OUR SISTER FARM, VILLAGE & COMMUNITIES STORY

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The Cacao

We have created a deep, bonding partnership with the ancestors and farmers of the original cacao lovers. There is a sense of community & wholeness, and One World strives to give back to these farmers in any way we can. The One World Cacao community first planted cacao from seeds selected from heirloom trees in the Mayan regions of Guatemala.

“In our quest to isolate the cacao criollo strain, our new harvests are now fruit bearing, carrying the pure criollo bean characteristics. We strive to increase the genetic pool of cacao criollo and help re-propagate an almost extinct strain.”
Laurent Maniet, Founder of DaliLeo Chocolate 

The Forest

Cacao is a shade tree. We reclaimed an abandoned coffee plantation and covered it with 150 000+ mixed hardwood trees.
We are now planting our cacao trees below the canopy of our nascent forest. We also grow and dry green Cardamom which loves growing with cacao.

This is an example of a sustainable agroforestry system that permits economically viable reforestation in today's world.

Our Processes

After the fermentation in cedar boxes, we sun-dry the beans. A particular fermentation and drying permits us to shell the beans right from the drying patio to produce our RAW Cacao.  For the other cacao, we minimally roast the beans on the traditional wood comal, shell them and grind them to a paste to produce our Ceremonial cacao. We use the shells to make cacao husk tea. We then stone-grind the paste for hours to make the finer Ritual cacao used in our chocolates.  As our beans have high butter content, we let the excess come out to make the Ancestral cacao, inspired a wise Qeqchi woman who taught us some of her secrets.  As we are isolated and completely off the grid, we produce our electricity from the water of our streams to power our stone-grinders and facilities.  When you enjoy our cacao, know you are helping us build the cacao forest