3 Bean-to-Bar Chocolate Makers from Ecuador, the Birthplace of Cacao
No matter where the best artisanal chocolate you’ve ever eaten was made, chances are it’s true origins lie much farther to the south. For centuries, Ecuador has been one of the largest global exporters of exceptionally rich, flavorful chocolate.
But until recently finding the confection in Ecuador itself, was virtually impossible - a deep irony for a nation which, just a few years ago, changed everything we thought we knew about the plant’s origins. When 5,300 year old chocolate residue was found on pottery vessels and a grinding stone in the southeastern Ecuadorian village of Santa Ana-La Florida in 2018, it pushed the date of the world’s first chocolate production by close to 2,500 years and 1500 miles. Ecuador’s chocolate is so good because the country is most likely the birthplace of cacao.
Today a new generation of local chocolatiers is on a mission to build a local craft chocolate industry worthy of their world-class indigenous beans. With fair trade practices that support small community- and family-based farmers, Ecuadorian brands Pacari, Hoja Verde, and Indemini Baez are worth seeking out.
Since its founding in 2002, Pacari has become one of Ecuador’s most visible chocolate brands. The company is balanced on the cornerstones of ethical farming and fair wages. They work with family farmers to produce organic cacao using sustainable and biodynamic practices including composting and intercropping. As a Certified B-Corp, they pay both those who grow their cacao, and those who process it into chocolate, equitably.
Pacari uses “fine beans” from the heirloom Ecuadorian species, Arriba Nacional. In addition to dark chocolate bars that range from 100% to 60% cacao, they produce a variety of styles that feature indigenous fruits, nuts, and spices including Andean roses, lemon verbena, guayusa (a caffeinated Amazonian holly tree) and passion fruit. For their efforts, Pacari has earned national and international recognition more than 200 times in competitions.
Hoja Verde emerged from the Ecuadorian chocolate landscape in 2013. They learned their craft from a German chocolatier and devised a plan to specialize in fine single origin chocolate. Nearly a decade later, the brand is producing 20 tons of their high-quality bars annually out of their factory in the Cayambe District on Quito’s northeast flank. About half of that is shipped overseas to markets in Europe and North America.
Hoja Verde isolates their Arriba Nacional beans from different growing local regions to produce a “pure,” consistent chocolate flavor. That careful work has earned the brand both silver and bronze in the Americas & Asia-Pacific category at the International Chocolate Awards. Hoja Verde has won many chocolate awards, including silver for their 66% chocolate + orange bar, and bronze for their 58% chocolate + quinoa bar. Other available flavors include ingredients grown both locally and farther afield, including bananas, golden berries and coffee.
Quito-based craft chocolate company Indemini Baez is the 20-year old offspring of Ecuadorian-Swiss couple Bertrand Indemini and Cristina Baez. Housed in the historic center, the shop doubles as a teaching space that demystifies chocolate’s origins and the brand’s artisan process, from roasting to shaping. While they’re best known for their bars, the shop also sells handmade bonbons and other chocolate confections.
Indemini Baez doesn’t just trade fairly with family farms and single-origin beans, they keep careful track of the exact community—even down to the exact plantation—from which each batch is derived. Their hand-wrapped bars contain anywhere from 56% and 100% cacao. Indemini Baez also produces a unique white chocolate based on cacao butter and barley. Other varieties include local ingredients like black walnut, chili, amaranth and Inca peanut.