The openness of the internet has allowed a lot of people (including us) to air our thoughts and ideas for everyone to see. Social media sites like Facebook and Twitter and blogs have given small people the voice in the world of the internet.
In the vast number of small people with big voices, there are a few rare individuals whose voice are distinct and unique. When bloggers around the web stick to writing about gadgets, fashion, food, travel, photography and design, there are those who venture into a niche so unique that they become an authority in that particular field of interest. One good example of this kind of blogger is PEBA (Pinoy Expats/OFW Blog Awards) Luzon and Manila Coordinator – Pete Rahon.
Pete is one of only a handful of bloggers who have decided to express his love and enthusiasm for a particular topic – chocolates. According to Pete, his passion for chocolates has deep roots, which started from his childhood which was later renewed by social bookmarking site Pinterest.
Asia became the 1st recipient of cacáo outside its American homelands. Accounts vary but starting in the latter half of the 17th century, a Spanish galleon transported pure Mesoamerican Criollo across the Pacific to the Philippines. Many place the date at 1663; others 1666. The oldest documented record, however, is 1670: a single plant leaving from the port of Acapulco, Mexico. Once safely harbored in The Philippines, cacáo began its global journey, moving farther westward & onward.
As if conquering the New World weren’t enough, Spain fed its appetite for expansion by colonizing the many island puzzle-pieces that join The Philippines, an entrepôt for the exchange of a global emporium of goods so that the rich can sip cocoa from the Americas or tea of India poured from a Mexican silver pot into a Chinese porcelain cup, accented by spices from Southeast Asia while wearing silks from there too, paid for in part by gold out of East Africa… & slave labor.
Unlike Asia as a whole, Filipinos were early converts to both chocolate & Catholicism, which went hand-in-hand with Spanish merchants & Jesuit missionaries conquering these islands in 1543, the same year Copernicus radically altered the planet-count.
The first migration of cacáo outside its American homeland appears to be pure Criollo leaving the port of Acapulco (probably uprooted from valleys cultivated to the southeast in around the then-called town of Tecuanapa) on Manila galleons. Crews carried chocolate onboard for drinking on ship. It would comfort them during sailing nightmares plagued with bad food, outbursts of some epidemic or other, & the occasional storm… arriving in The Philippines in 1666, although botanist Francisco Manuel Blanco records the date at 1670 in his comprehensive Flora de Filipinas. He goes on to report that this plant was the source of most cacáo still growing in the country at the time of his book’s publication in 1837, by & large confirming an earlier account from world voyager Gemelli Careri’s travelogue – Giro Intorno al Mondo – printed in 1699 of his 2-month visit there during which his hosts suspected the eccentric Italian for a spy of the pope & so opened every closed door for him: “They have brought from New Spain [re: current day Mexico] to The Philippines the cacao plant, which has multiplied so well, although it has degenerated a bit…”
In addition to uncertain dates, claims arise that the Pamplemousses Garden on Mauritius, rather than The Philippines, was first on the receiving end. It had cacáo at least as early as the late 1600s. Then there’s Celebes (Sulawesi) where locals insist that cacáo arrived in 1560, a full century beforehand.
Whatever the circumstances of the date & place, descendents of this Criollo transported on the Manila galleon formed the foundation for the first plantations in Indonesia, Malaysia & beyond, once cacáo spread farther in its second stage of dispersal around Oceania.
Eventually hybrids & the introduction of Amelonado in the second half of the 20th century came to comprise the bulk of The Philippines harvests.
Here is a link of the publication made in 1837 by Fr. Manuel Blanco documenting the presence of cacao in the country.
So far, manufacturer-sponsored trials looking into the benefits of chocolate have been small -- with fewer than 100 volunteers -- and, like the new one on cognitive benefits, didn’t involve a placebo substance to see whether chocolate really has as big a health benefit as all of us chocolate lovers would like to believe it does.
Source - http://www.boston.com/dailydose/2012/08/17/why-chocolate-shouldn-dubbed-health-food/aghGQTL5Se8DlEyvJWGZXP/story.html
The cacao plant was first given its botanical name by Swedish natural scientist Carl von Linné (*1707-†1778), who called it "Theobroma cacao" ("cocoa, food of the gods"). This was the first contribution of Sweden to the world of chocolate...
Just like pepper or coffee, this beautiful name, cocoa, is associated for many people with exotic adventures in remote countries. As a child, travelling the world was irresistibly attracting me and this is indeed how these wonderful products first got my attention. My chance was given to me by my father, through whom I discovered early the world of plantations in Africa.
As a Swedish diplomat, my father first worked for the Embassy in Paris in 1945. Years later his journey took him further South to Cameroon, where he ran a trading company, until, eventually, he settled in Madagascar in the 1970's after he had taken over various plantations on the island.
So it is in Madagascar, at our family estates, that my journey through the fascinating world of cocoa, spices and other delicious natural wonders really started. There I have learned over the years the secrets and subtleties of managing and developing plantations.
Ultimately, I focused on and specialised in fine and flavour cocoa and spices, whilst my consistent aim was to achieve the highest quality in a sustainable way.
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AKESSON'S ORGANIC LLC
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Today, our family plantations in Madagascar and in Brazil supply world famous chocolatiers and chefs with our much appreciated products. In close collaboration with these passionate artists, I experienced the fascinating artwork to conjure cocoa into chocolate and how pepper enhances recipes and, ultimately, I launched ÅKESSON´S, a small and exclusive line of chocolate and fine exotic foods.
ÅKESSON´S philosophy is to produce the most tasteful, authentic and ethic products or carefully source them from some of the best farms around the world in order to deliver the highest standards.
The creation of ÅKESSON´S could not have taken place without the close collaboration and support of my family and friends. I am eternally grateful to all these people and especially to the growers and the team with whom I work every day.
Together, we now invite you to a journey of discoveries through the world of our hot and pure tropical foods...
Ordinary people have a voice, and interesting things happen when you aggregate those voices and visualize the results. Surprising information and insights can be found.
Crowdmap is a tool that allows you to crowdsource information and see it on a map and timeline. It is the Ushahidi platform, built by the team who created Ushahidi as a way for anyone to run their own crowdsourcing site without having to know the intricacies of running their own server. It's free and it's yours to use.
Felchlin not only stands for a single product but for consistent thought and action with regard to quality, which permeates the entire company. The formulated and practised values are thereby our driving force from both within and without.
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