Like most of the rest of the world I had no idea Ecuador was the world’s largest producer of fine flavor cacao. Then my family and I decided to move to Ecuador and start our chocolate business and a world of fine cacao and chocolate appeared. Strict definitions of fine flavor cacao, versus bulk cacao, don’t really exist. 
But generally fine flavor cacaos are those of the Trinitario, Criollo, or Ecuador’s Nacional variety. They make up less than 10% of the world’s total cacao production. Ecuador has the privilege of producing over 60% of the world’s total production of fine flavor cacao, which makes it the world´s largest producer of top quality beans. Now that I’m here, I realize what a serendipitous choice it was, and along with a select few, I’m working to help Ecuador’s cacao get the recognition it deserves. My chocolate experience in Ecuador began really as a chocolate experiment. I originally lived in Ecuador in the mid 1990s doing international development work, and knew nothing about chocolate. I met my wife during that time here. We left after getting married and spent ten years living in the US, Nicaragua, and South Africa. I changed careers in 2001 and went to culinary school and caught the chocolate bug. When we visited Ecuador every year, we would make chocolates and sell them via
word of mouth during our holiday visits and sales were so good we figured there could be a business somewhere in all this. But we were still totally ignorant about Ecuador’s cacao and chocolate industry.
In 2007 we returned to live in Ecuador with two kids in tow, and dedicated ourselves 100% to the chocolate business. While sales were not as good as I expected and we struggled to make ends meet on little income and some savings the first few years, I was fortuitously forced to look elsewhere for opportunity. I met cacao growers, processors, exporters, academics; basically everyone who’s anyone in the cacao and chocolate industry here.
It’s a small chocolate world, but vast in what there is to know and learn about. I’ve managed to carve out a niche for myself as not only the “gringo” in Ecuador who makes chocolate, but as a tour leader for chocolate tours, informal press liaison for travel writers and bloggers looking for information on Ecuador’s chocolate industry, cacao exporter, and supplier of chocolates to some of Quito and Guayaquil’s most exclusive shops, caterers, and hotels. I´m now working closely with several partners to develop a farm-to-confection product line for both the local and US markets. Our goal is to make some of the finest chocolate available and share the story and flavors of Ecuador´s fine cacao with the world.
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Jeff – thanks for the “on the ground” insight into Ecaudor living and Ecaudorian cacao.
I also learned that Ecuador was the greatest producer of fine flavored cacao. I wonder what the greatest contribution to this may be.
Is it the soil?
Is it the climate?
Is it, as you pointed out, the varieties?
Or is it the post harvest process, which we have only uncovered the proper way to for nacional?
I think proper fermenting and quality control through out the post harvest process has a greater impact on flavor then the variety of cacao. What do you think?
Thanks again, much appreciated.
I have heard, and agree, that the good quality beans that have been properly fermented and dried carry 70-80% of the weight for making good quality chocolate. The other 20-30% of factors that contribute to quality chocolate are bean selection (eliminating bad beans before processing), good winnowing, roasting, refining and conching.
You often hear chocolatiers, when discussing bean-to-bar production say “every step is important” and I agree. But most of them don’t have control or a say over the post-harvest part of the process. You can start with a great bean and make a mediocre chocolate. But you can’t start with a mediocre bean and make it into a great chocolate. You have to have great beans to start.
I think Ecuador’s Nacional bean is probably a key to great chocolate, coupled with proper post-harvest treatment and then excellent processing. Personally, you maybe be able to take well-treated bulk beans and make a decent chocolate but not a great one. But if you take top quality fine grade beans and treat them right, you will always come out with a superior product as the end result.
I suppose it all depends on how you define “good”. Some people like sweet, some people like bitter, some like it smooth and some like it rough. What’s really distinctive in the post process and how that affects the flavor profile (earthy, sharp, tobacco, or fruity). I like a good criollo bar as much as anybody but there are other chocolate flavors that are just as good if not better. Ecuador has a great niche in being “fino de aroma” and they must maintain and promote that.