15 entries
    1. Why the Beans Were Beside the Corn
    2. Picking and Drying the Crop
    3. Keeping Beans Through a Year of Heat
    4. Sorting on the Corridor
    5. The Soak, and the Houses That Skipped It
    6. The Pot on the Fogón
    7. Salt at the End
    8. The Broth Was the Point
    9. Gallo Pinto, the Morning After
    10. Frijoles Molidos
    11. Frijoles Tiernos, the Fresh Green Bean
    12. The Chilero on the Table
    13. The Plate as It Was Built
    14. The Pot That Was Never Quite Empty
    15. The Year the Beans Failed
  3. 3Six Hens, One Cow, and Meat Twice a Year15 entries
    1. The Criollo Hens and Where They Slept
    2. What the Hens Were Fed
    3. Finding the Nest
    4. The Egg Was Counted
    5. The Broody Hen
    6. The Old Hen and the Sunday Pot
    7. The Cow, and the Morning Milk
    8. Cuajada, the Fresh Curd
    9. Queso Seco, the Cheese That Kept
    10. Natilla, and the Cream Off the Top
    11. The Whey, and the Pig That Got It
    12. The Pig, Kept for the Year
    13. Killing Day, and Sharing It Out
    14. Salting and Drying What Was Left
    15. The Beef We Almost Never Saw
  4. 4Cane, Coffee and the Small Sweet Things15 entries
    1. The Patch of Cane
    2. The Trapiche
    3. Tapa de Dulce
    4. Agua Dulce
    5. Coffee, and the Cloth Sock
    6. Coffee Sweetened in the Pot
    7. Rosquillas
    8. Tanela, the Cake for a Day
    9. Cajetas and Melcochas
    10. Miel de Chiverre
    11. Pinolillo and the Toasted Corn Drinks
    12. Resbaladera, the Cold Drink of Guanacaste
    13. Fruit Eaten Standing Up
    14. Chicha, the Drink That Worked
    15. Why Sweet Was Rare and Therefore Sweet

A whole year of growing and gathering it yourself

Chapters 5 and 6 · 30 entries
  1. 5The Plot, Through the Rains and the Long Dry15 entries
    1. The Milpa: Corn, Beans and Squash
    2. Waiting for May
    3. The Espeque, a Stick and a Seed
    4. The Weeding That Never Ended
    5. Doblar la Milpa
    6. The Ayote at the Foot of the Corn
    7. Yuca, the Root That Waited
    8. Plantain at the Edge of Everything
    9. The Cerco, the Enclosed Garden
    10. Culantro Coyote and the Small Flavourings
    11. Chicasquil, the Green That Must Be Cooked
    12. The Veranillo, the Little Dry Spell
    13. Water in the Dry Months
    14. Seed Kept From the Best Ears
    15. What the Plot Held, Month by Month
  2. 6The Trees at the Edge, and What They Gave15 entries
    1. The Living Fence
    2. The Mango Tree and the Weeks It Ruled
    3. Jocotes, Green With Salt
    4. Nance, Gathered Off the Ground
    5. Marañón, the Fruit and the Nut
    6. Guayaba and the Paste
    7. Guanábana, Anona and the Soft Fruits
    8. Tamarind, the Sour Pod
    9. Mamón, the Fruit for Standing About
    10. Zapote and Níspero
    11. The Coyol Palm
    12. The Jícaro and the Bowls It Gave
    13. Guaba, the Pod Full of Cotton
    14. Firewood, and What a Tree Was Worth Standing
    15. Knowing the Calendar of the Trees

Family, village and the daily rhythm, in full

Chapters 7 to 9 · 45 entries
  1. 7The House, and Everyone In It15 entries
    1. Walls of Mud and Cane
    2. The Corridor, Where Life Happened
    3. The Kitchen Was Its Own Building
    4. The Fogón and the Three Stones
    5. The Tapesco, and Keeping Things Up
    6. Hammocks
    7. Sleeping Many to a Room
    8. The Grandmother in the Corner
    9. A Job From the Age of Four
    10. The Pila and the Washing
    11. The Swept Yard
    12. Eating Together, Whatever the Furniture
    13. The Water Jar and the Gourd
    14. Keeping a House Cool Without a Machine
    15. Nothing Left the House
  2. 8The Road, and the People On It15 entries
    1. The Road, and What It Brought
    2. The Pulpería and the Short List
    3. Trading Over the Fence
    4. Mano Vuelta, the Returned Hand
    5. Borrowing Fire
    6. The Turno
    7. The Rezo, and the Food After
    8. The Woman Who Delivered the Babies
    9. Sitting Where the Road Could See You
    10. Bombas, the Shouted Rhyme
    11. The Marimba and the Dancing
    12. The Ox Cart and the Man Who Drove It
    13. Godparents, and the Second Family
    14. Nobody Ate Alone
    15. The Whole World Was One Road
  3. 9The Shape of a Day15 entries
    1. Up Before the Heat
    2. The First Coffee, in the Dark
    3. The Corn, Before the Sun
    4. Out to the Plot at Six
    5. The Walk to Water
    6. The Midday Meal, and the Heat
    7. The Hammock at Noon
    8. The Lighter Afternoon
    9. Bringing the Animals In
    10. Washing at the End of the Day
    11. The Small Supper
    12. The Corridor at Dusk
    13. The Lamp, and the Short Evening
    14. Real Dark, and Early Bed
    15. Sunday, the Day That Was Different

The real place, and what actually happened there

Chapters 10 to 12 · 45 entries
  1. 10Two Seasons and the Feasts Between Them15 entries
    1. The Two Seasons
    2. April, the Hardest Month
    3. The First Rain
    4. Planting Week
    5. Elote, the Corn in the Milk
    6. Harvest, and Filling the Troja
    7. Semana Santa, and No Meat
    8. The Flower of the Itabo
    9. The Twelfth of December
    10. Tamales, and the Day Before Christmas
    11. The Rezo del Niño
    12. The Patron Saint’s Fiesta
    13. The Dry Season Repairs
    14. The Year the Rains Failed
    15. The Same Year, Again
  2. 11Work, Craft and What the Hands Knew15 entries
    1. The Machete
    2. Keeping an Edge
    3. Clay, and the Women Who Worked It
    4. The Gourd, Cut and Cured
    5. Weaving a Hammock
    6. The Hat, Braided From Palm
    7. Leather, and the Man Who Worked It
    8. The Pilón
    9. Firewood, Cut and Stacked
    10. Mending Before Anything Was Replaced
    11. Building With Mud and Cane
    12. Grinding, Every Day, for Sixty Years
    13. Learning by Standing Beside
    14. Knowing When a Thing Was Done Right
    15. The Pride Nobody Admitted To
  3. 12Growing Old With Something to Do15 entries
    1. The Old Stayed in the House
    2. The Chair Facing the Road
    3. One Job That Was Yours
    4. Still in the Plot at Eighty
    5. The One Who Kept the Seed
    6. The One Who Knew the Plants
    7. Being Asked
    8. The Walk Nobody Chose
    9. Slowing Down Without Stopping
    10. What the Old Talked About
    11. The Last Illness, at Home
    12. The Nine Nights
    13. Passing the Comal On
    14. Nobody Retired
    15. The Reason to Get Up
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Carmen Matarrita
Carmen Matarrita

3:00The lighter afternoon

“There was no secret on our farm. There was corn, and there was work.”

I was born on a smallholding on the Nicoya peninsula. We had corn, beans, squash, a few hens, a cow for a while, and fruit trees at the edge of the plot.

People come and ask about the water, or about what we ate, as though there were one answer. There was not. There was corn ground every single morning, beans in the pot, a plot that fed us through a wet season and a dry one, and a house where nobody sat down alone.

So that is what this book is. The morning corn and what it really took. The bean pot. The plot month by month. The trees. And the work, which never stopped, and which I think mattered as much as anything on the plate.

Read it in any order. I would start with the corn, and that chapter is free.

The deal this book makes with you.

A promise that this food adds years to your lifeNo page in this book claims that, and none ever will. What is here is how the food was made, and why, nothing more.
A doctor, a scientist, or a clinical claimCarmen is not a doctor. Where she believes something works, the book says so plainly, as her own opinion, never as a fact.
The words “Blue Zone” anywhere in this bookThat name belongs to someone else’s brand. This book tells you about the real place and the real household instead.
A diet plan, a meal schedule, or a rule to followThere is no plan here. Only a description of how one household actually ate, in its own words, across a whole year.
Carmen

5:00The corridor at the end of the day

Read it for a week. If it is not for you, I do not want your money.

The Costa Rican Way

Read it for seven days. If it has not given you something worth keeping, write to me at hello@carmensbooks.com and I will refund every cent, no questions. Pay once and it is yours to keep, on your phone, your tablet, or printed at your own kitchen table.

It is a book to dip into, not to finish in one sitting. 12 chapters, each one a different part of the same life.

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The 30-Day Costa Rican Kitchen Challenge, cover

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The 30-Day Costa Rican Kitchen Challenge

Thirty days on a smallholding on the Nicoya peninsula. The morning corn, the plot, the pot and the year, one plain thing each day.

  • Week one: the corn, from nixtamal to tortillas patted by hand
  • Week two: the plot, corn, beans and squash in one hill
  • Week three: the pot, from black beans to gallo pinto
  • Week four: the year and the table, writing three of your own recipes down, and a day cooking with somebody younger

You will miss days. Everybody does. Start again where you stopped. The two days I would not skip are the tortillas on day four and writing it down on day twenty-six.

Send me the free challenge

The challenge is free. The Costa Rican Way is $9.99.

Watch how the challenge works

DuskThe corridor, and the questions

Questions people ask

Is this a diet book?

No. It is a description of a way of living, food included. It makes no promise about your own health, your weight or how long you will live.

Is there medical or financial advice in it?

None, deliberately. Carmen is not a doctor, a nutritionist or a financial adviser. Where she shares her own belief about why something worked, the book marks it plainly as her opinion, never as guidance.

Do I have to nixtamalise corn at home?

No. The book explains what nixtamal was, why the lime mattered and what it took every morning, because that is the history. Then it tells you honestly when a bag of masa harina off an American shelf is good enough, and the few dishes where it genuinely is not.

Is any of this historically accurate?

The food and customs described are real, checked against the historical and cultural record. Carmen tells it in her own voice, the way a grandmother would tell it at her own table.

Why doesn’t the book use the words “Blue Zone”?

Because that name belongs to someone else’s brand. This book describes the actual place and the actual household instead of borrowing someone else’s label.

What do I get, and is it a subscription?

Two files, emailed the moment you buy: a 199-page PDF for reading or printing at home, and an EPUB for Kindle and e-readers so you can set your own type size. You pay once. Nothing renews.

Can I get it on paper?

Not as a printed book. It is a digital book you can print yourself, which is what keeps it at $9.99 instead of what a 199-page illustrated hardback would cost.

Goodnight. The comal stays warm for tomorrow.

There was never a secret on our farm. Only corn, beans, and a house that got up early.

12 chapters on the corn, the beans, the plot, the animals, the household and the two seasons of a Nicoya smallholding. 199 pages, 180 entries, a photograph on nearly every one. $9.99, once.

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Carmen