The Story

We visited Ricardo Perez and his daughter Mariana in March 2022. Their micromill, Helsar de Zarcero was established in 2004 and since then some fantastic improvements have been done by the family!

What shocked us was the facility where, as a part of scientific project, The Perez Family processes cascara. The room is sterile, equipped with modern machinery that depulps, cleans and dries the cascara under 100% controlled conditions. The finished product is not only sweet, transparent and flavorful, but also free of fungi, mold and other health threatening microorganisms.

This cascara comes from Santa Lucia farm in Costa Rica’s West Valley which also belongs to Ricardo and Mariana. Located at 1700 masl, the farm produces only clean, organic, chemical free product. The varieties are caturra and catuai.