Yesterday, we headed to a project in a small area in a valley at the base of the Andes somewhere east of Piura. It was a long drive mostly along roads with large cobblestone sized rocks, around bends that make you grab for anything, and over bumps that knock you around like a pebble in a tin can. It is truly the most exhausting form of sitting. At first the Andes were just silhouettes behind a cast of grey over the horizon. Gradually, they became clearer as we passed through myriad small towns on our way. At last, when we thought it would never end, we looked out over a valley where rice and cacao are grown with elaborate irrigation systems from the rivers that flow down from the Andes. This was a special place for our guide, because it was were he grew up. We plunged down into the valley and drove over shallow riverbeds that seemed to threaten to mire our truck, and into the town. First, we went to the central fermentary station. We took a look at the current harvest as it was fermenting and drying and tried to give feedback where we could. The cacao from this area has a 70% white bean count, but there are many challenges in getting consistent post-harvest processing in the Piura climate. Notably drying, which generally is an uphill battle in most producing countries' damp climates, must be methodically slowed in order to improve the quality of the finished cacao and reach the proper level of oxidation in the cotyledons. Next, we visited a few other farms. They were nice, but nothing exciting per se. I was beginning to think that perhaps we were wasting our time when we arrived at a newly planted farm where they have test planted 30 different clones of pure white bean varieties that have been found in the valley. 1,900 plants in total, that are now on the brink of the first harvest at 3 years old. We walked around and cut open several pods. The first one was magical. It had the strongest aroma of orange I have ever smelled in cacao fruit. The most wonderful thing is, nothing is known yet about the organoleptic properties of any of these varieties nor their genetic lineage. I am fascinated to learn what each might taste like. Will the floral fruited one taste of oranges? Will another taste of nuts? Soon, we will know. Another thing of note was how incredibly productive these small trees were. I look forward to hopefully being part of this project and learning a great deal about the genetics and flavor potential of these new plants.[gallery link="file" columns="2"]