Neck Dart Speaks — fermentation

Not only is pineapple the coolest looking herb in the world, it has been the subject of rites of passage in the Caribbean, grows up to 150cm or 4'11" tall, and weighs in over 9kg or 20 pounds. I can't imagine walking through a field of pineapple that large and not panicking that I've somehow stepped through a time portal to the Jurassic era. Nightmares.  I am 6'7" or 2m tall. Yeah, no.  Thankfully, pineapple is also delicious, versatile, and available on 6 continents. My favorite variety comes from Taiwan, the golden diamond. After tasting it first hand a few years ago, it's all...

Aside from capsaicin (the stuff that puts the hot in hot sauce) being shown to relieve pain, reduce inflammation, boost your immune system, and increase your metabolic rate, hot sauce feels adventurous. The peppers we've chosen to use in Neck Dart Hot Sauce are habaneros, and they are packed with capsaicin. Containing between 9 and 59 mg per gram of pepper, you're able to get a healthy dose of this wonderful compound in less than half a gram of chili.   In everyday terms, that means habaneros are really hot.   A beautiful thing happens when you ferment habaneros in harmony with other tropical ingredients: massive amounts...

Berlin, January 2021. Dark. Cold. Lockdown. This was a difficult time for any startup, but for one based solely on incoming tourism, a heroic challenge to continue to grow. The startup is called VRWein, a company using virtual reality to enhance wine tastings, and provide virtual tourism to the wine-curious. We were getting bookings consistently and people were actually having epiphanies right before our eyes. Watching people create new neural pathways through gaining an understanding of how to articulate abstract concepts of fruit and spice from aroma in wine is rewarding. The look on people's faces once they "get it" has always...