Discription
The Colombian story
Forest
Colombia is known for its beautiful Amazonian and Orinoco rainforest, rich in biodiversity
and an important carbon sink for the world. Unfortunately, illegal logging, mining and
conversion of land to cattle ranching threatens Colombia’s indigenous forests. Many
forests areas have been cleared for coca production. The government is enticing coca
farmers to switch to palm oil or cacao production. From a biodiversity perspective
cacao is by far the preferred option: palm grows in monoculture, while cacao trees are
intercropped with other trees and plants. An estimated 25,000 hectares of cacao grown
in Colombia were formerly used for illegal crops, and this number is growing. Which
is good news for the planet, for the farmers and for chocolate lovers in Colombia and
abroad, because there will be more fine flavour cocoa from Colombia available.
Profile
Colombia Tumaco cacao is from Trinitario varieties. Intens chocolaty profile
with pleasant bitterness and low in acidity. Tumaco cacao is remarkable for its
spicy tones, and pleasant creamy mouthfeel. Nutty and woody in the undertone.
A real crowd pleaser, which was acknowledged with a Cocoa of Excellence award in 2015.
After manual picking the farmers bring the wet cacao beans to one of the three cen-
tral fermentation units. Fermentation is almost 7 days with 5 turns, after which the
beans are dried on covered wooden decks until moisture levels are 7%.
Farmers
Colombia has gone through many decades of violence with a guerrilla war between the
government and FARC, followed by drug related criminality. With its river system and port,
it was easy to transport illicit products from Tumaco, making the region attractive for coca
farming. The local Afro-Colombian people suffered from guerrilla and narco violence. When the
Colombian government started to promote cacao cultivation as an alternative for coca, local
farmers welcomed this. Carlos Ignacio Velasco started in 2012 with Cacao Hunters, with the
purpose to valorize Colombian coffee. Major steps have been made in quality improvement
since then. Tumaco cacao is grown by around 600 smallholder farmers that are organized
in three cacao cooperatives. The farmers benefit from higher prices for specialty cacao, and
continuous investments in training, post-harvesting and cultivation of planting material.
Nutritional Facts
Ingredients PURE CHOCOLATE : 100% cocoa beans Nutritional value Based on 100g: Energy: 550Kcal, 2300kJ Total fat: 52g – which Saturated fat: 31g Carbohydrates: 5g – which Sugar: 0g Protein: 15g Salt: 0g
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