Peru chocolate makers bitter over US anti-cocain push  Posted at
04/27/2012 6:04 PM | Updated as of 04/30/2012 9:27 AM  LIMA -
Connoisseurs who take chocolate as seriously as sommeliers study
wine are challenging the widespread use of an inferior cocoa
pushed by the U.S. government in its war against drugs in Peru,
considered by many to be the birthplace of cocoa.  The U.S.
Agency for International Development, or USAID, introduced the
high-yielding but acidic tasting CCN-51 cocoa hybrid to Peru in
2002 to offer farmers an alternative to planting coca - the key
ingredient in cocaine.   "I don't understand why USAID is here,
in a country so rich in diversity, where everything is virgin.
What need is there to introduce new varieties?" said Mariella
Balbi, owner of the tiny firm Guanni Chocolates, which sells in
California and in Lima.  She sells boxes of 12 dark chocolate
truffles made from Peru's native white cocoa and filled with
local ingredients like pisco brandy and Amazonian fruits for
$40.   "We want to