All sorts of lessons here: about what happens when demand for a commodity suddenly soars in China; about why it soared, in the first place; about how one branch of a business (growers) thrives, while another branch (shellers) has its existence threatened; and about how to adjust shelf prices when what you pay for a single ingredient goes through the roof.

How would your business deal with a situation in which one country's demand accounts for 25% of your volume, when five years ago it was less than 1%?

Plus, as we newspaper lovers say, David Wessel's piece is "a great read." Among other things, it will introduce you to a fruitcake-baking company president named -- are you ready? -- Charles McNutt.