While talking to elder locals, we learned that the cacao forest behind our farm house was initially planted more than 60 years ago by a man called Aniceto who lived on the land with his wife Prudencia & their 7 daughters. When they abandoned the land, the cacao plantation was no longer looked after while new trees took root naturally. The land was then obtained by a Canadian developer and sold to an expat who never got to live on-site & eventually resold it to us early 2014. By that time most of the cacao trees in the forest behind the creek had reached heights up to 30 feet since no-one was trimming them.
… to artisanal chocolate!
“Papito has been harvesting & processing cacao since he was a kid & started trimming the cacao trees to make them produce more pods. My dad used to work in the famous Belgian chocolate factory Callebaut when I was young, and ever since I got to visit the factory I've been fascinated by (and perhaps a little addicted to) chocolate. No wonder my favorite Roald Dahl book was 'Charlie & The Chocolate Factory'! It's a dream come true to now be able to make my own 'single-origin' chocolate from scratch, but my absolute favorite is our artisanal dark milk chocolate which fulfills all my cravings for that good old creamy Belgian chocolate.”
At first we were only organizing chocolate workshops & cacao tours for our overnight Airbnb guests but more recently we’ve made these experiences available for everyone! After winning first prize in the Showcolate Fair culinary contest of 2019 we figured it just wouldn’t be fair to let anyone miss out :)
