Mexican Influence around the World Thread

[RMuller]

Ketchup

Main ingredients tomato








Ketchup is a table sauce. Traditionally, recipes featured ketchups made from egg whites, mushrooms, oysters, mussels, walnuts, or other foods,[1][2] but in modern times the unmodified term usually refers to tomato ketchup. A similar sauce Tomato sauce is sold in Australia, New Zealand, and India, and is almost exclusively used in South Africa.




Ketchup is a sweet and tangy sauce, typically made from tomatoes, sweetener, vinegar, and assorted seasonings and spices. Seasonings vary by recipe, but commonly include onions, allspice, coriander, cloves, cumin, garlic, mustard and sometimes celery, cinnamon or ginger.

The market leader in United States (82% market share) and United Kingdom (60%) is Heinz.

Tomato ketchup is often used as a condiment to various dishes that are usually served hot: French fries, hamburgers, hot sandwiches, hot dogs, cooked eggs, and grilled or fried meat. Ketchup is sometimes used as the basis for, or an ingredient in, other sauces and dressings, and it is also used as an additive flavoring for snacks like potato chips.

Tomato ketchup
James Mease published another recipe in 1812. In 1824, a ketchup recipe using tomatoes appeared in The Virginia Housewife (an influential 19th-century cookbook written by Mary Randolph, Thomas Jefferson's cousin). American cooks also began to sweeten ketchup in the 19th century.[17]

Tomato ketchup was sold locally by farmers. Jonas Yerkes is credited as the first American to sell tomato ketchup in a bottle.[19] By 1837, he had produced and distributed the condiment nationally.[20] Shortly thereafter, other companies followed suit. F. & J. Heinz launched their tomato ketchup in 1876.[21] Heinz tomato ketchup was advertised: "Blessed relief for Mother and the other women in the household!", a slogan which alluded to the lengthy and onerous process required to produce tomato ketchup in the home.[22] With industrial ketchup production and a need for better preservation there was a great increase of sugar in ketchup, leading to our modern sweet and sour formula.[13]

[RMuller]

El Mariachi movie
Directed and producer by Robert Rodriguez who is Mexican-American



El Mariachi is a 1992 American contemporary western action film and the first installment in the saga that came to be known as Robert Rodriguez's Mexico Trilogy. It marked the feature length debut of Rodriguez as writer and director. The Spanish language film was shot with a mainly amateur cast in the northern Mexican bordertown of Ciudad Acuña, Mexico across from Del Rio, Texas the home town of leading actor Carlos Gallardo. The US$7,000 production was originally intended for the Mexican home video market, but executives at Columbia Pictures liked the film so much that they bought the American distribution rights. Columbia eventually spent several times more than the 16 mm film's original budget on 35 mm transfers, promotion, marketing and distribution.



In 2011, El Mariachi was inducted into the Library of Congress to be preserved as part of its National Film Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". The film is further immortalized by Guinness World Records as the lowest-budgeted film ever to gross $1 million at the box office.

Budget $7,000
Box office$2 million

Cast
Carlos Gallardo as El Mariachi
Consuelo Gómez as Dominó
Peter Marquardt as Mauricio (a.k.a. Moco)
Reinol Martínez as Azul
Jaime de Hoyos as Bigotón


The film was shot in numerous locations in Acuña, Coahuila, located in Northeastern Mexico. Rodriguez had a $7,000 budget, almost half of which he raised by participating in experimental clinical drug testing while living in Austin, Texas.[6] The opening scenes feature a shootout in a jail. It was the local Acuña jail situated on the outskirts of the town.[7] Also, the female warden and the male guard were the real-life warden and guard; Rodriguez thought it convenient because it saved him the cost of hiring actors and renting clothing.[7] The intro bar scene was shot inside the Corona Club and exterior street scenes were shot on Hidalgo Street. The shoot out was filmed outside at "Boy's Town", the local red-light district.


On the El Mariachi DVD, Rodriguez devotes both a DVD commentary and an "Extras" section to explaining the tricks of filming a feature-length film with just $7,000. Rodriguez heavily stresses the need for cost cutting, "because if you start to spend, you cannot stop anymore."[8] This is why he cut costs at every possible opportunity. He did not use a slate; the actors, instead, signaled the number of scene and number of take with their fingers. He did not use a dolly but held the camera while being pushed around in a wheelchair. He did not employ on set sound recording equipment; the film was instead shot silent with audio dubbed in post-production. Professional lighting was replaced by two 200-watt clip-on desk lamps. No film crew was hired; actors not in the scenes helped out.[8] Also, Rodriguez believed in filming scenes sequentially in one long take with a single camera; every few seconds, he froze the action, so he could change the camera angle and make it appear that he used multiple cameras simultaneously.[7] Also, bloopers were kept in to save film: noted by Rodriguez were scenes when the Mariachi jumps on a bus, where Rodriguez is visible; the Mariachi bumping his weapon into a street pole; him failing to throw his guitar case on a balcony and Dominó twitching her face when she is already dead.[8] Rodriguez spared expense by shooting on 16 mm film as opposed to 35 mm, and transferring the film to video for editing, avoiding the costs of cutting on film.[8] In the end, he used only 24 rolls of film[8] and only spent $7,225 of the $9,000 he had planned.[6]

Originally, the film was meant to be sold on the Latino video market as funding for another bigger and better project that Rodriguez was contemplating. However, after being rejected from various Latino straight-to-video distributors, Rodriguez decided to send his film (it was in the format of a trailer at the time) to bigger distribution companies where it started to get attention.

For the scene in which the Mariachi delivers a song in front of Dominó, Rodriguez hired a local entertainer. Recording the song with little more than a microphone held next to the musician, Rodriguez pitched the voice to match the voice of Mariachi actor Carlos Gallardo.[8]

The story of the film's production inspired Rodriguez to write the book Rebel Without a Crew: Or How a 23-Year-Old Filmmaker with $7,000 Became a Hollywood Player.

Sony's AXN channel confirmed that it will be airing a TV series adaptation of the El Mariachi franchise. The series premiered on March 20, 2014.[9][10][11][12]

El Mariachi won multiple international awards, and writer/producer/director Rodriguez went on to gain international fame; he was interviewed on such shows as Sábado Gigante and proceeded thereafter to secure Hollywood-backing for films such as The Faculty and Sin City. In December 2011, El Mariachi was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.[15] Citing it as the film that "helped usher in the independent movie boom of the early 1990s", the Registry gave special mention to director Robert Rodriguez and his ability to merge two separate genres of films—"the narcotraficante film, a Mexican police genre, and the transnational warrior-action film, itself rooted in Hollywood Westerns"—successfully "despite the constraints of a shoestring budget."

[RMuller]

Tomato - Essential Ingredient in Spanish Cuisine

The MEXICAN Food Discovery That the Mediterranean Adopted as its Own


Tomatoes are definitely an essential ingredient in Spanish cooking! The Spanish enjoy fresh tomatoes many ways - in salads, sliced on French bread or cut in half and eaten like an apple, but with a pinch of salt. They even make cold soup from raw tomatoes. As far as cooked tomatoes, they appear in casseroles, sauces or stuffed with meat or fish.

The tomato wasn’t always an essential in Spanish cuisine, or any other European cuisine!

As you may remember learning in school, tomatoes are natives from Mexico and were brought back to Europe by Spaniards in the early 16th century. Because they are part of the nightshade family of plants, which are poisonous, it was thought for many years that tomatoes were, too. They were first cultivated as a decorative plant and not used in food for years. The Spanish word tomate comes from the Aztec word “tomatl.”



So crazy are Spaniards about tomatoes, that there is a festival called the Tomatina in Buñol, Valencia every year for the last 61 years. It is essentially a HUGE tomato fight in the street! It so popular that 40,000 people throw 110 tons of tomatoes that are provided by the town council. If you'd like to see the official web site including "rules" of the fight and many wild photos of the celebration and learn more, try LaTomatina.info.








Since tomatoes like full sun and well-watered soil, Spain has a perfect climate for growing tomatoes and produces around 3 million tons a year.

Just as canning fruit and vegetables were common tasks for women around the US for many summers, putting up bottles of sofrito, (a mixture of stewed tomatoes, onions, and garlic) is for women in the Spanish countryside. Sofrito is used as the base for sauces, rice dishes and for stews.

Recipes That Use Tomatoes or Tomato Sauce

Gazpacho - Cold Tomato Soup
Paella Valenciana - Paella a la Valencia
Paella de Marisco - Seafood Paella
Paella Vegetariana - Vegetarian Paella
Bacalao con Tomate - Cod Fish with Tomato Sauce[
Caldereta de Cordero - Lamb Casserole
Estofado de Conejo - Rabbit Stew
Urta a la Roteña - Baked Snapper Roteña
Potaje de Garbanzos y Espinacas - Garbanzo and Spinach Soup
Bacalao con Samfaina - Cod Fish with Vegetables
Sofrito - Tomato Sauce
Huevos Rellenos de Atun - Deviled Eggs with Tuna
Pan con Tomate - Tomato Bread from Cataluña
Berenjena con Pollo y Pimientos - Eggplant with Chicken and Peppers
Ensalada de Pepino - Cucumber Salad
Carne de Vaca con Tomate - Beef Tomato Stew
Mejillones en Vinagreta de Tomate - Mussels in Tomato Vinaigrette
Empanadas Gallegas - Galician Turnovers
Berenjena con Vinagreta de Tomate - Grilled Eggplant in Tomato Vinaigrette
Spanish Summer Pasta Salad Recipe - Ensalada de Pasta

[RMuller]

La muerte, cara bonita en el tatuaje de Brasil

RÍO DE JANEIRO. ¿Una calavera como símbolo de belleza? Para los fanáticos de los tatuajes en Brasil, sí.

En la Semana del Tatuaje 2016, considerada la mayor convención de América Latina de tatuaje y piercing, la imagen de la muerte se ve en brazos, piernas, cuellos y en la mayoría de las partes del cuerpo humano, sin contar camisetas y afiches.

Hay claro otros muchos diseños en esta feria, que comenzó el viernes y cierra este domingo.

Personajes de Disney, guerreros vikingos, viejas anclas estilo Popeye, geishas japonesas, rosas, enredaderas y hasta un jardín entero estaban disponibles en esta convención de Rio.

Pero la muerte en tinta presentada en diversas formas —sonrientes, haciendo una mueca, guiñando un ojo— es ineludible.



“Se ha convertido en la moda”, explicó a la AFP Priscila Virla, de 32 años y copropietaria de un estudio de tatuajes que atiende especialmente a las mujeres y que formó parte de los 250 stands.




“El cráneo es una de esas cosas que realmente ha alcanzado gran popularidad, sobre todo aquí en Rio de Janeiro”, añadió.

Algunas de las representaciones de la muerte realizadas en los catálogos de tatuajes mostraban cráneos horriblemente desfigurados, gritando o goteando sangre. Pero a pesar de las apariencias, el apego a esta imagen tiene raíces sorprendentemente saludables.

“Para los brasileños el cráneo representa la igualdad”, dijo Binho Fernandes, cuya línea de ropa y accesorios está mayoritariamente vinculada a todo lo relacionado con el cráneo. “La gente se tatúa cráneos porque el cráneo nos une a todos” , añadió.

Nelio Cadar, cuyo estudio usa como logotipo una estilizada calavera y exhibe un cráneo gigante en su brazo, coincidió con Fernandes.

“Tomamos el lado bello del símbolo. Es menos sobre la muerte y más sobre igualdad, sin importar si tienes mucho dinero, o estás quebrado, si eres católico o de alguna otra religión. Cuando alguien muere termina en un esqueleto”, subrayó.

HERENCIA MEXICANA

La obsesión por el cráneo viene del día de los muertos de México, según los expertos del tatuaje en la convención.

El dios azteca de la muerte fue transformado por la cultura popular en un oscuro santo popular llamado Santa Muerte favorecido por “criminales y la policía”, dijo el artista Federico Ruiz, que llegó a Rio desde Ciudad de México para vender sus obras.

Artísticamente relacionada con Santa Muerte está la mujer esqueleto mexicana Catrina, que sirve de fuente de inspiración para los aficionados del tatuaje a nivel internacional, especialmente en Brasil.

“Es algo que Brasil tomó como propio”, dijo Cadar. “Lo hemos hecho bien”, se congratuló.

Un minucioso tatuaje de un cráneo que cubra buena parte del brazo cuesta alrededor de 1.200 reales (unos 293 dólares) , una suma considerable en medio de la recesión que golpea a Brasil. Pero no hay escasez de clientes.

El apetito por tatuajes es tan grande en Rio que los vendedores parecen estar de acuerdo en que siguen protegidos por ahora contra la crisis económica del país.

Y el aspecto sombrío de la estampa del símbolo de la muerte poco parece importar a quien lo lleva.

“Cuando ya tienes un cierto número de tatuajes, deja de importante lo que significan” , indicó Lorena Lima, de 21 años, que lleva una Catrina con ojos feroces y la boca cocida en su brazo derecho.


“Sólo los llevas porque son bellos”, añadió mientras hacía una mueca de dolor con la aguja penetrando su piel para su décimo tatuaje.

En todo caso, las calaveras no tienen que dar miedo, advirtió Virla.

“¿Ves?”, dijo subiendo su pantalón para mostrar un pequeño esqueleto con un divertido arco de puntos rojos y blancos. “Todo depende de la perspectiva”.

http://www.abc.com.py/internacionale...l-1447089.html



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gd9qqUhdSZk
Mais uma bela arte feita pelo Led's: caveira mexicana



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPYL9mGQXkc
Caveira mexicana tatuada na perna

[RMuller]

Corn flakes




Corn flakes, or cornflakes, are a popular breakfast cereal made by toasting flakes of corn. The cereal was first created by John Harvey Kellogg in 1894 as a food that he thought would be healthy for the patients of the Battle Creek Sanitarium in Michigan, USA where he was superintendent. The breakfast cereal proved popular among the patients and the Kellogg Company was set up to produce corn flakes for a wider public. A patent for the process was granted in 1896.



With corn flakes becoming popular in the wider community, other people, particularly a previous patient at the sanatorium, C. W. Post, started to make rival products. Various ingredients were added and different grains were used. Kellogg continued to experiment and in 1928 started to manufacture Rice Krispies, another successful breakfast cereal. The trademark rooster that appears on the cereal packets and which first appeared in a television commercial may have been inspired by the Welsh word for rooster, ceiliog, suggested by Kellogg's Welsh friend Nansi Richards. Nowadays there are many generic brands of corn flakes produced by various manufacturers. As well as being used as a breakfast cereal, the crushed flakes can be substituted for bread crumbs in a recipe and can be incorporated into many cooked dishes.

Corn flakes are a packaged cereal product formed from small toasted flakes of corn, and are usually served cold with milk and sugar. Since their original production, the plain flakes of corn have been flavoured with salt, sugar and malt, and many follow-on products with additional ingredients have been manufactured such as "sugar frosted flakes", "honey nut corn flakes" and others.

The accidental legacy of corn flakes goes back to the late 19th century, when a team of Seventh-day Adventists began to develop new food to adhere to the vegetarian diet recommended by the church. Members of the group experimented with a number of different grains, including wheat, oats, rice, barley and corn. In 1894, John Harvey Kellogg, the superintendent of The Battle Creek Sanitarium in Michigan and an Adventist, used these recipes as part of a strict vegetarian regimen for his patients, which also included no alcohol, tobacco or caffeine. The diet he imposed consisted entirely of bland foods. A follower of Sylvester Graham, the inventor of graham crackers and graham bread, Kellogg believed that spicy or sweet foods would increase passions.[2]

This idea for corn flakes began by accident when Kellogg and his younger brother, Will Keith Kellogg, left some cooked wheat to sit while they attended to some pressing matters at the sanitarium. When they returned, they found that the wheat had gone stale, but being on a strict budget, so they decided to continue to process it by forcing it through rollers, hoping to obtain long sheets of the dough. To their surprise, what they found instead were flakes, which they toasted and served to their patients. This event occurred on August 8, 1894, and a patent for "Flaked Cereals and Process of Preparing Same" was filed on May 31, 1895, and issued on April 14, 1896.

A former patient of the Battle Creek Sanitarium named C. W. Post started a rival company, as well as the major other brand of corn flakes in the United States, called Post Toasties. Australia's Sanitarium also manufactures their own brand of corn flakes called Skippy corn flakes. Many generic brands of corn flakes are produced by various manufacturers. In addition, Sainsbury's, Tesco, Morrisons, Asda Co-operative, etc. have brought out similar products based on cornflakes. A variety of corn flakes that is sold in the United Kingdom is one where honey and nuts have been added to the corn flakes, colloquially as "honey nut corn flakes" and as Crunchy Nut under the Kelloggs brand name.

A wide variety of different recipes for dishes involving corn flakes exist. Crushed corn flakes can substitute for bread crumbs.








Honey joys are a popular party snack in Australia; honey joys are made by mixing corn flakes with honey, butter and sugar and baking in patty cases or muffin cups.[13] A variant popular in the UK is chocolate corn flake cakes, made with corn flakes, dark chocolate, golden syrup and butter.[14]

[RMuller]

Cactus "Nopal" is native to Mexico.

If cactus is the next food trend, we're all chasing Mexico and Italy


With its sharp spine and intimidating name, prickly pear cactus is not a common ingredient in the U.S. But maybe it should be.

Nopalitos, which are the cactus paddles, and tunas, which are the pears from the cactus, are really popular in Mexico. And other countries aren't far behind. Ethiopia, Morocco, South Africa, Peru, Argentina and Chile all have significant acreage devoted to nopales, according to the United Nations. Southern Italians are mad for cactus fruit -- Sicilians have grown them for years. They are second only to Mexico in cactus fruit production.

PJ: Who is growing them?

SB: I found a couple of places, both of which are out in California, that are growing nopalitos and tunas, or the fruits. Most of the actual agricultural production is obviously in Mexico, but a few places are cropping up in the states. One of those places is D'Arrigo Bros. farms; they put out cactus pears under the Andy Boy brand. They have a dedicated 350 acres of just cactus, which makes them by far the largest cactus farm for food production in the U.S.

PJ: That is huge. Where does the last name come from? It doesn't sound Mexican.

SB: From my understanding, from what they told me, it's actually an Italian name. Most of their customers are still Italian immigrants because -- I didn't realize this at all -- but Italians, especially in Sicily and southern Italy, love eating the cactus fruit. Mexico, according to the United Nations, is by far the largest producer, but No. 2 is Italy.

Fichi d'India siciliani pronti per la distribuzione commerciale



fico d'india (luigi provenzano) Tags: sea landscape mediterranean mediterraneo ficodindia mare



Opuntia ficus-indica is a species of cactus that has long been a domesticated crop plant important in agricultural economies throughout arid and semiarid parts of the world. It is native to Mexico . Some of the common English names for the plant and its fruit are Indian fig opuntia, Barbary fig, cactus pear, spineless cactus, and prickly pear, although this last name has also been applied to other less common Opuntia species. In Mexican Spanish, the plant is called nopal, while the fruit is called tuna, which are names also used in American English, especially as culinary terms.



Fig opuntia is grown primarily as a fruit crop, but also for the vegetable nopales and other uses. Most culinary references to the "prickly pear" are referring to this species. The name "tuna" is also used for the fruit of this cactus, and for Opuntia in general; according to Alexander von Humboldt.

Cacti are good crops for dry areas because they efficiently convert water into biomass. O. ficus-indica, as the most widespread of the long-domesticated cactuses, is as economically important as maize and blue agave in Mexico today. Because Opuntia species hybridize easily (much like oaks), the wild origin of O. ficus-indica is likely to have been in Mexico due to the fact that its close genetic relatives are found in central Mexico.[3]

Jams and jellies are produced from the fruit, which resemble strawberries and figs in color and flavor. Mexicans have used Opuntia for thousands of years to make an alcoholic drink called colonche.

In Sicily, a prickly pear-flavored liqueur called "Ficodi" is produced, flavored somewhat like a medicinal/aperitif. In Malta, a liqueur called bajtra (the Maltese name for prickly pear) is made from this fruit, which can be found growing wild in most every field. On the island of Saint Helena, the prickly pear also gives its name to locally distilled liqueur, Tungi Spirit.

Mexican and other southwestern residents eat the young cactus pads (nopales, plural, nopal, singular), usually picked before the spines harden. They are sliced into strips, skinned or unskinned, and fried with eggs and jalapeños, served as a breakfast treat. They have a texture and flavor like string beans.

They can be boiled, used raw blended with fruit juice, cooked on a frying pan, and often used as a side dish to go with chicken or added to tacos along with chopped onion and cilantro.



Fodder

The cattle industry of the Southwest United States has begun to cultivate O. ficus-indica as a fresh source of feed for cattle.[7] The cactus is grown both as a feed source and a boundary fence. Cattle avoid the sharp spines of the cactus and do not stray from an area enclosed by it. The cactus pads are low in dry matter and crude protein, but useful as a supplement in drought conditions. In addition to the food value, the moisture content adequately eliminates watering the cattle and the human effort in achieving that chore.

Soil erosion prevention

Opuntia ficus-indica are planted in hedges to provide a cheap but effective erosion control in the Mediterranean basin. Under those hedges and adjacent areas soil physical properties, nitrogen and organic matter are considerably improved. Structural stability of the soil is enhanced, runoff and erosion are reduced, while water storage capacity and permeability is enhanced.[8] Prickly pear plantations also have a positive impact on plant growth of other species by improving severe environmental conditions which facilitate colonization and development of herbaceous species.

Opuntia ficus-indica is being advantageously used in Tunisia and Algeria to slow and direct sand movement and enhance the restoration of vegetative cover, minimizing deterioration of built terraces with its deep and strong rooting system.


Other use
Another use of the plant is as an ingredient in adobe to bind and waterproof roofs.
O. ficus-indica (as well as other species in Opuntia and Nopalea) is cultivated in nopalries to serve as a host plant for cochineal insects, which produce desirable red and purple dyes, a practice dating to the pre-Columbian era.




Distribution


The most commercially valuable use for Opuntia ficus-indica today is for the large, sweet fruits, called tunas. Areas with significant tuna-growing cultivation include Mexico, the Mediterranean Basin, Middle East and northern Africa.The cactus grows wild and cultivated to heights of 12–16 ft (4–5 m). In Namibia, O. ficus-indica is a common drought-resistant fodder plant.




The prickly pear (Opuntia indica or cactus ficus indica) is a famous fig cactus. Growing on the island Fuerteventura in Spain



Cycladic house with potted cactus pear (Opuntia ficus-indica) in Santorini, Greece



Prickly pear (Opuntia ficus-indica) with fruit, Tabernas Desert, Almeria,Spain




Market trader selling 'prickly pear cactus fruit', Palermo, Sicily, Italy -



The coat of arms of Mexico depicts a Mexican golden eagle, perched upon an Opuntia cactus, holding a rattlesnake.

[Rumata]

As a Soviet kid I had a real (I think so ) Mexican sombrero. Like this:

[RMuller]

As a Soviet kid I had a real (I think so ) Mexican sombrero. Like this:

That's cool

[Rumata]

That's cool

I liked this hat

Considering tomatoes, many people from my region managed to make good money growing them even back in USSR.

[RMuller]

Una mirada regional al mercado de la Tuna

La tuna es una planta de la familia de las cactáceas, originaria de México cuya planta puede alcanzar los 4 mts de altura. Es conocida a nivel internacional como una fruta exótica por su rara apariencia, de forma ovalada con espinas y piel gruesa. Si bien este fruto se puede comercializar en fresco, es también utilizado para subproductos como pulpa de jugo, mermeladas y licores.




En América Latina la producción de este fruto se está expandiendo cada vez más, tanto así, que países como Perú y Chile han estado cultivando de forma local este producto hace años y recientemente han comenzado su exportación.

Aunque a nivel regional México lleva la delantera con más de 400 mil toneladas exportadas cada año, Perú y Chile se han visto atraídos por este cultivo, uno que no necesita de mucha agua y es multifuncional, ya que se puede aprovechar hasta el tallo que tiene propiedades medicinales y se utiliza para elaborar jarabes para la tos, ideal para calmar irritaciones o hinchazones y es un descongestionante natural.

México

En www.portalfruticola.com hablamos con Omar Carpio, presidente del Comité Nacional Sistema Producto Nopal y Tuna de México, quien comentó que actualmente la producción nacional de tuna está circulando entre las 400 mil toneladas.

“Esta cifra corresponde al año 2012, sin embargo, se espera que este año tengamos los mismos volúmenes. Nuestra temporada formal comienza en el mes de mayo y a pesar que hubo unas heladas que podrían afectar la producción, pero como en Puebla ya teníamos la producción muy avanzada, no esperamos una mayor incidencia, sin embargo creo que a nivel nacional podría verse afectado un 30% de la producción”.

Las zonas productivas más importantes son los estados de Zacatecas, con un 35% de participación; México con un 30%; y Puebla con un 25%.

“A nivel nacional se exporta un 10% de la producción, siendo Puebla el estado productor por excelencia, ya que tenemos los rendimientos más altos, de 18 toneladas por hectárea, mientras que los otros estados sólo tienen un rendimiento de 8 toneladas por hectárea”, detalló Carpio.

“De un total de 40.000 toneladas de tuna que se exportan aproximadamente, Puebla aporta 8.000″, añadió.



“Los últimos 5 años hemos tenido campañas de promoción a nivel internacional, donde destacamos las tunas rojas, amarillas y las tunas con producción orgánica, lo que ha dado muy buenos resultados y ha ayudado a incrementar las exportaciones. A nivel nacional hemos estado trabajando a través del Comité con los estados productivos asociados, en la promoción de este cultivo y en su industrialización”, comentó.

México al ser el país de origen de este fruto cuenta con la ventaja de tener un depositario nacional con más de 400 variedades de tuna y nopal.

“Esto nos da una ventaja comparativa, tanto económica como a nivel internacional fenomenal. Existe un plan de acción con el gobierno mexicano para salvaguardar el germoplasma de nopal y tuna, por la importancia cultural”.

Respecto a las exportaciones, Carpio dice que falta aprovechar más el potencial de las variedades con las que cuentan. Si bien el precio del fruto en el mercado interno es muy bueno, el presidente del Comité Nacional dice que se está trabajando en nuevas producciones de variedades que puedan ampliar la oferta de la tuna a los mercados internacionales.


“Esperamos en dos años ya tener una oferta anual, ya que por el momento nuestra campaña es de abril a noviembre. Queremos que los consumidores conozcan las propiedades nutracéuticas de la tuna, tanto en fresco como industrializado. Creo que en dos años a más tardar se empezarán a ver los primeros frutos de la promoción”.

Los principales mercados de exportación de México son EE.UU y Europa, mientras que Canadá es un mercado emergente donde la tuna roja ha tenido gran aceptación. Los envíos a este último destino fueron de 1.000 toneladas en 2012.

“La tuna roja es la preferida para los mercados no hispanos, y la verde es la preferida en el mercado hispano. Falta información, ya que la variedad verde es mal mirada porque los consumidores creen que no está madura y no lo asocian con que sólo se trata de otra variedad. La verde es más jugosa que la roja, con 13,4 grados brix promedio”.

Actualmente México cuenta con aproximadamente 50 mil hectáreas de tuna en producción y más de 50 mil productores a nivel nacional entre tuna y nopal.



Chile

Desde la Oficina de Estudios y Políticas Agrarias ODEPA, www.portalfruticola.com habló con José Bravo, especialista de frutas, quién mostró el panorama que vive la tuna en el país sudamericano.

Bravo dice que la producción de este fruto está concentrado entre las regiones de Atacama al Maule, sin embargo es la región Metropolitana la que concentra la mayor parte de la superficie con 611 hectáreas y un 64,3% de la superficie nacional. Le sigue Coquimbo, con 210 hectáreas y un 22,1% de superficies a nivel nacional.

Según el catástro del Centro de Información de Recursos Naturales CIREN, el 2008 habían 1.452 hectáreas plantadas de tuna y al 2012 hubo una disminución de 34,5%, llegando a un total de 950.

El potencial que podría tener la tuna para este país, uno que enfrenta un importante problema hídrico, sobre todo en las regiones del norte, es incalculable. No obstante, la producción anual nunca ha sobrepasado las 2.500 toneladas según cifras de la Fundación para la Innovación Agraria (FIA), y desde el 2009 sigue bajando como consecuencia de la caída en las superficies plantadas. El 2012 se produjeron 1.012 toneladas de tuna.

Bravo comenta que en general las exportaciones en los últimos años se han realizado vía aérea, pero sólo para mercados de nicho y en muy pequeños volúmenes.

Además comenta que la producción de tunas es destinada casi en su totalidad para el mercado interno y que las principales variedades son Chilena y Til-Til, siendo la primera la más plantada.

“El cultivo ocupa un lugar secundario en la industria frutícola, tanto desde el punto de vista de la superficie plantada, como de la producción y las exportaciones. La superficie plantada no alcanza a las 1.000 hectáreas, un porcentaje mínimo con respecto a las 294.000 hectáreas plantadas de frutales en todo el país”, dijo Bravo.

“Las exportaciones frutícolas chilenas sobrepasan los US$4.000 millones, cifra no comparable con los US$70.000, el máximo alcanzado por las exportaciones de tunas“.

Sin embargo, Bravo dice que existe un desafío en ubicar a este cultivo en un lugar más importante dentro de la industria frutícola chilena, pero que aún hay que sobrepasar ciertos obstáculos que impiden su evolución, tales como: falta de tecnología, uniformidad y homogeneidad en su producción, más investigación para proveer nuevas variedades, etc.

Perú

La tradición peruana por el cultivo de la tuna, ha sido más bien destinada al consumo interno que a la exportación. Si bien según datos de COMTRADE este país está ubicado en el número 27 de los exportadores en el mundo, los volúmenes son muy bajos, siendo sus principales mercados de exportación Rusia, Países Bajos, Francia y Reino Unido, los cuales reúnen el 76% de los envíos.

Perú no cuenta con información actualizada de los volúmenes de exportación de la tuna, debido a que se encuentra agrupado en el ítem de “otros frutos frescos”, sin embargo, los datos de la comercialización interna pueden darnos un panorama de la producción del fruto en este país.

En entrevista con www.portalfruticola.com, hablamos con Julio Santos, presidente de la Asociación de Productores de Tuna y Cochinilla de Huarochirí, Aprotyc, quien nos comentó que durante el 2012 produjeron más de 5.000.000 de kilos de tuna para el mercado interno, de las variedades blanca y morada.

Además nos comenta que una de las dificultades de por qué no han exportado el fruto es por lo caro del transporte, ya que como es un fruto perecible, debe ser por vía aérea.

En Aprotyc tienen alrededor de 2.000 ha de tuna, de las que el 60% está destinado a la crianza de cochinilla y el 40% restante a la producción del fruto en fresco.

“La ventaja de esta fruta es que necesita de poca agua y rinde muy bien en el tipo de clima que tenemos. Tiene propiedades curativas y eso llama la atención, sin embargo, por su aspecto y espinas, el consumidor tiene un poco de miedo de probarla”, dice.

Perú recientemente comenzó a industrializar el fruto a través de jugos y néctares de la fruta, según comenta Santos.