ORGANIC GARDEN

Conscious Culinary

Often, food can make or break a holiday. That is why we take our cuisine seriously here at Hacienda del Sol. We approach food with the same passion and care as we do all of our services and facilities, and strive to please every palate, while also serving mother earth and the health of our guests with respect and honor. We strive to ensure our restaurant is serving up the very best quality dishes by selecting local and seasonal ingredients, and working with area farmers and vendors that share the same vision. Whether we are sourcing raw cacao from our neighbours farm, or freshly pressed coconut oil from our local friend and supplier, we look to our community for close to home and healthy fare.

Farm to Table

With a year-round growing season and the extremely fertile tierra here in Guanacaste, it was a natural next step for us to create our very own organic finca (farm) here on the land. In line with our mission to cultivate vibrancy and vitality for all, we know that including fresh and local ingredients in our raw juices and vegetarian meals will take our guests’ nutrition to the next level. In February 2014, we welcomed our full time jardinero (gardener), and began developing a large piece of property just north of the dining hall that now includes a 60 foot raised-bed green house, small micro green and sprouting building, solar power panels, and rolling hills of garden space.

With a goal of being 80% self-sustainable by 2017, it is our hope to produce enough food to fuel our restaurant and also operate a small market so that we can share our harvest with our local community, providing the highest quality organic produce possible. Less travel time, means more nutritious and delicious food for everyone!

Environment

Since our menu is primarily vegan and plant-based, our busy kitchen produces a lot of organic food waste! We choose not to use packaged food as much as possible, therefore eliminating paper and plastic trash. We also reduce what food waste we do have in various ways, like repurposing fruit and vegetable juice pulp to make dehydrated crackers, and leftover almond meal from making our own dairy-free milk becomes the sweet base for raw desserts. When we have to, we send the rest back into the earth via several large and highly functioning compost heaps.

Coconut Bio Char

A main ingredient in many of our smoothies and menu items, coconuts have a hard to break down casing that used to litter our compost area. Using a specially built oven, we now torch the husks into an ash that when combined with a precise mix of chicken manure, calcium, salts, and rock phosphate, becomes a perfectly potent time-release fertilizer that just may be the secret to our plant success here in the jungle! This unique system aids in the ongoing need for nutrient dense mulch required to maintain the garden beds, while at the same time solving the issue of coconut husk carcass collection.