Panamanian cuisine is both unique and rich. As a land bridge between two continents, Panama

Panama

Panama , officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The...

 possesses an unusual variety of tropical fruits, vegetables and herbs that are used in native cooking. Panamanian cuisine is a unique mix of African, Spanish

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

, Native American

Indigenous peoples of the Americas

The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...

 cooking and dishes, reflecting its diverse population.
Typical foods are mildly flavored, without the pungency of some of Panama's Latin American and Caribbean neighbors. Common ingredients are maize

Maize

Maize known in many English-speaking countries as corn or mielie/mealie, is a grain domesticated by indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica in prehistoric times. The leafy stalk produces ears which contain seeds called kernels. Though technically a grain, maize kernels are used in cooking as a vegetable...

, rice

Rice

Rice is the seed of the monocot plants Oryza sativa or Oryza glaberrima . As a cereal grain, it is the most important staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and the West Indies...

, wheat

Wheat

Wheat is a cereal grain, originally from the Levant region of the Near East, but now cultivated worldwide. In 2007 world production of wheat was 607 million tons, making it the third most-produced cereal after maize and rice...

 flour, plantain

Plantain

Plantain is the common name for herbaceous plants of the genus Musa. The fruit they produce is generally used for cooking, in contrast to the soft, sweet banana...

s, yuca (cassava

Cassava

Cassava , also called yuca or manioc, a woody shrub of the Euphorbiaceae native to South America, is extensively cultivated as an annual crop in tropical and subtropical regions for its edible starchy tuberous root, a major source of carbohydrates...

), beef, chicken, pork and seafood.

Frituras (fritters) and other specialties

Many panamanian dishes are made out of corn. The preparation is different to that of other latin american corn dishes (such as corn tortillas and arepas), given that the kernel is first cooked in water and then ground in order to obtain a dough (as opposed to using corn flour to obtain the dough). Fresh corn is also used in some dishes.

Some of the main specialties are:

• Tortillas: Made out of dry corn and similar to colombian arepas. These can be around ten to twelve inches in diameter (these are always cooked on a griddle), or smaller, around four inches (most of the time these are fried).
• Bollos: corn dough wrapped in corn husk or plantain leaves and boiled. There are two main varieties: fresh corn bollos (bollos de maíz nuevo) and dry corn bollos. The dry corn type is sometimes flavored with butter, corn, or stuffed with beef, which is called bollo "preñado".
• Torrejitas de maíz: a fresh corn fritter.
• Tortilla Changa: Thick tortilla made out of fresh corn.
• Almojábanos: "S" shaped corn fritters.
• Empanadas: which can be made either from flour or corn, and stuffed with meats, cheese, and sometimes sweet fillings, such as fruit marmalade or manjar blanco (dulce de leche).
• Hojaldres/Hojaldras:A type of fry-bread, similar to South American sopaipilla
  Sopaipilla
  A sopaipilla, sopapilla, sopaipa, or cachanga is a kind of fried pastry and a type of quick bread served in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, northern Mexico, New Mexico, Peru, Texas, and Uruguay. The word sopaipilla is the diminutive of sopaipa, a word that entered Spanish from the Mozarabic language of...
  
  .
• Patacones: twice-fried green plantain disks, known in other countries as "tostones".
• Carimañola
  Carimañola
  Carimañola is a Colombian and Panamanian dish that is a type of meat-pie. It is a torpedo-shaped yuca fritter, stuffed with cheese, seasoned ground meat or shredded chicken and fried. Carimañola is often served as a breakfast item in Colombia and Panama....
  
  : Similar to an empanada, but made from yuca and stuffed with beef.

--108.58.193.226 (talk) 15:44, 1 December 2011 (UTC)

Main dishes

• Arroz con guandú: Rice with rice and beans

Desserts

• Bocado de la reina
• Cabanga
• Huevitos de leche'
• Manjar
• Cocadas
• Pesada de nance
• res leches]dirty rice

Drinks

• Chicha
• Chicheme
• Resbaladera
• Ron ponche
• kahlua
• Fresh fruit juices (licuados or jugos naturales): pineapple
  Pineapple
  Pineapple is the common name for a tropical plant and its edible fruit, which is actually a multiple fruit consisting of coalesced berries. It was given the name pineapple due to its resemblance to a pine cone. The pineapple is by far the most economically important plant in the Bromeliaceae...
  
  , passionfruit, papaya
  Papaya
  The papaya , papaw, or pawpaw is the fruit of the plant Carica papaya, the sole species in the genus Carica of the plant family Caricaceae...
  
  , orange
  Orange (fruit)
  An orange—specifically, the sweet orange—is the citrus Citrus × sinensis and its fruit. It is the most commonly grown tree fruit in the world....
  
  , tree tomato, etc. are prepared by blending fresh fruit and straining; typically heavily sweetened and optionally with condensed milk added

External links

• Panamanian Recipes Wiki

apple jucie with sugar around the glass with a piece of lime and

achola, hamburger juice