1 00:00:12,520 --> 00:00:14,600 Speaker 1: I didn't want to do the nine five. I was 2 00:00:14,680 --> 00:00:19,079 Speaker 1: not going to take the normal path. I'm sitting in 3 00:00:19,120 --> 00:00:23,880 Speaker 1: a hammock in well paradise if your idea of paradise 4 00:00:23,960 --> 00:00:27,360 Speaker 1: is kind of the classic one. Lush rainforests, green hills, 5 00:00:27,720 --> 00:00:30,960 Speaker 1: clear streams, too many chattering birds and monkeys to count. 6 00:00:31,480 --> 00:00:34,239 Speaker 1: At night, the wood swarm with headlight beetles, which are 7 00:00:34,240 --> 00:00:38,800 Speaker 1: like giant fireflies. It feels like Pandora. I wanted to 8 00:00:38,800 --> 00:00:40,919 Speaker 1: go see some chocolate forests, and I wanted to go 9 00:00:41,000 --> 00:00:44,320 Speaker 1: catch sneaks and crocodiles and stuff that I did in 10 00:00:44,360 --> 00:00:47,360 Speaker 1: the hammock. Beside me is Jacob Marlin, and this is 11 00:00:47,440 --> 00:00:51,840 Speaker 1: his baby. The Belize Foundation for Research and Environmental Education 12 00:00:52,360 --> 00:00:55,960 Speaker 1: or be Free, I one thousand acre preserve in the 13 00:00:55,960 --> 00:01:00,120 Speaker 1: Maya Mountains, dotted with thatch huts and visiting biologists who 14 00:01:00,200 --> 00:01:01,920 Speaker 1: come here from all over the world to study what 15 00:01:01,960 --> 00:01:05,560 Speaker 1: a healthy rainforest is like. Beefree is right at the 16 00:01:05,600 --> 00:01:10,280 Speaker 1: juncture of several other huge preserves, including the Bladen Nature Reserve, 17 00:01:10,640 --> 00:01:14,200 Speaker 1: the crown jewel of Belize wilderness areas, which is why 18 00:01:14,280 --> 00:01:16,800 Speaker 1: Jacob bought it thirty years ago and has lived here 19 00:01:16,800 --> 00:01:20,080 Speaker 1: as its conservator ever since. It connects all the other 20 00:01:20,120 --> 00:01:25,720 Speaker 1: preserves into one massive wild forest. Jacob is laid back 21 00:01:25,800 --> 00:01:28,720 Speaker 1: dude in his fifties. His long hair parted in the middle. 22 00:01:29,200 --> 00:01:31,679 Speaker 1: Kind of reminds me of the actor Crispin Glover. He 23 00:01:31,720 --> 00:01:35,399 Speaker 1: came here as the reptile guy on a team of 24 00:01:35,440 --> 00:01:38,959 Speaker 1: biologists that were exploring the Bladon, which is famously remote 25 00:01:38,959 --> 00:01:42,520 Speaker 1: and inaccessible. As he hiked his way through it, Jacob 26 00:01:42,520 --> 00:01:45,200 Speaker 1: felt like he'd entered a time capsule. We went to 27 00:01:45,280 --> 00:01:48,440 Speaker 1: places that no human had been since St. Chimayah. We 28 00:01:48,520 --> 00:01:53,960 Speaker 1: came upon clay statues of monkey and jaguar gods. We 29 00:01:54,000 --> 00:01:57,120 Speaker 1: saw barrel grounds of maya stuff. Clearly no one had 30 00:01:57,160 --> 00:01:59,960 Speaker 1: been there. For the next two weeks, Jacob found himself 31 00:02:00,080 --> 00:02:03,400 Speaker 1: exploring a world straight out of a fantasy novel. You're like, 32 00:02:03,480 --> 00:02:05,440 Speaker 1: oh my god, I think I say a cave opening, 33 00:02:06,240 --> 00:02:07,520 Speaker 1: and then you go in there, and then you walk 34 00:02:07,600 --> 00:02:11,200 Speaker 1: for nine hours, and then you look down and fifty 35 00:02:11,200 --> 00:02:13,360 Speaker 1: feet below you there's a massive river flowing. And then 36 00:02:13,360 --> 00:02:16,080 Speaker 1: you look over there and there's like mine pottery and 37 00:02:16,120 --> 00:02:19,079 Speaker 1: skeletons and ship scattered over there. Then swim out the 38 00:02:19,120 --> 00:02:21,320 Speaker 1: cave and go over here, and then you find two 39 00:02:21,760 --> 00:02:26,120 Speaker 1: fifty spider monkeys swinging down. Then there's a jaguar over there. 40 00:02:26,880 --> 00:02:31,560 Speaker 1: That's what our expedition was like. It's lost the whole time. 41 00:02:31,600 --> 00:02:34,520 Speaker 1: I mean, we were all lost. It was madness, but 42 00:02:34,600 --> 00:02:37,080 Speaker 1: it was the best kind of madness, the kind he 43 00:02:37,120 --> 00:02:39,799 Speaker 1: wanted to devote his life too. When I came out, 44 00:02:40,440 --> 00:02:43,119 Speaker 1: I was completely blown away, and I was like, Oh 45 00:02:43,120 --> 00:02:45,600 Speaker 1: my god, this place is incredible. I wonder if I 46 00:02:45,639 --> 00:02:49,160 Speaker 1: could get involved in this place. In fact, the Blatant 47 00:02:49,160 --> 00:02:51,240 Speaker 1: was so full of wonders that he overlooked one of 48 00:02:51,280 --> 00:02:55,600 Speaker 1: them entirely. I remember passing wild cacao trees, which I 49 00:02:55,720 --> 00:02:59,959 Speaker 1: was like, Oh, it's a wild cocow. Who cares to Jacob, 50 00:03:00,000 --> 00:03:03,120 Speaker 1: cocao was agriculture and he was a nature guy. So 51 00:03:03,160 --> 00:03:05,560 Speaker 1: he devoted his life to preserving the big nature of 52 00:03:05,600 --> 00:03:09,200 Speaker 1: the Blatant and forgot all about the cacao. But little 53 00:03:09,200 --> 00:03:13,400 Speaker 1: did he know that that particular cocao hiding in plain 54 00:03:13,480 --> 00:03:16,560 Speaker 1: sight in the Maya Mountains would end up being the 55 00:03:16,639 --> 00:03:19,960 Speaker 1: key to protecting the very rainforest he devoted his life too, 56 00:03:20,600 --> 00:03:25,640 Speaker 1: and possibly a whole lot more. He was living with 57 00:03:25,760 --> 00:03:30,440 Speaker 1: ancient ghosts that had been waiting centuries to speak their 58 00:03:30,440 --> 00:03:38,400 Speaker 1: Peace of Kaleidoscope and i Heeart podcasts. This is Obsessions 59 00:03:38,800 --> 00:04:11,040 Speaker 1: Wild Chocolate. I'm Roman jameson chapter five Ghost Chocolate. The 60 00:04:11,080 --> 00:04:14,280 Speaker 1: Forest of Belieze contain more than a thousand species of trees, 61 00:04:14,680 --> 00:04:19,880 Speaker 1: astounding diversity. To Jacob, pacat was just one of those thousands. 62 00:04:19,920 --> 00:04:23,560 Speaker 1: But as he explored his preserved he began catching his 63 00:04:23,640 --> 00:04:25,880 Speaker 1: eye more and more. Some of the pods are one 64 00:04:25,880 --> 00:04:29,920 Speaker 1: color or another color or another color. Some are yellow 65 00:04:29,920 --> 00:04:32,919 Speaker 1: when they're ripe, Some are orange when they are oranges, 66 00:04:32,960 --> 00:04:34,840 Speaker 1: purple when they're right. Some are green when they're ripe. 67 00:04:34,880 --> 00:04:37,480 Speaker 1: Some are multi colored when they're right. It's different shapes, 68 00:04:37,640 --> 00:04:40,880 Speaker 1: a little bit different sizes. The trees had a lot 69 00:04:40,880 --> 00:04:44,320 Speaker 1: of diversity in appearance, but they had one very important 70 00:04:44,320 --> 00:04:46,760 Speaker 1: thing in common. Sometimes you'd walk up to a tree 71 00:04:46,760 --> 00:04:48,880 Speaker 1: it's and it's a nine percent shade to the middle 72 00:04:48,880 --> 00:04:55,479 Speaker 1: of the forest shade, and its covered ponds. To the 73 00:04:55,520 --> 00:04:57,800 Speaker 1: average person that might not sound like a big deal, 74 00:04:58,400 --> 00:05:01,719 Speaker 1: but to people who think about sustainable food production, that's 75 00:05:02,000 --> 00:05:05,800 Speaker 1: the holy grail. Think about every crop humans have cultivated, 76 00:05:06,240 --> 00:05:11,400 Speaker 1: corn rice, gale, whatever, They all need full sun. Same 77 00:05:11,480 --> 00:05:13,920 Speaker 1: for the modern strains of cacao, we've used for a century, 78 00:05:14,240 --> 00:05:17,279 Speaker 1: and that means that growing food often means wiping out 79 00:05:17,320 --> 00:05:20,080 Speaker 1: for us. And that's been especially true for cacao in 80 00:05:20,120 --> 00:05:26,560 Speaker 1: West Africa, destroying national parks. It's eradicating species. It's uh, 81 00:05:27,040 --> 00:05:31,919 Speaker 1: I'm like, fuck, caca is horrible, but not this cacao. 82 00:05:32,320 --> 00:05:35,800 Speaker 1: This stuff is weird. It is, it's weird. The trees 83 00:05:35,960 --> 00:05:41,200 Speaker 1: are different. These are not hardy, robust plants. These are 84 00:05:41,800 --> 00:05:44,520 Speaker 1: rainforest play they want you know, don't don't put them 85 00:05:44,560 --> 00:05:48,280 Speaker 1: in the sun. Don't give them any sun. These trees 86 00:05:48,720 --> 00:05:54,760 Speaker 1: do best in shade, and if you give them, lestie 87 00:05:54,800 --> 00:05:59,919 Speaker 1: die good. I know, I know. It's amazing, amazing because 88 00:06:00,040 --> 00:06:02,240 Speaker 1: a tree that could flourish and produce fruit in the 89 00:06:02,279 --> 00:06:06,680 Speaker 1: deep shade of the jungle that requires rainforests over its head, well, 90 00:06:07,040 --> 00:06:09,479 Speaker 1: that could turn farming into a way to grow new 91 00:06:09,560 --> 00:06:13,680 Speaker 1: rainforests and pay for it. So Jacob got super curious 92 00:06:13,720 --> 00:06:16,680 Speaker 1: about these cocoa trees, and the first step was to 93 00:06:16,720 --> 00:06:19,640 Speaker 1: find out how many he had. So in two thousand 94 00:06:19,680 --> 00:06:23,320 Speaker 1: twelve he hired Elmer Salama, a local mind, got to 95 00:06:23,400 --> 00:06:27,120 Speaker 1: map them. So I did the expedition for I think 96 00:06:27,200 --> 00:06:32,680 Speaker 1: like two three years. Find do them white trees, new jungles, 97 00:06:34,600 --> 00:06:41,479 Speaker 1: just wandering around. So I didn't have any GPS, just 98 00:06:42,800 --> 00:06:47,600 Speaker 1: my memories. And you're started cutting trialsutting trels on to leg, 99 00:06:47,880 --> 00:06:51,680 Speaker 1: you know. And I found it about almost like three 100 00:06:51,680 --> 00:06:54,080 Speaker 1: on the trees wild trees here, and it's out of 101 00:06:54,080 --> 00:07:00,640 Speaker 1: water place phenotypes. We have harpolo orange, who have guint 102 00:07:00,640 --> 00:07:04,920 Speaker 1: to yellow. We have um print to green. Then we 103 00:07:05,000 --> 00:07:08,279 Speaker 1: have multiple colors. Those are the four types of trees 104 00:07:08,320 --> 00:07:11,320 Speaker 1: they've identified, all named for the colors of their pods 105 00:07:11,360 --> 00:07:14,160 Speaker 1: as they ripen. All four are members of the same 106 00:07:14,240 --> 00:07:17,400 Speaker 1: shade loving variety, which Jacob hoped could be the engine 107 00:07:17,400 --> 00:07:21,760 Speaker 1: of his rainforest revival scheme if, of course, it produced 108 00:07:21,840 --> 00:07:24,640 Speaker 1: delicious chocolate. So it was like, well, shut up, man, 109 00:07:24,720 --> 00:07:26,600 Speaker 1: let's make some chocolate because if nothing else, we could 110 00:07:26,800 --> 00:07:29,680 Speaker 1: chocolate here like chocolate. Yeah, why not, just as like 111 00:07:29,720 --> 00:07:32,440 Speaker 1: a hobby. As we tore the preserve, Jacob and Elmer 112 00:07:32,480 --> 00:07:34,680 Speaker 1: offered to snag a couple of pods for me to 113 00:07:34,720 --> 00:07:37,920 Speaker 1: show me their special qualities. But the pods are twenty 114 00:07:37,920 --> 00:07:45,000 Speaker 1: feet up, like three four five. That's like five pods, guys, 115 00:07:45,240 --> 00:07:50,400 Speaker 1: most progress, yeah, yeah, because what we do be hardest 116 00:07:50,440 --> 00:07:55,880 Speaker 1: do bring along bush stick with h Yeah, gonna. Cahoons 117 00:07:55,880 --> 00:07:59,240 Speaker 1: are crazy palms. Their fronts could be thirty ft long, 118 00:07:59,600 --> 00:08:03,240 Speaker 1: shooting up from the ground. And these graceful arcs walking 119 00:08:03,240 --> 00:08:05,240 Speaker 1: through a Calhoun grove you expect to come upon a 120 00:08:05,280 --> 00:08:09,120 Speaker 1: Brontosaurus munging on them. The immense fronds are the go 121 00:08:09,200 --> 00:08:12,040 Speaker 1: to choice for roofing, and the sharp and central ribs 122 00:08:12,080 --> 00:08:15,040 Speaker 1: make awesome jousting lances for cutting to cow pods out 123 00:08:15,040 --> 00:08:18,680 Speaker 1: of trees. Get a catch here, thing you like? Oh 124 00:08:18,720 --> 00:08:21,119 Speaker 1: I see, so you just scrape scrape up the drunk 125 00:08:21,160 --> 00:08:25,880 Speaker 1: and got it and there it is in my hand. 126 00:08:26,560 --> 00:08:30,320 Speaker 1: To cow with some very unusual qualities. The multicolor and 127 00:08:30,360 --> 00:08:33,440 Speaker 1: the purple orange had close to like almost six cocoa 128 00:08:33,440 --> 00:08:37,600 Speaker 1: butts super high super high rich creamy chocolate. Some people 129 00:08:37,640 --> 00:08:40,599 Speaker 1: say it tastes like almost like milk chocolate. It's a 130 00:08:40,640 --> 00:08:45,600 Speaker 1: light brownish red shot, zero bitterness, there's nothing bitter about it, 131 00:08:45,720 --> 00:08:48,520 Speaker 1: and it doesn't even taste that much like chocolate. What 132 00:08:48,600 --> 00:08:51,680 Speaker 1: you think of his chocolate Like at first, Jacob's chocolate 133 00:08:51,679 --> 00:08:54,560 Speaker 1: making skills were limited, but he kept dialing it in 134 00:08:55,240 --> 00:08:58,360 Speaker 1: and so like every year about this time we go 135 00:08:58,400 --> 00:09:01,200 Speaker 1: out there with backpacks and and I'd bring up to 136 00:09:01,200 --> 00:09:03,360 Speaker 1: the station and make chocolate with him, and I'd experim him. 137 00:09:03,360 --> 00:09:06,360 Speaker 1: I'm learning, I'm trying to figure things out. People would 138 00:09:06,360 --> 00:09:08,760 Speaker 1: come through here and it's like that creole. You can't 139 00:09:08,760 --> 00:09:14,480 Speaker 1: believe that that stuff is probably really special. That word 140 00:09:14,720 --> 00:09:18,040 Speaker 1: creoio is a famous and sacred term in the world 141 00:09:18,040 --> 00:09:21,480 Speaker 1: of chocolate. But Jacob was only just discovering the treasure 142 00:09:21,520 --> 00:09:23,760 Speaker 1: he had on his hands. I'm learning about creb I 143 00:09:23,800 --> 00:09:26,200 Speaker 1: don't really know much about what that meant, but it's like, okay, 144 00:09:26,240 --> 00:09:29,560 Speaker 1: so it's it's a relic cocao. It's not prow much. 145 00:09:30,320 --> 00:09:33,240 Speaker 1: Creoa was the original cacao of the ancient mile the 146 00:09:33,320 --> 00:09:36,520 Speaker 1: variety they cultivated all over their empire and introduced the 147 00:09:36,520 --> 00:09:40,040 Speaker 1: Spanish and the fift hundreds. The smooth, creamy flavor of 148 00:09:40,080 --> 00:09:43,440 Speaker 1: creoia made chocolate a worldwide obsession. It was the only 149 00:09:43,480 --> 00:09:46,760 Speaker 1: chocolate anyone knew until the seventeen hundreds, when it began 150 00:09:46,800 --> 00:09:49,720 Speaker 1: to get wiped out by disease. Soon it was replaced 151 00:09:49,760 --> 00:09:53,160 Speaker 1: by hardier and more productive hybrid varieties, varieties that didn't 152 00:09:53,200 --> 00:09:56,160 Speaker 1: taste as good, but we're easier to draw, and those 153 00:09:56,240 --> 00:10:00,280 Speaker 1: varieties took over the world For decades, craft chocolate cares 154 00:10:00,280 --> 00:10:03,600 Speaker 1: have been scouring Central America for sources of Creoia. The 155 00:10:03,640 --> 00:10:06,200 Speaker 1: best they can usually find are hybrids that have a 156 00:10:06,240 --> 00:10:09,440 Speaker 1: percentage of creoo gens and a trace of that original 157 00:10:09,480 --> 00:10:14,880 Speaker 1: creole smoothness. Pure creoia. You never see it. But Jacob 158 00:10:14,880 --> 00:10:18,240 Speaker 1: began wondering about his three trees if there was anywhere 159 00:10:18,280 --> 00:10:21,760 Speaker 1: some old creoio strains could have escaped hybridization that was 160 00:10:21,800 --> 00:10:24,160 Speaker 1: in the middle of one of the most inaccessible rainforests 161 00:10:24,200 --> 00:10:29,560 Speaker 1: in the world. It's least explored, least disturbed, most unspoiled place. 162 00:10:31,559 --> 00:10:36,040 Speaker 1: Everything up there. It just feels like this stuff has 163 00:10:36,120 --> 00:10:40,720 Speaker 1: always been here, just old. So he embarked on a 164 00:10:40,720 --> 00:10:43,360 Speaker 1: new quest, find someone who would tell him just how 165 00:10:43,360 --> 00:10:46,680 Speaker 1: special this stuff was and find out if anyone cared. 166 00:10:58,520 --> 00:11:00,600 Speaker 1: I want to taste of some of this God love chocolate. 167 00:11:00,840 --> 00:11:03,840 Speaker 1: We got you covered. Kalia Scop has joined forces with 168 00:11:03,880 --> 00:11:06,600 Speaker 1: Louise Abram and Stetler Chocolate to make a special box 169 00:11:06,640 --> 00:11:09,800 Speaker 1: to go along with its very podcast Taste One has 170 00:11:09,840 --> 00:11:13,960 Speaker 1: driven many to near madness at www dot Stetler dash 171 00:11:14,040 --> 00:11:28,400 Speaker 1: Chocolate dot com. What I always remember is the smell, 172 00:11:28,679 --> 00:11:33,160 Speaker 1: just the smell of my ya Ya's kitchen during the summer. 173 00:11:33,840 --> 00:11:36,680 Speaker 1: Remember Matt Capoda, the Salt Lake, Delhi guy who became 174 00:11:36,720 --> 00:11:40,880 Speaker 1: America's heirloom chocolate champion. Matt credits his Greek grandmother for 175 00:11:40,960 --> 00:11:44,480 Speaker 1: his passion for rare ingredients and unusual flavors. She had 176 00:11:44,520 --> 00:11:48,000 Speaker 1: a tiny little plot in Salt Lake City. She grew 177 00:11:48,000 --> 00:11:51,640 Speaker 1: her own potatoes, dandylion greens. You know, her produce didn't 178 00:11:51,679 --> 00:11:53,839 Speaker 1: taste like the produce you could buy in the grocery store. 179 00:11:54,160 --> 00:11:58,640 Speaker 1: So I became accustomed to looking for flavors that don't 180 00:11:58,679 --> 00:12:02,760 Speaker 1: really exist in you know what has become a pretty 181 00:12:02,760 --> 00:12:05,960 Speaker 1: monoculture food system. Taste and smell are some of the 182 00:12:06,000 --> 00:12:08,319 Speaker 1: first most important ways that we make meaning of the 183 00:12:08,360 --> 00:12:12,360 Speaker 1: world around us. They're the raw material of experience, the 184 00:12:12,400 --> 00:12:15,600 Speaker 1: scaffolding upon which we hang our memories. They're the way 185 00:12:15,640 --> 00:12:19,360 Speaker 1: each generation passes its passions to the next. No matter 186 00:12:19,400 --> 00:12:23,800 Speaker 1: where you're from in the world, we have beautiful traditions, 187 00:12:23,960 --> 00:12:28,760 Speaker 1: delicious foods, incredibly rich ingredients that are disappearing at an 188 00:12:28,760 --> 00:12:32,560 Speaker 1: alarming rate over the years. Matt had built Caputos into 189 00:12:32,559 --> 00:12:35,880 Speaker 1: a show house for these cultural Touchsdownes, but he'd also 190 00:12:35,960 --> 00:12:40,720 Speaker 1: watched in dismay. As those flavors disappeared, it was harder 191 00:12:40,720 --> 00:12:45,040 Speaker 1: and harder to get, you know, a raw milk, pecorino, romano. 192 00:12:45,160 --> 00:12:48,320 Speaker 1: And I would see this trajectory in every category, not 193 00:12:48,400 --> 00:12:51,920 Speaker 1: just cheese, of things getting more and more homogenized, more 194 00:12:51,920 --> 00:12:55,920 Speaker 1: and more flavorless. As he watched industrial agriculture set fire 195 00:12:56,000 --> 00:12:59,240 Speaker 1: to the world's libraries of flavor, Matt became convinced that 196 00:12:59,280 --> 00:13:02,000 Speaker 1: he had to be a kind of librarian, preserving as 197 00:13:02,080 --> 00:13:05,199 Speaker 1: many of the great flavor manuscripts as he could, and 198 00:13:05,320 --> 00:13:07,680 Speaker 1: cacao seemed like a special case, with some of the 199 00:13:07,720 --> 00:13:11,959 Speaker 1: most endangered masterpieces of all he wanted to help. Then 200 00:13:11,960 --> 00:13:14,520 Speaker 1: he heard about a new initiative that captured his imagination, 201 00:13:15,040 --> 00:13:18,800 Speaker 1: the Heirloom Cacao Preservation Fund. The goal of the project 202 00:13:18,840 --> 00:13:21,400 Speaker 1: was to identify the world's great cocaws with an expert 203 00:13:21,400 --> 00:13:25,160 Speaker 1: tasting panel and to prove their uniqueness through genetic testing. 204 00:13:25,800 --> 00:13:29,040 Speaker 1: That certification would be the stamp of approval, drawing the 205 00:13:29,040 --> 00:13:32,640 Speaker 1: attention of Beam to Bar chocolate makers. The first designee 206 00:13:32,679 --> 00:13:36,160 Speaker 1: was an easy call, Volker Lehman and his Tranquilidad beans. 207 00:13:37,040 --> 00:13:40,200 Speaker 1: Soon other designees were added, including Emily Stones my Mountain 208 00:13:40,240 --> 00:13:45,199 Speaker 1: cocao in sen Jacob submitted the be free beans, hoping 209 00:13:45,240 --> 00:13:48,400 Speaker 1: they had enough Creoo parentage to be something special, and 210 00:13:48,480 --> 00:13:52,559 Speaker 1: soon enough he heard back from the committee congratulations, your 211 00:13:52,600 --> 00:13:55,880 Speaker 1: beans have made the cut. I heard that from one 212 00:13:55,880 --> 00:13:58,359 Speaker 1: of their board members. Oh, We're going to be announcing 213 00:13:58,400 --> 00:14:03,360 Speaker 1: this your pure CREOLEO in San Francisco at this big 214 00:14:03,440 --> 00:14:07,040 Speaker 1: chocolate event. And I was like, you are. I mean, 215 00:14:07,800 --> 00:14:12,400 Speaker 1: that sounds I'm coming. Thanks for not inviting me, but 216 00:14:12,480 --> 00:14:14,719 Speaker 1: I'm like, I'm sucking going to San Francisco. God damn it. 217 00:14:15,440 --> 00:14:18,280 Speaker 1: So he attends the awards ceremony. The audience is student 218 00:14:18,320 --> 00:14:20,600 Speaker 1: in fifty well dressed people in the world of chocolate, 219 00:14:20,840 --> 00:14:23,480 Speaker 1: and the m C is Ed Sege, a legend in 220 00:14:23,520 --> 00:14:27,400 Speaker 1: the fine chocolate industry, and to Jacob's amazement, ed is 221 00:14:27,400 --> 00:14:30,720 Speaker 1: getting all worked up over Jacob's beans and he's talking 222 00:14:30,760 --> 00:14:35,200 Speaker 1: about pure Creoo. It's the only pure cacao known in 223 00:14:35,240 --> 00:14:40,080 Speaker 1: the world. The tasting parils never tasted anything quite this 224 00:14:40,280 --> 00:14:44,960 Speaker 1: Araban before pure creator Parentidge blah blah blah, and I'm like, 225 00:14:45,080 --> 00:14:49,680 Speaker 1: what what does that even mean? And and then he's done, 226 00:14:49,960 --> 00:14:53,000 Speaker 1: and I was like, wait a minute. So I stand 227 00:14:53,120 --> 00:14:59,520 Speaker 1: up and I said, wait, a minute. I'm the guy 228 00:14:59,520 --> 00:15:01,640 Speaker 1: that submit of those means you're not gonna invite me up. 229 00:15:06,800 --> 00:15:09,000 Speaker 1: Jacob was just looking for a little love, but he 230 00:15:09,080 --> 00:15:12,280 Speaker 1: got a lot. After the ceremony, it was swarmed by 231 00:15:12,360 --> 00:15:15,280 Speaker 1: chocolate makers. Could they get some samples of those beans? 232 00:15:15,520 --> 00:15:18,200 Speaker 1: How about a few tons? Did he need a business partner? 233 00:15:18,920 --> 00:15:22,040 Speaker 1: He soon found out why. The expert tasting panel had 234 00:15:22,080 --> 00:15:25,000 Speaker 1: tasted Jacob's submission and found it to be a paragon 235 00:15:25,400 --> 00:15:29,880 Speaker 1: of smooth and silky chocolate. Then the genesis of the U. S. 236 00:15:29,920 --> 00:15:32,800 Speaker 1: D A did their thing and came away and shocked. 237 00:15:33,640 --> 00:15:36,960 Speaker 1: These beans weren't high in preoil content. They were a 238 00:15:37,040 --> 00:15:41,840 Speaker 1: hundred percent kreoia. In other words, this was the original 239 00:15:42,080 --> 00:15:45,120 Speaker 1: cow of the Maya, a direct line back to the 240 00:15:45,160 --> 00:15:48,880 Speaker 1: one that existed before Europeans ever got involved. Somehow, it 241 00:15:48,920 --> 00:15:51,760 Speaker 1: had hold up in the Maya Mountains for a thousand years, 242 00:15:52,360 --> 00:15:55,520 Speaker 1: and now it was ready for re entry. The panel's 243 00:15:55,560 --> 00:15:58,240 Speaker 1: declaration gave Jacob all the incentive he needed to try 244 00:15:58,280 --> 00:16:01,240 Speaker 1: to make that delicious, shade loving cow a flagship of 245 00:16:01,320 --> 00:16:06,120 Speaker 1: rainforest restoration, and those original three trees became sacred to him. 246 00:16:06,400 --> 00:16:08,920 Speaker 1: You know, we all touched these trees. Yeah, I don't 247 00:16:08,920 --> 00:16:12,160 Speaker 1: do anything. All we do is harvest pods, collect data, 248 00:16:12,200 --> 00:16:16,880 Speaker 1: and collect budwood. That budwood super important. Budwood is the 249 00:16:16,920 --> 00:16:19,280 Speaker 1: newly formed tips of branches that are used to grow 250 00:16:19,320 --> 00:16:22,400 Speaker 1: an exact duplicate of the mother tree. When Jacob returned 251 00:16:22,400 --> 00:16:24,880 Speaker 1: from his trip to the States, he's set to work planting. 252 00:16:25,400 --> 00:16:28,520 Speaker 1: We have almost ten thousand trees of this material now growing, 253 00:16:29,240 --> 00:16:34,200 Speaker 1: ten thousand trees, ten thousand baby creas, a forest of 254 00:16:34,280 --> 00:16:38,440 Speaker 1: ancient mind CaCO rising up in the Belize wilds, and 255 00:16:38,560 --> 00:16:41,560 Speaker 1: they are just the beginning. If Jacob has his way, 256 00:16:41,920 --> 00:16:44,720 Speaker 1: those ten thousand trees will give birth to a million more, 257 00:16:45,400 --> 00:16:48,360 Speaker 1: not just a bee free but anywhere anyone wants to 258 00:16:48,360 --> 00:16:50,600 Speaker 1: grow new rain forests and figure out a way to 259 00:16:50,640 --> 00:16:53,560 Speaker 1: pay for it. As a bonus, we'll all get to 260 00:16:53,600 --> 00:16:58,120 Speaker 1: experience this ghost of chocolate past. Jacob also became the 261 00:16:58,200 --> 00:17:01,160 Speaker 1: volunteer president of the air Land could Cow Preservation Fund, 262 00:17:01,400 --> 00:17:04,360 Speaker 1: which is now designated sixteen of the world's cocaos as 263 00:17:04,520 --> 00:17:08,440 Speaker 1: essential cultural heritage. That's helped bring recognition and a decent 264 00:17:08,480 --> 00:17:11,719 Speaker 1: income to the farmers who are keeping these masterpieces alive. 265 00:17:12,560 --> 00:17:16,359 Speaker 1: But it isn't always enough. Ironically, it couldn't save the 266 00:17:16,440 --> 00:17:21,800 Speaker 1: very first DESIGNI Vulgar Layman. After years of dodging bullet 267 00:17:21,800 --> 00:17:24,320 Speaker 1: after bullet in the jungle, he was about to take 268 00:17:24,359 --> 00:17:30,720 Speaker 1: one right in the heart. Everything went just upside down, 269 00:17:32,000 --> 00:17:35,560 Speaker 1: and all from one moment to the other. I thought 270 00:17:35,600 --> 00:17:37,520 Speaker 1: I was doing the good things, and all of a 271 00:17:37,600 --> 00:17:42,800 Speaker 1: sudden I was in turmoil. You know, the sky was 272 00:17:42,840 --> 00:18:11,560 Speaker 1: falling on my head. One thing I noticed right away 273 00:18:11,680 --> 00:18:14,959 Speaker 1: when I came back to Bolivia in was that whatever 274 00:18:15,119 --> 00:18:18,040 Speaker 1: romance the jungle had once held for Vulgar, it was 275 00:18:18,080 --> 00:18:24,320 Speaker 1: long gone. It seems like that the birds in in 276 00:18:24,440 --> 00:18:28,439 Speaker 1: the in the jungle, in the Amazone and in the 277 00:18:28,480 --> 00:18:33,639 Speaker 1: tropical here, they don't know how to sing. It seems 278 00:18:33,680 --> 00:18:38,920 Speaker 1: like they never went to singing school. And it most 279 00:18:38,960 --> 00:18:43,560 Speaker 1: and most of it is it's like more like shouting noise. 280 00:18:45,240 --> 00:18:51,400 Speaker 1: Uh like this, And there's one I maybe we're here. 281 00:18:51,840 --> 00:18:58,400 Speaker 1: We're here. It's like a like a dying sound. It's 282 00:18:58,760 --> 00:19:03,679 Speaker 1: it's like somebody is strangling the bird while he tries 283 00:19:03,760 --> 00:19:11,680 Speaker 1: to sing. Like that sounded like a different guy from 284 00:19:11,680 --> 00:19:13,240 Speaker 1: the one I had left on top of the world. 285 00:19:13,359 --> 00:19:16,240 Speaker 1: After our visit to the euro Care, they'd agreed to 286 00:19:16,240 --> 00:19:19,120 Speaker 1: provide fifteen tons of cacao, which meant he'd be delivering 287 00:19:19,160 --> 00:19:22,800 Speaker 1: forty five tons to felsh Lean three shipping containers. But 288 00:19:22,840 --> 00:19:25,919 Speaker 1: he needed serious capital. He needed to build a fermentation 289 00:19:25,960 --> 00:19:29,080 Speaker 1: center in the jungle, He needed boats, and he had 290 00:19:29,080 --> 00:19:32,160 Speaker 1: to hire people to do the buying and transporting for him. 291 00:19:32,320 --> 00:19:35,560 Speaker 1: Most of all, he needed cash to pay all the harvesters, 292 00:19:36,720 --> 00:19:40,040 Speaker 1: so he took on investors. It was a huge gamble, 293 00:19:40,600 --> 00:19:43,119 Speaker 1: but the first year it worked great. He produced more 294 00:19:43,280 --> 00:19:46,399 Speaker 1: cal than ever. The quality was awesome. Felsh Lean was 295 00:19:46,440 --> 00:19:49,480 Speaker 1: thrilled and he made his payments. It worked the next 296 00:19:49,560 --> 00:19:52,399 Speaker 1: year too. He felt like the system he'd always envisioned 297 00:19:52,440 --> 00:19:55,480 Speaker 1: in his mind was finally up and running. But in 298 00:19:56,720 --> 00:19:59,760 Speaker 1: three years into his business, the rains came even harder 299 00:19:59,760 --> 00:20:03,879 Speaker 1: than usual. The mom Rae flooded badly. I wasn't in 300 00:20:04,280 --> 00:20:07,880 Speaker 1: very good terms with the people, so I trusted them 301 00:20:07,880 --> 00:20:11,600 Speaker 1: and I asked him, would that be cacao? Yeah? Yeah, 302 00:20:11,640 --> 00:20:14,359 Speaker 1: there will be a lot of cacal, you know, but 303 00:20:14,480 --> 00:20:18,080 Speaker 1: give you us so much and repay you don't worry. 304 00:20:18,359 --> 00:20:21,440 Speaker 1: So he flashed fifty into the jungle, expecting to get 305 00:20:21,480 --> 00:20:24,640 Speaker 1: twice that much in cacao out of it. For weeks later, 306 00:20:25,119 --> 00:20:29,879 Speaker 1: the harvest trickled in just twenty worth of cocao. Vulker 307 00:20:29,960 --> 00:20:34,320 Speaker 1: was understanding despite the knot in his stomach. He said, fine, 308 00:20:34,640 --> 00:20:38,679 Speaker 1: whatever things get weird in the jungle, just give me 309 00:20:38,720 --> 00:20:42,159 Speaker 1: back the rest of the money. And his buyers said, well, 310 00:20:42,800 --> 00:20:45,680 Speaker 1: here's the thing. We gave the money to the pickers 311 00:20:46,560 --> 00:20:52,359 Speaker 1: and they spend it all. Sorry, thirty grand just evaporated 312 00:20:52,480 --> 00:20:55,280 Speaker 1: into the bush. What was he going to do? Bring 313 00:20:55,320 --> 00:20:58,280 Speaker 1: a legal case against the whole forest. He decided to 314 00:20:58,280 --> 00:21:01,679 Speaker 1: eat the losses himself. Liked the guys and they've had 315 00:21:01,680 --> 00:21:04,399 Speaker 1: a good track record until then. I said, that's not 316 00:21:04,520 --> 00:21:08,640 Speaker 1: a problem. Okay, you owe me so for the next year. Yeah, 317 00:21:08,720 --> 00:21:13,080 Speaker 1: next year, and so we we leveled this out. It's 318 00:21:13,119 --> 00:21:17,720 Speaker 1: not such a great deal. In other words, no worries. 319 00:21:18,280 --> 00:21:21,399 Speaker 1: Consider it an advance on next year's Kao. He comes 320 00:21:21,400 --> 00:21:23,600 Speaker 1: so close, and he just really didn't want to see 321 00:21:23,640 --> 00:21:26,040 Speaker 1: this one go down the tubes. He was now fully 322 00:21:26,080 --> 00:21:28,800 Speaker 1: emotionally invested. But then it was time to talk to 323 00:21:28,840 --> 00:21:31,359 Speaker 1: his lenders and explained that he couldn't make his payment 324 00:21:31,400 --> 00:21:36,240 Speaker 1: this year, and they were not emotionally invested. I said, okay, 325 00:21:36,280 --> 00:21:41,679 Speaker 1: this year I present a loss, and they said what 326 00:21:41,880 --> 00:21:46,840 Speaker 1: is the loss? Um, please explain you know, I said, yeah, 327 00:21:46,880 --> 00:21:50,639 Speaker 1: loss is when you don't have earnings. You know you 328 00:21:50,640 --> 00:21:54,480 Speaker 1: you're on the negative. Yeah. Negative is no good? Yeah. 329 00:21:54,800 --> 00:21:57,840 Speaker 1: Oh could we sue you? Yeah? Yeah, you have to 330 00:21:57,880 --> 00:22:00,560 Speaker 1: give us the money back. I said, the money is 331 00:22:00,600 --> 00:22:03,679 Speaker 1: with the people in the jungle. I explained it again 332 00:22:03,720 --> 00:22:06,840 Speaker 1: to you if you want, I'm happy to explain it again. 333 00:22:07,520 --> 00:22:11,640 Speaker 1: So I gave the money. The horfus was low. So 334 00:22:11,720 --> 00:22:16,160 Speaker 1: now we have to recover the loss. Oh loss, no no, no, no, no, 335 00:22:16,280 --> 00:22:18,280 Speaker 1: you have to give us a monthay, I said, I 336 00:22:18,320 --> 00:22:21,919 Speaker 1: have no money. Oh yeah, then we seize your as 337 00:22:22,119 --> 00:22:31,760 Speaker 1: it Okay. I ended up in a lawsuit, total fucking disaster, 338 00:22:32,480 --> 00:22:35,520 Speaker 1: leans on his house and on his business. He had 339 00:22:35,520 --> 00:22:40,040 Speaker 1: to declare bankruptcy. His marriage crumbled. Later, as we were 340 00:22:40,080 --> 00:22:44,080 Speaker 1: driving around Bolivia looking for a cowdibi, Walker confessed just 341 00:22:44,240 --> 00:22:47,480 Speaker 1: how devastating it all was to his life and his psyche. 342 00:22:47,880 --> 00:22:49,440 Speaker 1: I mean, it seems like it must have been hard 343 00:22:49,960 --> 00:22:53,080 Speaker 1: just personally to walk like when you just gotten all 344 00:22:53,119 --> 00:22:54,879 Speaker 1: that recognition, you knew you were making one of the 345 00:22:54,920 --> 00:23:01,040 Speaker 1: best chocolates in the world. It took me, um, you know, 346 00:23:01,200 --> 00:23:10,639 Speaker 1: from basically from fourteen to until last year actually to 347 00:23:10,800 --> 00:23:20,760 Speaker 1: recover um financially or personally, spiritually entirely. Yeah, everything, everything 348 00:23:21,119 --> 00:23:25,280 Speaker 1: a little bit because everything is interlinked, and you know, 349 00:23:27,280 --> 00:23:31,240 Speaker 1: and and I wanted to save ton Kilda, and I 350 00:23:31,320 --> 00:23:35,160 Speaker 1: wanted to save at least you know this part. Yes, 351 00:23:35,200 --> 00:23:37,320 Speaker 1: his creditors were coming for his glove and the cow 352 00:23:37,400 --> 00:23:40,800 Speaker 1: forest man. You must have been furious at a lot 353 00:23:40,840 --> 00:23:48,000 Speaker 1: of people. I had a little it was a section 354 00:23:48,040 --> 00:23:52,760 Speaker 1: of rage and now a pure rage. I would now 355 00:23:52,800 --> 00:23:54,600 Speaker 1: with a gun in my hand, I would have killed 356 00:23:54,640 --> 00:24:01,639 Speaker 1: some people. Maybe. Fortunately he didn't. In fact, at the 357 00:24:01,680 --> 00:24:05,159 Speaker 1: moment of maximum rage, when he thought he might explode, 358 00:24:05,880 --> 00:24:10,800 Speaker 1: he just let it all go. The lawsuits, the frustration, 359 00:24:11,160 --> 00:24:15,359 Speaker 1: the fury gone. The guys who just lost all his 360 00:24:15,400 --> 00:24:17,640 Speaker 1: money in the jungle. He knew they were hard up, 361 00:24:18,000 --> 00:24:20,119 Speaker 1: so we said, why don't you just live in my 362 00:24:20,160 --> 00:24:22,440 Speaker 1: house and trided ad for free until you get back 363 00:24:22,480 --> 00:24:25,800 Speaker 1: on your feet. Ever since, I'm calm. I'm much calm, 364 00:24:25,880 --> 00:24:32,760 Speaker 1: was than be far much more. Oh off, Budda is 365 00:24:33,840 --> 00:24:41,480 Speaker 1: is nothing. You know. I'm more calm than the river 366 00:24:42,000 --> 00:24:45,160 Speaker 1: Sitata was sitting at. Have you ever been in touch 367 00:24:45,359 --> 00:24:48,680 Speaker 1: with those guys? Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, you know 368 00:24:48,920 --> 00:24:51,920 Speaker 1: I saw. Yeah. Yeah, once in a while I remind 369 00:24:51,960 --> 00:24:54,760 Speaker 1: them to pay me and then they laugh and say, yeah, yeah, 370 00:24:54,760 --> 00:24:59,640 Speaker 1: we do. Is that just kind of how things work here? Yeah? Yeah, 371 00:24:59,800 --> 00:25:03,440 Speaker 1: Just forget about it and go off. It's like a 372 00:25:03,440 --> 00:25:07,600 Speaker 1: pant divorce. You know, you cannot suffer forever, you know, 373 00:25:08,560 --> 00:25:13,560 Speaker 1: you have to go on with your life. And he did. 374 00:25:14,240 --> 00:25:18,040 Speaker 1: In fact, he pulled a full Siddartha. He just decided 375 00:25:18,119 --> 00:25:22,840 Speaker 1: to walk away from Tranquila Dad, from Bolivia, from Cacao, 376 00:25:23,200 --> 00:25:27,000 Speaker 1: from everything, a new start. But he did need to 377 00:25:27,040 --> 00:25:29,000 Speaker 1: make good on his debts, so he took a job 378 00:25:29,040 --> 00:25:33,200 Speaker 1: as a consultant with Conservation International in Costa Rica, living 379 00:25:33,240 --> 00:25:37,119 Speaker 1: like a hermit, saving every penny. And with that, it 380 00:25:37,200 --> 00:25:40,880 Speaker 1: seemed like the dream of wild Cacao had died. Perhaps 381 00:25:40,880 --> 00:25:44,720 Speaker 1: it was just too hard, too remote, too iffy. A 382 00:25:44,760 --> 00:25:50,200 Speaker 1: successful coco business requires predictability, and Amazon eats predictability for breakfast. 383 00:25:51,119 --> 00:25:53,800 Speaker 1: But unbeknownst to Vulcar, even as he struggled to put 384 00:25:53,840 --> 00:25:56,400 Speaker 1: Coco out of his mind for good, the seeds were 385 00:25:56,400 --> 00:25:59,600 Speaker 1: taking hold on new ground, and the next crop of 386 00:25:59,640 --> 00:26:06,320 Speaker 1: cocaw lenders was about to blossom the same year he 387 00:26:06,400 --> 00:26:10,440 Speaker 1: was walking away from the Amazon Louisa Abraham was plunging 388 00:26:10,480 --> 00:26:16,160 Speaker 1: in year by year, just coming and just showing them 389 00:26:16,200 --> 00:26:20,240 Speaker 1: that I was not gonna be defeated, like I was 390 00:26:20,920 --> 00:26:25,960 Speaker 1: going to persist, And she wasn't going to let European 391 00:26:26,040 --> 00:26:29,320 Speaker 1: chocolate makers or loan sharks tell her how to operate. 392 00:26:30,040 --> 00:26:32,280 Speaker 1: She was going to do it all on her own terms. 393 00:26:33,119 --> 00:26:44,440 Speaker 1: A new hope next week on Obsessions Wild Chocolate. Wild 394 00:26:44,480 --> 00:26:48,080 Speaker 1: Chocolate is a Kaleidoscope production with I Heeart Podcasts, hosted 395 00:26:48,080 --> 00:26:50,960 Speaker 1: and reported by me Rowan Jacobson and produced by Shane 396 00:26:51,040 --> 00:26:54,679 Speaker 1: McKeon at Nice Marmot Media, Edited by Kate Osborne and 397 00:26:54,760 --> 00:26:58,000 Speaker 1: my Guest out of Kudor. Sound design and mixing by Soundboard. 398 00:26:58,520 --> 00:27:02,080 Speaker 1: Original music composition by NCER Stevenson, a k a Botany 399 00:27:02,680 --> 00:27:06,120 Speaker 1: production help from Baheeny Shorty from My Heart. Our executive 400 00:27:06,160 --> 00:27:10,000 Speaker 1: producers are Katrina Norbelle and Nikki Etre. Special thanks to 401 00:27:10,040 --> 00:27:15,760 Speaker 1: Laura Mayor, Costaslinos Ozwalash and Aaron Kaufman, Will Pearson, codel Burn, 402 00:27:16,200 --> 00:27:19,240 Speaker 1: Bob Pittman, Daria Daniel and the team at Stetler who 403 00:27:19,240 --> 00:27:21,440 Speaker 1: are helping us make a very special chocolate of our own. 404 00:27:22,080 --> 00:27:25,080 Speaker 1: That's right, we're working with Louisa and others to protect 405 00:27:25,080 --> 00:27:30,160 Speaker 1: the rainforest and make delicious Amazonian chocolate. Visit www Dot 406 00:27:30,200 --> 00:27:33,440 Speaker 1: Stetler dash Chocolate dot com to taste it for yourself. 407 00:27:34,119 --> 00:27:39,280 Speaker 1: That's www. Dot Stetler Dash Chocolate dot com And if 408 00:27:39,280 --> 00:27:40,840 Speaker 1: you want to hear more of this type of content. 409 00:27:41,119 --> 00:27:43,800 Speaker 1: Nothing is more important to the creators here at Kaleidoscope 410 00:27:43,920 --> 00:27:48,159 Speaker 1: than subscribers, ratings, and reviews. Please spread the love wherever 411 00:27:48,200 --> 00:27:48,560 Speaker 1: you listen.