Presidia - Rare

Originating from the Sierra Norte de Puebla mountain chain in Mexico, this honey is a product of pisilnekmej bees, endemic to the region. It is collected from April to June, exclusively on sunny days during the period of the full moon. Two terracotta pots are separated with a machete, the combs are selected, and the honey is then manually extracted, while other products are further separated into pollen, wax, and propolis. The obtained honey ferments for a few months and is then used as food or medicine, since it acts as a natural antibiotic for the respiratory tract. The honey has a spicy, piquant aroma, while its flavor is sharp, complex, and citrusy. It is produced by the indigenous Náhuat beekeepers who, besides honey, earn their living by cultivating coffee, cinnamon, macadamia nuts, vanilla, and pepper.

This Bulgarian cheese is made from local sheep's milk (Teteven breed). You can't buy it in supermarkets or specialized food stores – it's produced in very small quantities in a village called Cherni Vit, just like the name of this unique cheese. From May to July, the animals are milked by hand, two or three times a day. After the milking, rennet is added to the milk, and the combination is left to curdle for 2 hours. The curd is later cut and placed in a wooden box that's lined with cloth. A wooden lid is placed on the box, and two big stones are also added for extra pressure. Once the whey has been removed, the cheese is cut into pieces, salted, then layered in a lime tree wood barrel. These barrels are left in the mountains until October, when they are strored in cellars. Once the barrels are opened, the characteristic green mold starts to form on the cheese (which is the reason why it's also alled Cherni Vit green cheese). Its flavor is slightly sharp and nutty, but the flavors intensify as the cheese ages. Cherni Vit is produced by a single man called Tsvetan Dimitrov, and you can find him by asking the locals where he lives – they'll probably tell you to go to ''the second house to the left, after the bridge''.

Endemic to the Colombian islands of Providencia and Santa Catalina, the black crab (lat. Gecarcinus ruricola) is easily recognizable by its black shell and red legs with yellow markings. Every year between April and June, thousands of these crabs descend from the forests and hatch their eggs in the water. The little hatchlings are born in the sea and find their own way home after 20 days, continuing to develop under rocks and logs or underground. The crabs are harvested manually by the local Raizal population – they are first kept alive in containers, then processed by women using handmade tools. They are boiled, the shells are removed in order to obtain the meat, while the claws are typically sold by piece. The meat is traditionally boiled or stewed and paired with rice, used in empanadas, or in rondón – a local dish that also contains fish and meat. However, the most popular dish is known as sopa de cangrejo (black crab soup), combining crab meat with ingredients such as sweet potatoes, flour and water dumplings, yams, garlic, coconut milk, pepper, and local aromatic herbs. During the migration period and the breeding season, the capture and consumption of black crabs is banned, and anyone caught disobeying it faces a fine that is equivalent to three months of the minimum wage. Although many islanders make their living from harvesting the crabs, during the breeding season they turn into modern-day superheroes because most of them are employed as enforcers of the ban, protecting the crabs and making sure that they continue to thrive on the island.

THESE PIGS ARE RARE AND THEY ARE GRADUALLY DISAPPEARING. Bazna is a Romanian pig breed named after the eponymous small municipality in the district of Sibiu. In the 19th century, Bazna breed was crossed with Mangalica, then with Berkshires, and the result is a breed of pig that we know today. The pigs have black skin and a typical white band that fully circles the trunk at shoulder-height. Their neck is short, thick, and wide, the trunk is almost round, while the back legs are well developed, although they are not especially thick. The meat has great fat that is very oily and rich in lipoprotein (also known as "good" cholesterol). It is traditionally aged in attics where it undergoes a light smoking method achieved by small openings in the chimneys of traditional houses. Although there is a number of processed products (bacon, pork rinds, lard) coming from Bazna pigs, cured pork fat is one of the most popular types due to its sweetness, texture, and porcelain-white color. Unfortunately, most producers did not pay much attention to preserving the breed’s purity, so the genetic characteristics have been lost over time due to many crosses with other pig breeds and wild boars roaming in the area. Apart from this problem, Bazna pigs can’t be kept enclosed, making them unsuitable for industrial farming, which is the reason for their gradual disappearance.

THIS FOOD IS RARE. Produced in the area of Dibulla municipality in the Colombian Guajira department, porcelana cocoa plants bear yellow-green pods with long leaves and thin white seeds with a unique, strong aroma. The plants are an important source of energy for the indigenous population as its ground grains were traditionally consumed by the elderly people in a sacred drink. The earliest records of cocoa cultivation date back to 1895, but wild cocoa has been found in the highlands of these mountains way before that year. Recently, porcelana cocoa has been replaced by hybrid varieties and intercropped with timber, fruit trees, and leguminous plants, which is the reason why the hybrids are sold at unusually low prices.