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With the reality of COVID-19 and quarantine keeping Americans stuck indoors, it can be tough to face the day. However, good news still exists, even in times like these. I’m 90.5 KCSU News Director Max Hunter and This is…
NEWS TO CURE THE BLUES
Fort Collins is now the largest supplier of Single-Origin Chocolate in the World
Local College Avenue chocolate factory Nuance Chocolate has, seemingly by accident, become the world’s largest supplier of Single-Origin Chocolate. Single-Origin Chocolate is chocolate made directly from the bean, using only one type of bean from one harvest.
While Single-Origin Chocolate is pricier than traditional chocolate, it’s also much higher quality. In their 23 individual Single-Origin bars, Nuance only uses about 4% of the Cacao beans they receive. Toby Gadd, Co-Founder of Nuance says that this means that “Literally, 96% of the beans that we tried didn’t make the cut because they weren’t good”.
The chocolate in Nuance’s bars are about 70% pure cacao, which is much stronger than the 10% that the U.S. requires for a bar to be considered a “chocolate bar”. This means that while a Nuance Bar is probably ten times more expensive than a traditional chocolate bar, it has seven times the pure chocolate flavor, and people who’ve tried it say it’s immensely different than other chocolate. Gadd claims that “bitterness is a defect of industrial chocolate”.
With up to 24 seperate types of Single-Origin Chocolates, Fort Collins’ Nuance Chocolate is not only the largest creator of Single-Origin Chocolate in the Country, but the largest creator in the world. To read more about Nuance Chocolate, click here.
Colorado Farm is Reviving Extinct Apples Using DNA Grafting
Have you ever ate a Winter Banana? What about a Ben Davis? No it’s not a person. The Winter Banana, Ben Davis, Blue Pearmain, and Esopus Spitzenburg are all types of apples which have either gone extinct, or aren’t growing anymore commercially. Now, you can find them in southwest Colorado.
Mcelmo Canyon’s Jude and Addie Schuenemeyer have been re-creating and preserving famous strains of rare apples in their home orchard. After learning about Montezuma county’s once world-renowned apple orchards, Jude learned the art of DNA Grafting and used it to make brand-new apple trees from seeds, twigs, and other samples.
The Montezuma Orchard Restoration Project has been going on for five years, and acquired about 500 different types of apples. Out of those 500, 200 are considered rare, and about 100 are completely unique or unknown. This alone is incredible, given there are only 15 types of apples that dominate global markets and are grown commercially.
The Montezuma Project isn’t just working to bring apples back on their own orchard, but around the state. The Schuenemeyer’s have provided rare apple orchards to local schools and institutions, as well as started branches of the project in cities like Boulder.
Most of the apples will, at first, be bought by local cider companies to make unique Colorado hard cider. However, eventually the revival of historic apples in Colorado will likely continue to grow beyond that.
To read more click here.
6-Year-Old Calls Fort Collins Police Over Her Injured Stuffed Bunny
A seeming emergency turned out adorable the other day when 6-year-old Natalie called 9-11 only to hang up. Dispatchers, fearing the worst, sent out a team of law enforcement officers to the little girl’s home. When they arrived they discovered she had called to report an injury, that of her stuffed bunny.
Officers gave Natalie some band-aids to treat the bunny, but were sure to remind her “If bunny’s hurt you don’t need to call 9-11. But if you’re hurt, or mommy’s hurt, absolutely call us, okay?”
To read the whole story, click here.
This has been News to Cure the Blues. Let’s all try to stay healthy, well rested, and positive. I’m 90.5 KCSU News Director Maximos Hunter.