Fine Criolla Cacao...
Fine Criolla Cacao was Venezuela's main export product from the 17th century, famed amongst connoisseurs worldwide as the best. By 1810, the country supplied half the world's Cacao demand, Nowadays this, the finest of flavor cacao beans, is grown exclusively in some areas of Latin America and the Caribbean, including Choroni and Chuao, The first plantations were established in colonial times by missionaries who created a system of production so efficient that it survives to this day.
Cultivations of the famed Theobroma (Quetzalcoatl) cacao were grown around a casona that oversaw the drying patio, and the cacao trees were planted under the shadow of larger species, effectively creating a dense forest landscape. Hacienda Monte Rosa prides itself in using traditional methods.
Following a year round manual harvest, the cocoa beans are fermented in wooden vats covered with banana leaves. Once fermentation is completed, the beans are slowly sun dried.
A week later; they are packed, ready for export. The superior quality fine cacao obtained endears the product to producers of fine chocolate the world over.
from the colonial town of Chuao and Choroni.
Cultivations of the famed Theobroma (Quetzalcoatl) cacao were grown around a casona that oversaw the drying patio, and the cacao trees were planted under the shadow of larger species, effectively creating a dense forest landscape. Hacienda Monte Rosa prides itself in using traditional methods.
Following a year round manual harvest, the cocoa beans are fermented in wooden vats covered with banana leaves. Once fermentation is completed, the beans are slowly sun dried.
A week later; they are packed, ready for export. The superior quality fine cacao obtained endears the product to producers of fine chocolate the world over.
from the colonial town of Chuao and Choroni.
The importance of importation of cacao beans became so important for the Spanish economy that they tried to protect their monopoly by prohibiting exportation of cacao to any country other than their own, but the Dutch Sailors and Caribbean trade smuggled the product by buying clandestinely from Higuerote and Choroni in Venezuela.
This business finally became so important that Holland ended up being the general deposit of cacao. At the end of the 17th century, Spain didn't receive a single grain of this golden trade from Venezuela, which exported about 5.0 million tons between 1706 and 1722 not one boat transported cacao to the Spanish Mainland the "owners" of America now needed the Dutch to get their chocolate, a commodity that had become indispensable to them and by then the rest of Europe.
This business finally became so important that Holland ended up being the general deposit of cacao. At the end of the 17th century, Spain didn't receive a single grain of this golden trade from Venezuela, which exported about 5.0 million tons between 1706 and 1722 not one boat transported cacao to the Spanish Mainland the "owners" of America now needed the Dutch to get their chocolate, a commodity that had become indispensable to them and by then the rest of Europe.
