Food & Drinking Culture

What is Seco con leche? It's Panama's best-known mixed drink: Seco Herrerano with milk, with sugar and spice varying by household and taste. Exactly how Panamanians mix it differs from family to family; what stays constant is the milk, which softens the clear spirit. It's considered a drink for celebrations and shows how at home the Seco is in Panama, namely as an ingredient rather than a rum sipped on its own.

When it comes to food, the local rum pairs with dishes from both coast and countryside. Sancocho de gallina, a chicken soup with root vegetables and cilantro, is considered by many to be the national dish and belongs on every festive table in Herrera. A glass of Abuelo alongside takes nothing away from the soup and balances out its seasoning.

Patacones, fried plantains, and hojaldras, fried yeast pastries, often appear at breakfast or as a side dish. Their sweetness and richness call for wood, vanilla, and caramel, exactly what an aged ron ligero brings. Tamales, steamed in corn husks, fill the tables on holidays. Carimañolas, yuca dough rolls with a meat filling, are another classic.

In Herrera, rum and Seco are drunk in cantinas, small bars that serve as both meeting place and snack stop. At the Festival del Manito in Ocú, the province's rural population celebrates their land with music and dance. Wherever there's a festival, there's usually Seco too. In Chitré, the provincial capital, and in the surrounding villages, people stop by the cantina after work.

For anyone recreating this at home, keep it simple: Abuelo as a digestif after a hearty meal, Seco mixed as a base. That's all it takes to understand the taste of the region.