Woodcarver in Oaxaca Transitions to Mezcal and Agave

San Martin Tilcajete is one of three villages in the southern Mexico state of Oaxaca known for carving and painting fanciful figures popularly known as alebrijes; mythical dragons and other animals, pieces with cultural or religious imagery, and more. Typically the men carve the figures out of a soft wood, copal, and the women paint. But Efrain Fuentes Santiago and family are atypical. Since the second decade of this century, a great deal of Efrain’s work has been carving images of agave, the succulent used to distill mezcal, into hardwood. Rather than finishing them by painting, he leaves the wood natural. And most recently he has been fashioning different scenes representative of a series of stages in the production of mezcal.

The 1980s witnessed the rapid growth of the alebrije industry. Over time, virtually every family in San Martin Tilcajete began earning most if not all of its living carving and painting, for the tourist industry. The Fuentes Santiago family was no different. By the turn of the century while alebrije production increased, so did distillation of mezcal. And every year since about 2010, production of the agave distillate has risen meteorically. Along with the phenomenon has arrived mezcal tourism. That is, visitors to Oaxaca coming to the state capital of Oaxaca de Juárez trekking to nearby villages in and around the central valleys where the agave is primarily distilled. They come to learn about mezcal production, to start their own brands for export, to buy from their favorite distillers, and to film documentaries and photograph for exhibits.

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Five Great Guatemalan Desserts

Every country has its own sweets and desserts. Sometimes they are known mainly only in their country of origin, and sometimes they become quite popular through exposure in ethnic restaurants. Some Guatemalan desserts are similar in nature to ones in other countries, as with their Borracho cake. Many cultures have cakes that are soaked with a sugar syrup and alcohol. Other Guatemalan desserts are far more unusual.

The cake mentioned above, the Borracho is a light sponge cake that is literally drenched in sugar syrup laced with a typical Guatemalan rum made from their sugar cane crops. This cake is found in pastry shops around Guatemala City, and is generally sold by the slice. Slices are set into a larger muffin paper to contain the syrup dripping out. The cake is topped with a cornstarch pudding made with milk, and then decorated with raisins. In my early life I had never heard of this kind of cake, and it quickly became a favorite. The sugar syrup is cooked with a true cinnamon stick so the syrup is cinnamon flavored. The cake is simple to make as any sponge cake will do, and any simple cornstarch pudding works for the topping. Continue reading “Five Great Guatemalan Desserts”

Genesis Of Satan From Jinn Race: Satan’s Spell Continued In Humans

God’s purpose of creation is implicit by the things which God has made. In order to gravitate toward Truths behind our existence, human enquiry demands attention into “profundity of God’s Words” that surpasses the narrow limits of human knowledge. God guides humanity with the ‘root ideas’ – so that pertinent spirits of human enquiry may proceed in the direction of Truth.

Human living oscillates between recurrent cycles of Prophetic Truth and its Pagan denial since remote antiquity of religion’s history. From successive Revelations of God (Judeo-Christianity to Islam) believers conceive that: God is the supraliminal Light from where the creations proceed. He dispenses due measure of freedom to the devil of Darkness (Satan) to aware mankind about the opposites of ‘real’ (that shall exist) and ‘unreal’ (shall not exist). In other words: ‘real; stands for the guiding Light of God (His messages) comes through His chosen Prophets of humanity; and ‘unreal’ for the spells of Satan that resist this Light by investing ‘falsehoods’ to compete for the appearance of Truth’. As a result, human minds have been cluttered in ancient times by Polytheistic notions of pagan god-hoods and thereafter various conceptual schemes of Monism, Pantheism, Smartism, Gnosticism, Agnosticism and Atheism etc in modern times. Since God allowed worldly freedom for a period – it was possible for human fancies to take the liberty of plotting and planning against God’s Message (Qur’an, 15:42). The ‘adversaries’ of God discard the specific ‘Idea of God’ (Who reveals His Will) and invent vague Continue reading “Genesis Of Satan From Jinn Race: Satan’s Spell Continued In Humans”

How to Grill the Perfect Beer Bratwurst

Grilled Beer Bratwurst

Everyone has their own secret perfect bratwurst recipe. Not being from Wisconsin, I can’t tell you if this recipe is perfect or not. What I can tell you is this recipe has produced for me some very delicious bratwurst. I have heard people say the Secret to great bratwurst is to simmer them in beer first (Really? Gee no kidding?), or cook them slow or make sure the fire is the right temp.

In my experience, the secret is simply patience. How long to grill bratwurst depends on how you grill them. You can throw them straight on the grill which will take about 25-30 minutes or boil the brats in beer, wine or water for about 20 minutes. After boiling, then they are grilled for 4-6 minutes. Boiling them first (also called par-poaching) in beer first improves the flavor so dramatically its almost a sin just to throw them straight on the grill. Regardless, brats take a little while to cook thoroughly. If you rush, you could easily end up with a bratwurst that is burnt on the outside and not so done on the inside. Continue reading “How to Grill the Perfect Beer Bratwurst”

Some Basic Vocabulary For Brewing Beer

Now that I’ve brewed my first lager, I’m venturing into the land of all-grain brewing. There is a lot a vocabulary between the grain and the beer that I have gotten confused a number of times. I thought that it would be advantageous for me to put my ducks and a row and figure out the transformation of grain and words to beer. Then I figured I’d write about it so here we go. Please correct me if I get anything incorrect.

All grain brewing is brewing from scratch. To brew from scratch with as little as possible you need water, malt, and hops. Obviously we know what water is, good ol’ H20. Malt is the grain (barley or what-have you) used to produce beer. And hops is the plant (Fun Fact: close on the plant family tree to marijuana) used to balance the sweetness of malt with bitter. There are many different variety of hops, grains, and different flavors of water, which is not going to be covered here. This is about the basics. Continue reading “Some Basic Vocabulary For Brewing Beer”

Health Benefits of Oregano Oil, the King of Essential Oils

Oregano is a member of the mint family. The whole herb extract has over 30 active compounds; the most active compounds being carvacrol and thymol. I consider Oregano Oil to be the king of essential oils because of its many beneficial healing properties.

Oregano oil is a potent and effective antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral, antiparasitic and even an antioxidant.

It can help heal your body in numerous ways.

A team of British and Indian researchers discovered that oil of oregano is such a potent antibacterial that it is more effective at killing MRSA than 18 other antibiotics(1)

Respiratory:

Oil of Oregano helps heal viral and bacterial infections such as colds, sinusitis, bronchitis and even staphylococcal pneumonia. Continue reading “Health Benefits of Oregano Oil, the King of Essential Oils”

Well Known for Addiction Relief, The Hitt Wellness Center in Tijuana

“The future of medicine will be boosting the body’s own healing powers. We are already there.” Jane Hitt

The clinic is the outgrowth of a World Health Organization grant given to its founder, the late researcher Dr. William Hitt and renowned Mexican Psychiatrist Dr. Velazquez Suarez. The grant allowed Dr. Hitt to continue his pioneering and innovative work into the development of an all natural treatment to detoxify, cleanse and stop cravings in the brain of those persons addicted to drugs and alcohol.

The clinic has garnered much acclaim and has been featured on numerous television and radio shows in Mexico, the USA, and around the world. News of its successes has aired on every continent. As a result of this reputation the clinic receives patients from all over the world.

The clinic has helped people with all kinds of addictions from alcohol and cigarettes, to the more serious such as heroin and crystal meth. I asked Mrs. Hitt about recidivism and she told me they have almost none. Continue reading “Well Known for Addiction Relief, The Hitt Wellness Center in Tijuana”

Mezcal, Methanol, Moonshine and Myth

It’s hard to separate fact from fiction from fear-mongering, when trying to understand the relationship between the Mexican agave-based spirit mezcal, and methanol poisoning resulting in blindness or death as the worst case scenarios. The purely physical science treatises are in large part beyond my level of comprehension. At the other end of the spectrum one finds lay literature without references backing up claims and allegations regarding the likelihood of hangovers, headaches and the much more serious harmful effects; it’s all cloaked in words and phrases like “as little as,” “likely” and “probably.” And it ignores aspartame.

Introduction

Is it appropriate to equate mezcal which has been produced essentially safely and without incident by families in the southern Mexico state of Oaxaca for generations, with American moonshine, with deaths due to deliberately adulterating a spirit for purely profit motive, with concoctions created by naive youth, or with reports from third world countries in which ignorance of safe spirit production results in imprudent means of production or the use of equipment which contaminates? It is suggested that the alarmists draw their data from such sources.

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Typhoid – Mary Mallon

She was an ignorant, ill-tempered woman, but an excellent cook. However, Typhoid Mary Mallon’s refusal to accept the fact she was a healthy carrier of the deadly typhoid bacteria helped cause of deaths of at least three people.

Mary Mallon was born in 1869 in Cookstown, County Tyrone, Ireland, (now Northern Ireland). She emigrated to America in 1884 and worked in a succession of menial jobs, until she discovered she had an exceptional talent as a cook (It was reported she made a delicious peach ice cream). No one knows when the anomaly occurred, but sometime in the early 20th century, Mary became a healthy carrier of the typhoid bacterium (Salmonella typhi). Mary never got sick herself, so it was beyond her comprehension (or maybe she didn’t want to believe it was possible) that she was a monumental cause of extreme physical distress to other people, who just happened to come into contact with her while she worked at her cooking profession. (Washing her hands properly before cooking and serving food wouldn’t have hurt much either.) Continue reading “Typhoid – Mary Mallon”

Education and Artisanal Mezcal Production in Oaxaca, Mexico

A characteristic of growth in the global wine industry for some decades is slowly creeping into artisanal mezcal production in the southern Mexico state of Oaxaca. That is, small producers are using their new-found disposable income to educate their children, with a view to increasing manufacture in a sustainable fashion while at the same time improving sales through tapping new markets.

Oaxaca is where most of Mexico’s mezcal, the typically high alcohol content agave-based spirit, is distilled. In the early years of this decade the state began to witness a dramatic increase in sales of mezcal, both in the domestic market and for export to the US and further abroad. Mezcal tourism was born. Visitors began to make a pilgrimage to primarily the state capital and its central valley production regions, coming to learn about artisanal production, to sample and buy for home consumption, to educate themselves and their staff with a view to attracting sales at bars and mezcalerías, and to consider a business plan for export to foreign and to non-Oaxacan Mexican markets. Continue reading “Education and Artisanal Mezcal Production in Oaxaca, Mexico”