In 2017 Pinole Blue started out as a school project. After giving it some serious thought and having a meeting with one of Eddie's professors, he decided that he would drive down to mexico and haul back over a ton of corn and try to make something called pinole. Pinole is an ancient recipe created by the Aztecs to fuel their warriors and then became the fuel for the famous Tarahumara tribe known for running ultra long distances in the mountains of Chihuahua Mexico only uses sandals made out of tires for footwear. His family is from the same region so they have been consuming pinole for generations. After a book called born to run was released, the running community started to search for this but were unable to find any in the United States. Many Hispanics seeking out this drink faced similar issues. At that time Eddie's sister was living in Boulder and began educating him on the importance of nutrition in food choices. There was a demand and way that Eddie could modernize this tradition. Typically pinole is made with yellow or white corn but Eddie wanted to make it out of blue corn due to its long list of health benefits. Over winter break Eddie tested the market by selling to local Hispanic grocery stores...and it actually sold. From this to decision to take this more serious was made. The next few months would be filled with hard work but would be worth it. The team won the Shocker New Venture Competition at Wichita State University. Now with enough money they were able to start production and get some packaging. Over time the list of stores carrying this product would increase and more mixes and products would be developed. One of the biggest challenges that Pinole Blue has is the education curve of what their products even are. One item that kept being requested was tortillas. And everyone knows what a tortilla is. This was entirely separate channel. One one hand we have endurance mixes and the other...well basically tacos. Somehow they connected. The pinole and tortillas both used corn and were based off of recipes and processes of indigenous people that were now uncommon. And both were modernized with the best quality ingredients that could be found. This has turned into much more than a simple drink mix or tortilla for a taco. Pinole Blue now has a variety of different products in running stores, grocery markets, coffee shops and Hispanic markets. Living an active lifestyle, making good conscious decisions about our food, and remembering traditions is something that relates to a lot of people. Pinole Blue can help you do it all.
The New Food Culture
The evolution of Pinole Blue somehow stumbled upon a revolutionary food culture
