QCOSTARICA – With whipped cream, in a cake or with nothing, strawberries as simply delicious. And what is better than getting them off the vine, almost? the “Feria de las Fresas” (Strawberry Fair) in Vara Blanca de Heredia that starts tomorrow (March 19) and runs to Sunday, March 22.
Besides tasting strawberries, you can participate in a contest of the largest strawberry. Last year’s winner was Gregory Herrera Siles with a strawberry that weighed 88 grams. Likewise, you can enjoy the competition ‘el comelón de fresas’ (the strawberry eater) and the war of strawberries, among other activities.
Visitors can also taste different meals of strawberries, such as minced, rice with pork and strawberries, chicharrones with fresh strawberries, pastries, and more.
On Sunday March 22 at 10:00am presented will be the country’s largest strawberry cake: four layers with spacers between each and surrounded by 300 cupcakes to feed a total of 2.500 people.
The Fair is organized by community farmers supported by the Association of Development (Asociación de Desarrollo), created to help people in Vara Blanca to sell their products and raise new business options after the town was one of the sites affected by the earthquake in Cinchona 2009, in addition to promoting community.
“The primary objective of the activity is the acquisition and renovation of the main irrigation for agriculture in the area,” he said Roger Herrera, spokesperson for the Fair.
Getting to Vara Blanca is easy, head up the mountain to Heredia from San José or Alajuela or Sarapiqui (Caribbean coast), as if you headed for the Poás Volcano: from San José, go north of Barva de Heredia; from Alajuela, turn right as you approach the entrance to the Poás national park; from Sarapiqui, through San Miguel to Cinchona, up to Vara Blanca.
