cAPUTO’s saves a unique south american strain of cacao

Wild Chocolate Is Like Nothing You’ve Ever Tasted Before

By Amiee Maxwell

Want to drive your taste buds wild and preserve biodiversity at the same time?

Caputo’s Market and Ritual Chocolate have teamed up to create a chocolate bar made from a rare type of wild cacao harvested from the Bolivian jungle — Caputo’s Wild Tranquilidad.

Ritual Chocolate co-owner Anna Seear says it’s been an honor to work on the project which helps preserve the biodiversity of cacao by supporting farmers that are working to preserve rare crops.

“We want people to see how special these beans are and how worthwhile it is to keep them around,” says Seear.

Although cacao is native to South America, today, seventy percent of the world’s cacao is farmed in West Africa. Since commercial strains are often bred for high yield, chocolate made from these beans is often lacking in flavor and enhanced by other ingredients. In contrast, wild chocolate is made from beans naturally growing in the Amazon rainforest. So, for those of us used to eating Hershey’s and even the fancier-appearing brands from Whole Foods, wild chocolate is like nothing you’ve ever tasted before. Cacao farming also drives deforestation in nearly every country where it is farmed, and is often linked with poor labor conditions.

Seear says that when she was first getting into the world of wine and cheese, she was amazed by the incredible variety, but when it came to chocolate, finding high quality was a challenge and options that made you feel connected to the source were lacking. When she and her partner, Robbie Stout, founded Ritual Chocolate, they dedicated themselves to sourcing beans from farmers growing in sustainable ways and paying fair prices. This is their first venture

PHOTO BY KAELYN KORTE