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About Agua Escondida, Mexico
Cacao was domesticated in Mexico over four thousand years ago. Ancient civilizations such as the Mokaya, Olmecs, Mayans, and Aztecs elevated cacao to the center of their cultures and daily life. Today, the vast majority of Mexican cocoa is produced and consumed within Mexico. It’s generally processed differently from in other places: Beans are not always fermented, but rather washed and dried. “Cacao lavado” has been the product of a traditional processing method in Mexico for thousands of years. Farmers crack open pods at the time of harvest, and extract and wash the wet beans to remove the cacao pulp; the beans are then dried in the sun. Because the cocoa isn't fermented like most other cocoa, it is generally considered unsuitable for making into the sort of chocolate bar you’re used to eating, due to high bitterness and astringency. This unfermented cocoa does make excellent drinking chocolate, and there are hundreds of recipes, both regional and familial; you’ll find chocolate drinks made with milk or water, served hot or cold, and enriched with varied ingredients such as masa, canela, vanilla bean (indigenous to Veracruz), cardamom, allspice, star anise, peanuts, almonds, and pecans.
In 2022 we became more determined than ever before to and a source of Mexican cocoa. Because most cacao grown in Mexico is consumed there, and Mexico imports even more cocoa from its neighboring countries, there’s not a lot available for export. Additionally, because most Mexican cacao isn’t fermented, finding a great source of well fermented cocoa is more difficult than usual. Eventually Ron reached out to our friends Enrique Pérez and Jorge Llanderal, two of the co-founders of Cuna de Piedra, a wonderful and innovative chocolate maker in Monterrey, Mexico. They were kind enough to put him in touch with Alejandro Zamorano, the owner of Revival Cacao, whose mission is to modernize Mexican cocoa for sale on the world market, and who supplies cocoa to Cuna de Piedra.
We immediately hit it off with Alejandro — he’s driven to put Mexican cocoa on the world map, and works with smallholder farmers and fermenters in both Chiapas and Tabasco (where over 90 percent of Mexican cacao is grown). After trying several samples, we decided on cacao grown near Comalcalco, Tabasco, on a farm called Agua Escondida. The majority of this cacao is grown by Malaquías Pérez Reyes, and fermented by RevivalCacao’s agronomic engineer, Carlos Vázquez Zambrano. Agua Escondida and Revival’s operation includes several hundred cacao trees, multiple wooden fermentation boxes, a small team, and a lot of motivation to produce delicious cocoa. Recently the farm production has expanded to include other neighboring farmers, many of them relatives of Malaquías.
We’re very pleased to work with such dedicated partners in Mexico, and can’t wait for you to try chocolate made with these amazing beans!