The GREEN PRODUCTS

The paths of Destiny showed me the way towards the Cultural Nations and not the geographic-political ones, artificially designed on the maps: so there I got … just a few steps from the Bolivian border, impassable to me, in the heart of the Peruvian Andean world, feeling the mysterious auras of the Inca Empire, in Cusco … the same quechua population, the same issues, the same traditions, the same sacred green Coca … I had been separated from …

By ideally sewing together my living patchwork, Cusco and its territory came to me as a fertile field to sow new proposals and actions in favor of the sacred green Coca, taken hostage by inadequate laws, as a result of inveterate prejudices, in its  very alma mater.

In the Andean Countries people’s familiarity with Coca and the spirit of initiative of the accustomed to get by with any simple and elementary means gave birth, since a while ago, to several spontaneous intent to elaborate some common and beneficial products, incorporating the ground Coca leaves.

In Bolivia the industrialization of Coca has been regulated by law since 1988 and the products are distributed to the market according to the current limiting legislation.

Hence, in the framework of the Andean-Amazonian resources’ promotion, including green Coca, the historical town of Cusco became the worthy scenery of a seed of desandinization of Coca planted among the micro-projects of the Association K’uychiwasi, the quechua name for Rainbow House, being the rainbow the symbol of unity in diversity, as a meeting between different worlds, still potentially communicating.

A variety of products got developed aggregating green Coca, including bread, cookies, cakes, chocolates, candies, toffees, homemade syrup for sore throat, toothpastes, soaps, cosmetic creams, snacks for aperitifs, in cooperation with a Peruvian team for handicraft activities, while launching a number of initiatives to spread information on the topic of green Coca to the more eclectic areas, from schools and formal and informal groups to the medias and the operators of tourism, very flourishing in the region, thanks to the natural beauties and fascinating archaeological sites.

Previously an agreement was signed with the National Coca Company (ENACO), which owns the State monopoly in Peru, buying Coca leaves from farmers – who must be registered with a regular license – and managing the distribution into the  national markets for ritual use and traditional medicine.
ENACO is also in charge of controlling the exported amount of Coca leaves authorized as an exception to the current legislation for some famous products, as described in other chapters. The control mechanisms at national level are similar also in Bolivia.

In the micro-project Green Coca the leaves were ground in a manual mill, obtaining a well pulverized flour … powder … yes!!! … but GREEN … and not WHITE …, preserving all properties of Coca leaves; the green powder – or green flour – was aggregated to other natural resources, including typical Andean cereals, like kiwicha, quinua, cañihua, as well as some more common, as corn and wheat, or to sweetened milk, banana flour, cheese, cocoa, among others; the amount of green flour was calculated to provide the products with a delicious taste combined with the effectiveness of its components.

The infusion of green leaves, called mate de Coca, was last minut prepared, so to be drunk hot, made out of green powder in boiling water, with lemon juice and brown sugar.

It’s useful to reiterate that Coca flour was used as an aggregate, in relatively small proportions in comparison to the amount of the basic ingredient it was added to, given its significant nutritional and medicinal value.

Therefore, based on scientific data, in practice the harmony of the cosmovision got rebuilt: in fact Coca had fallen victim of the breakup of his integrity, due to the extraction of the alkaloid cocaine, but in the green products it came back to be in safety, protected by its natural sisters resources, guarding it from any illicit manipulation, because it is no longer possible to separate the raw ingredients to get back the green flour.

It’s also important to note that the products prepared with green flour were cooked, so exposed to high temperatures, destroying most of the natural alkaloid cocaine, leaving only minimal residual traces, perceived by people unaccustomed to Coca as a feeling of soreness of the oral mucosa, as a result of the anesthetic effect of the alkaloid, completely insignificant from the physiological point of view, as in other chapter described.

The experience was successful, becoming a valid proposal for industrialization, increasingly and progressively on wider scale, as long as the green powder – under no exception – is mixed to other ingredients for its safety and protection; as already mentioned, the green flour is … the leaf itself... It is therefore strongly advisable to remain cautious and vigilant, against the invasive and impending modern devils … apparently unassailable and invincible.

As one of the positive results of the green products with Coca, the Association K ‘uychiwasi has received the Slow Food Award for the Defense of Biodiversity, in Turin (Italy), on 23 October 2002.

In the circle of Culture and Nature, as well as Tradition and Science, the ethical coherence requires to place the local initiatives, such as the micro-project Green Coca, in the hands and under the commitment of Andean People, because no one else will have the titles and responsibilities to enhance ancient legacies towards a promising future in a happy and fruitful partnership of ancient and modern.

Inexhaustible are the potential beneficial uses of green Coca, for example the export of green flour mix with cereals, namely the green powder aggregated to Andean grains with a high nutritional value, in small packages (250 g – 500 g – 1 kg) well manageable, for emergency relief in armed conflicts or natural disasters; the same mixture would also bring a significant added value especially to child nutrition in situations of chronic scarcity of food resources.

In the regions of the world most affected by chronic illnesses, neurological and degenerative diseases in a broad sense, the green products with Coca, featuring the characteristics adapted to different contexts, could complement the treatment of such diseases, finding space in the prevention of ageing processes, in the management of diabetic patients and also in the protocols for detoxification of any kind of addiction, including alcohol and cigarette smoke.

A well designed plan of industrialization of Coca, run by the People of the sacred plant of Coca, with total economic return for their own development, according to criteria of equitable distribution and social justice, would defeat by itself all the narco-business.

I have, however, a crystalline certainty that no initiative to produce green products with Coca will bring good fruits, as far as it will be handled in terms of personal gain and exclusively economic, wherever it will happen worldwide; to avoid that risk, the Andean cultural key points must look over and control the acting of Science and Economics, under the aegis of the sacred Coca.

This principle is not negotiable.

And time shot with the latest tolls on my Peruvian usefully long and valuable stay, that I had been donated with. I brought with me the unshakeable faith that the green Andean Coca will not be betrayed, but supported by the commitment and pride of its People, to keep being a protecting deity and an effective food to them all.

In my travelling backpack I kept carefully some gifts … ideas, experiences and learnings towards a fruitful future, with amazing dreams into the intricacies of daily life … gifts chosen for me by the sacred green Goddess of the Andes, as a permanent chakaruna, in quechua languaage meaning a bridging entity through diversities …