by Mark Christian | Jan 17, 2013 | Newsletters |
Crushpad Newsletter Newsbites for the Chocoscenti Hello C-spotters! Welcome to our inaugural newsletter. Fully roasted but perhaps a little underconched. Keepin’ it real (not raw). A King? A Temple? A Bar? Been to the Solomon Islands? Dunno where...
by Mark Christian | Jan 5, 2013 | The Crush Pad Editorials |
A multi-part series on the rescue & recovery of a rare & vanishing cacáo strain in Marañón Canyon, Peru (Based on a true story; some names & circumstances have been altered to protect sources) Prologue PART I — Everybody, Headfirst into the Gene...
by Mark Christian | Jan 5, 2013 | The Crush Pad Editorials |
Back in San Diego, CA the Pearsons ‘break ‘n bite’ together with their new favorite bar: Fortunato No. 4. One too hot for The Smithsonian to handle. They asked a friend to approach The Smithsonian with a proposal for an unveiling of Fortunato No. 4 after it hosted an...
by Mark Christian | Jan 4, 2013 | The Crush Pad Editorials |
Before chasing utopian dreams riding in on a unicorn, let’s take stock. It’s business after all & people have multiple motives. Money can’t buy love but it does buy sex, an antidote to life’s pain, overcoming it with pleasure. For some, so will chocolate, so will...
by Mark Christian | Jan 3, 2013 | The Crush Pad Editorials |
Those best-practices that Marañon Canyon Cacao cultivates to produce cocoa could serve as a template for reviving cacáo in its natural habitat in the 21st century… at least for the premium segment. And perhaps even ramify the larger commodity markets + the wider...
by Mark Christian | Jan 2, 2013 | The Crush Pad Editorials |
Precious little of all this matters to chocolate enthusiasts & everyday consumers unless the flavor measure up. The proof rests on the taste buds with the following caveat: beware of variability. There are only great bars; no great chocolate per se. Makers face...
by Mark Christian | Jan 2, 2013 | The Crush Pad Editorials |
No sooner had any Nacional conflict between Peru & Ecuador been averted that a Transatlantic bidding war began. Makers from various continents wanted to get their hands on it despite the asking price: a whopping $15/lb. for dry weight nuts. A figure eclipsed by...
by Mark Christian | Jan 1, 2013 | The Crush Pad Editorials |
Twenty to thirty families own 70% of the assets in Peru. Many are the same ones awarded royal land grants from the Spanish crown in the 1500s. To Americans, that’s old money. To Spaniards sitting back in Seville, they’re just young relatives who bought a ticket to the...
by Mark Christian | Dec 31, 2012 | The Crush Pad Editorials |
As much as the brass wanted to jump with joy & announce their cache to the world, this was after all northern Peru. Across the border in Ecuador, headlines of Nacional transgressing into rival territory will be received as unwelcome news. Huh? How’s that? Nations...
by Mark Christian | Dec 30, 2012 | The Crush Pad Editorials |
Marañón Canyon Cacao signed a Material Transfer Agreement with the USDA, then sent random leaf samples to its Beltsville, Maryland Laboratory for genetic testing. A couple months later Lyndel Meinhardt called Pearson with the results. “Dan, are you sitting down?” At...
