Sommers Laura Sommers

Puerto Rican Recipes - Caribbean Cuisine Sommers Laura Sommers

Puerto Rico (Spanish for "rich port". It is a Caribbean island and unincorporated U. S. territory with a landscape of mountains, waterfalls and the El Yunque tropical rainforest.

Puerto Rican cuisine has its roots in the cooking traditions and practices of Europe, Africa and the native Tainos.

Puerto Rican cuisine is influenced by an array of cultures including Taino Arawak, Spanish, and African. Although Puerto Rican cooking is similar to both Spanish and Latin American cuisine, it reflects a unique blend of influences, using seasonings and ingredients from the island. Locals call their cuisine "cocina criolla".

Typical ingredients in Puerto Rican cooking are chicken, fish, seafood, avocados, calabaza (pumpkin), greens, chayote, okra, gandules (pigeon peas), yams, plantains, sweet potatoes, yuca (cassava), taro root, rice, bananas, coconuts, guavas, mangoes and guanabanas.

Some of the favorited recipes from Puerto Rico are mofongo, tostones, pasteles, arroz con gandules, tembleque, and coquito.

This cookbook has many delicious traditional Puerto Rican recipes for a variety of tastes.