Cultivation of organic cocoa
Organic cocoa between land and sea
Our project
We chose the top of a hill next to the butterfly farm for its east west orientation and for its good ventilation that compensates for the high humidity, disease vector. Our first challenge is to produce the "Nacional - Fino de Aroma" variety, the most famous cocoa, while our neighbours only plant the CCN 51 hybrid, easy to grow, which produces a lot but with a lower quality. We will also ferment the beans and dry them, processes which many producers do not carry out themselves.
Our organic way of growing
Close to our butterfly farm, there was no other choice but to cultivate organic cocoa which has created a certain level of difficulty for our project. Fortunately organic farming is booming in Ecuador and there are many products that strengthen the defenses of cocoa plants. The same treatments are applied to plants that are used for food for our butterfly caterpillars. Around cocoa plants, we keep plants useful for butterflies in order to promote their proliferation. Fortunately it does not affect the cocoa!
The stages of the process that we make on the spot
Initially visitors can only observe the cocoa plants and taste the fresh fruit when possible in order to discover other flavours so different from the chocolate flavour. From the first harvest, it will be possible to witness the first part of the transformation of the cocoa pod into chocolate. The fermentation and drying processes will be carried out on site. The rest will be entrusted to our partners who have the know-how to make it a unique chocolate. Among our future projects, we wish to cultivate rare varieties such as "Porcelana" and perhaps one day wild cocoa!
