Watch the Netflix show Cooked to discover the process of making masato de yuca and chocolate from cacao in the Amazon of Peru.
The food wonders of the Peruvian Amazon far outnumber what you could count with your two hands. But there’s no doubt that among those first listed, you would have included Peruvian cacao.
Would you also have listed the fermented drink, masato de yuca? The Netflix show, Cooked, took on the challenge of delving into the Amazon where they speak with farmers of cacao and yuca to learn about the process of fermentation that creates chocolate and masato, the yuca-based fermented drink.
“Chocolate forms part of our culture and we think of it as if it were a Western treat, despite the fact that it is a rotten grain originating from the Amazon,” says Michael Pollan, author of the documentary.
For the episode entitled “Earth“, the documentary’s team traveled down to Allima Cacao, an association of cacao growers and processors in the San Martin and Lamas provinces to get an inside look.
Watch the trailer below:
Cover photo: USAID’s Development Credit Authority/Flickr
