Remembrance the past and embracing the future
"They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself."
― Andy Warhol
By Susana Cárdenas A.
We feel an outstanding commitment two weeks before travelling to the Northwest Chocolate Festival, Bellevue, Washington, the most important chocolate show in the US, to showcase our 2023 harvest of Cárdenas Chocolate.
Everything and nothing has changed since that shining afternoon we arrived in La Providencia.
We went with my friends Patricio and Guillermo to discover the estate that sounded like a legend. The day we arrived in Chone, Leonardo Andrade greeted us with a warm smile, a face that was familiar to me; I saw the similarity with my mother because they were cousins , and their genes and kindness were undeniable.
La Providencia, around 1910, a reminder of the history that inspired us today.
That afternoon, we entered the forest to admire the trees that Juan Pólit had planted 130 years ago. Authentic Nacional Cacao delighted the best tables in Europe and the US with its JP brand. One hundred years ago, a plague decimated those beautiful cacao plantations in Ecuador, and that iconic estate of Manabí, Ecuador, was forgotten.
When I started working with chocolate upon my return to Ecuador from England, I had only one certainty: I wanted to work with cacao from the Tierra Hermosa, as Manabí is known.
I started my first chocolate venture, sourcing speciality cacao from the cooperative Fortaleza del Valle, winning some international awards. It was an episode that I had to close against my will and start another from scratch.
So, I returned to Leonardo four years later because I had tasted his exquisite cacao in a local cafeteria in Manta. Upon arriving in Chone, I saw him meeting with 30 cacao producers from his region, looking for a way to revive La Providencia. I came in and congratulated them on the delicious cacao they were growing. And that was the beginning of this new chapter.
Leonardo Andrade showing us his Nacional cacao at La Providencia today
Maybe I couldn't buy from the 30 producers, but I could start with Leonardo and two more neighbours. The goal was to harvest the best cacao in La Providencia at the peak of the harvest (January- February) per year. I was extremely excited to work with him because I felt it was returning the glory to La Providencia Estate and the area where my mother and grandfather were born. As a child, I visited him and listened to his anecdotes. Those memoirs were impregnated my heart. I had a thousand reasons to love that cacao.
After many failed fermentation tests, rejections and attempts, Leonardo and his team understood that the taste of great cacao cannot lie and that with discipline, excellence is achieved.
We feel an outstanding commitment two weeks before travelling to the Northwest Chocolate Festival, Bellevue, Washington, the most important chocolate show in the US, to showcase our 2023 harvest of Cárdenas Chocolate.
We have interviewed archaeologists and spoken with historians and writers to verify data. ¨La Providencia was founded by Juan Polit in 1891; its area was 2 thousand hectares, and it had 350 thousand Nacional cacao trees planted at a distance between 5 and 8 meters, continuous pruning and abundant harvest. The hacienda had 80 thousand coffee trees and 90 thousand rubber trees¨, says the book "Manabí a la Vista" by Juan Ceriola written in 1913.
"Barges full of cacao left along the Chone River to the port of Bahía de Caráquez and then headed to London, Hamburg and New York. La Providencia was the emblem of Manabí," explains the writer Libertad Regalado.
Traditional technique of drying cacao in Bahía de Caráquez, Manabí, circa 1910.
Vestiges of that ancient cacao with 130 years of history are found in forests scattered throughout the area, along with rubber, palm, coffee and other trees. They are genuine relics that were saved from the plague that wiped out most of the Nacional cacao in the 1920s.
A few years ago, when I lost my mother, I created a special edition with this heritage cacao in her name to celebrate her life and the area where she was born. They were all sold in London.
Our latest 100% chocolate bar - 2023 harvest
How much has it changed? A lot. Five years after forming a great team and winning 11 awards at the London Chocolate Academy, we are returning the glory to La Providencia, elevating cacao and raising self-esteem in a forgotten area for years. How I would like to add more producers from the region who today own cacao plots that were part of that iconic estate. This legacy must survive for future generations; a story of cacao like this cannot be forgotten.
Cárdenas Chocolate entirely crafted in Ecuador