A second life for heritage cacao

“Looking back is essential for looking forward.” – James Wallman.

Good news lifts our spirit. Our plans in January were suspended because no one in our team was immune to Covid.

As February begins, we are excited to resume the project we started six months ago: the regeneration of 1,000 Nacional cacao trees from 1983.

Ramiro, my father planted the cacao estate in Santa Ana, Manabí, Ecuador. His dream was to live overlooking the Ecuadorian Pacific Ocean, raise his family and have a farm full of tropical fruits, including cacao.

He acquired that seven-hectare land that sheltered the mountains with ancestral Samanes trees, mangoes, Arabica coffee and the Nacional cacao trees he planted.

I have a colourful memory of the farm, the cane fields' green scent, seasonal fruits and that refreshing swim in the crystal-clear river.

My father chose me, the youngest of his children, to craft chocolate with him. Overjoyed, with his hands full with those fragrant cacao beans that he had harvested from his plot, he taught me how to craft chocolate, a forecast of my future. We roasted, ground the beans and transformed them into delicate chocolate that made me the most popular girl in school. Such was the effect that my friends started making their chocolate at home.

When my father passed away, the farm was put on hold.

A year ago, we returned to stop the logging of the Saman trees on our land. That unexpected event triggered the discovery of the cacao trees. They had defied time, were still standing and only waiting for an opportunity to be reborn.

Together with neighbouring growers, we began the first phase of pruning. We aim to regenerate those vintage cacao trees because that heritage and emotional bond are too powerful to lose.

The harvest will come soon. For us, it represents a new origin of cacao, a new flavour profile to rediscover and ties to reconnect. "The real change is the cultural change," said Seth Godin. And that is our purpose.