by Mark Christian | Dec 29, 2012 | The Crush Pad Editorials
At 3,500 feet Fortunato’s sits up a gem amidst the emerald canyon setting below to perfectly reflect the gentlemen farmer who bestowed his name to it. In his mid-50s, humble, generous & gallant, Sir Fortunato welcomes visitors & sets the table as if a...
by Mark Christian | Dec 29, 2012 | The Crush Pad Editorials
Buoyed by what he heard, Pearson dug into the chemistry of it all, the myriad compounds that comprise cocoa beans – not quite a sextillion, just 800+ & counting. High enough to baffle food science flavorists & thwart their desires to synthesize an artificial...
by Mark Christian | Dec 28, 2012 | The Crush Pad Editorials
Tensions spilled into the streets today with roadblocks set up by an indigenous group led by Alberto Pizango Chota. The reason for the barricades is to protest new decrees that would allow oil & mining companies to enter the territory without their consent or even...
by Mark Christian | Dec 28, 2012 | The Crush Pad Editorials
Now it was onward to transform cocoa nuts into chocolate bars. Chocolate at its most fundamental science level explains an emulsion of cocoa mass in cocoa butter, & suspension of both in sugar. Simple stuff, no? Ha… cry a river. Who better than De Vries to...
by Mark Christian | Dec 27, 2012 | The Crush Pad Editorials
In no time they met a person who makes it his business to meet everyone & know everything about life in the canyon. Every community has one of these individuals, someone who opens doors few suspect even exist. If Dan Pearson represents the deal-making,...
by Mark Christian | Dec 27, 2012 | The Crush Pad Editorials
At the speed of life his sons followed in their dad’s footsteps, & beyond, trailing him to South America… & marrying Peruvian women. Hot-blooded Americans brothers hooking up with Latina chicas. After checking out the country on a Spanish language...
