In our last blog, Lourdes Páez explained the history of cocoa in Ecuador, and the challenges and opportunities in its production today. Here, we introduce you to some native Amazonian cocoa producers, and to the hope that proper cocoa production holds for them, as well as for the futures of chocolate and conservation. […]
Read More… from Cocoa: From Native producers in its Native Land
Canopy Bridge recently had a chance to sit down with Lourdes Páez, an outstanding social entrepreneur working to enhance appreciation for Ecuador’s excellent cocoa and create more value for farmers of the country’s fine flavor beans. Lourdes heads the Academia del Chocolate, an organization dedicated to training and research to improve the quality, recognition and benefits of fine cocoa, and she recently launched a beautiful book dedicated to Ecuador´s rich cocoa heritage, Ecuador tierra del cacao.36″ height=”111″ />
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Read More… from From chocolate lover to chocolate expert: a personal story
Cuando Colón se encontró con el Nuevo Mundo, sus pueblos indígenas recibieron el nombre de “indios”, una designación errónea de magnitud histórica. Una fruta hasta entonces desconocida fuera de las Américas también recibió un nombre que pertenecía a otra: el pimiento. Para los españoles que probaron esta fruta por primera vez, su picor trajo a la mente los granos de pimienta que habían sido conocidos y comercializados en Eurasia, y así el fruto del Capsicum recibió el nombre de una especie totalmente diferente. […]
When Columbus stumbled upon the New World, its indigenous people became known as “Indians”, a misnomer of historical magnitude. Then, too, a fruit until then unknown outside of the Americas received a name that belonged to another: the pepper. To the Spaniards who tasted this fruit for the first time, its heat brought to mind the peppercorns that had been known and traded in Eurasia, and so the fruit of the Capsicum received the name of an entirely different species. […]
Tal vez es la globalización, tal vez el desarrollo, o quizá sean las innovaciones digitales y las redes sociales, pero mientras estamos más conectados unos con otros, más desconectados nos hallamos de aquello mismo que nos da vida. Entre ordenadores, teléfonos inteligentes, y otros equipos, en medio de tanta información me parece alucinante que yo requiera “recordatorios” de mi conexión con la Tierra: el origen del agua que uso, como el aire que respiro ha llegado a ser lo que es, de dónde proviene mi comida. […]
Maybe it’s globalization, maybe it’s development, or perhaps digital innovations and social media; but while we are ever more connected to each other, we find ourselves more disconnected from the very things that keep us alive. Amidst our computers, phones and other devices, with so much information, I find it staggering that I need to be reminded of my connection to Earth: the origin of the water I use, how the air I breathe has come to be, where my food comes from. […]
This Article was originally published by Mater Iniciativa. Recently, Latin America continued its rise to prominence on the global gastronomy scene, with nine restaurants from Mexico, Peru and Brazil joining the ranks of the world’s Top 50. The success of these leading chefs is a credit to their creativity and hard work and draws – as they frequently acknowledge – on the rich biology and diverse cultural traditions of their countries. […]
This Article was originally published on news.mongabay.com. Sofía Rubio was eight years old when she decided she wanted to be a biologist. “I would skip school to go to the woods with my father or mother,” who did research in what is now the Tambopata National Reserve in the southeastern Peruvian Amazon, she says. Today, dressed in a white lab coat, her ponytail caught up under a green hair net, Rubio hovers over a table, weighing Brazil nuts. But she’s not cloning them […]
Read More… from Innovating Brazil nuts: a business with roots in the rainforest
