Chuao | |
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Coordinates: 10°29′36″N67°31′38″W / 10.49333°N 67.52722°W | |
Country | ![]() |
State | Aragua |
Municipality | Santiago Mariño Municipality |
Elevation | 254 m (833 ft) |
Time zone | UTC−4 (VET) |
Climate | Aw |
Chuao is a small village located in the northern coastal range mountains of Venezuela, founded in 1660. [1] The village is famous for its cacao plantations, Diablos danzantes and San Juaneras. The village is surrounded by mountains and dense rainforests to the south and the Caribbean Sea to the north. The nearby Henri Pittier National Park is the oldest national park in Venezuela, created in 1937. The village is only accessible by travelling via boat from nearby Choroní, and is approximately 4 kilometers inland. [1]
Chuao's name derives from an indigenous word from a local language which is related to the term water. [2]
While cocoa production in the site of Chuao can be traced back to 1591, [2] [3] the town itself was founded in 1660. [1] From 1591 onwards, the area was home to a number of haciendas which grew cocoa. [2] During colonial times, a number of slaves were imported to the village from Africa to increase cocoa production on said haciendas. [1] [2]
On May 3 and 4, 2020, Chuao was one of the sites of Operation Gideon, where a small group contracted by an American mercenary company Silvercorp USA headed by Jordan Goudreau allegedly attempted to invade Venezuela via sea to capture Nicolás Maduro and remove him from power. [4] Upon landing in Chuao, the attackers, which included two Americans, were detained. [4]
The village of Chuao subsists largely on fishing and cocoa production. [1]
Chuao is home to a number of cocoa plantations, dating back to 1591, [2] [3] which grow Criollo and hybrid varieties of cacao.[ citation needed ] Chuao beans are regarded as being high in quality and, as a result, very expensive, fetching between 9 and 13 US Dollars per kilogram. [1] Beans from Chuao are considered some of Venezuela's finest, along with Porcelana Blanca beans from Lake Maracaibo [ citation needed ]. The Chuao region is hemmed in by mountains which reduces contact with people and insects from other areas.[ citation needed ] Some experts attribute the high quality of the cacao beans of Chuao due to the intense work of the village's laborers during the pre harvest, harvest and post harvest.[ citation needed ]Annual, Chuao's cocoa production hovers around 20 tons, but has varied from approximately 17 to 25 tons in recent years. [1] [3] In November 2000, the Chuao cacao beans were awarded an appellation of origin under the title Cacao de Chuao, allowing producers to negotiate higher prices and attract investment. [5]
The Farmer's Company of Chuao (Spanish : Empresa Campesina de Chuao) is the worker's cooperative which operates the cocoa plantations of Chuao. [1] [3] The cooperative has 127 members, most of whom are female. [1] [3] [2]
The cooperative has sold their beans to a number of foreign firms, such as Valrhona and Amedei, [1] before forming an exclusive partnership with Tisano, a Venezuelan partner, in 2014. As from 2020 Chuao Trading manages this partnership. [3] The partnership sells 99% of its cocoa to foreign buyers. [3] The sales outside of Venezuela works via exclusive and authorised cacao importers for the markets in US, Japan and Europe. Through this partnership, the association "Empresa Campesia de Chuao", alongside their partners Chuao trading, Tachibana, Casa Fransesci and Silva Cacao, have implemented a Certificate of Authenthicity for the chocolatiers to ensure that only the Chuao beans that were harvested in the Chuao village make it into chocolate bars that are marketed as Chuao origin. This traceability certificate assigns per sold volume and per harvest with a unique serial number to each chocolate maker. [6]
The cooperative has benefitted largely from an increased global appetite for high-quality chocolate in recent years, [1] which has helped its members earn a high standard of living. [1] [2] The worker's cooperative has been touted by the Venezuelan government as an "example of socialism". [2] The cooperative has invested heavily in the village, building schools and medical infrastructure. [1] However, The Guardian reported that those in Chuao who are not members of the association are discontent with power it has over village life. [1]
Central Venezuela is home to a unique tradition regarding the Corpus Christi celebration, in which young men and children partake in Los Diablos Danzantes, which depicts masked devils surrendering to a church official. [7] The dancers who partake in this festival become members of a lifelong pact, known as the promise-keepers, to transmit their history and traditions to others. [7] In 2012, this tradition was added to the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. [7]
The other column of the Chuao village are Las San Juaneras this is the group of ladies that take care of the beautiful church in the town square, lead most religious celebration specially the party of San Juan which is celebrated every year to thank San Juan for a good cacao harvest. [8]
Chocolate or cocoa is a food made from roasted and ground cacao seed kernels that is available as a liquid, solid, or paste, either on its own or as a flavoring agent in other foods. Cacao has been consumed in some form since at least the Olmec civilization, and the majority of Mesoamerican people, including the Maya and Aztecs, made chocolate beverages.
The cocoa bean or simply cocoa, also called cacao, is the dried and fully fermented seed of Theobroma cacao, from which cocoa solids and cocoa butter can be extracted. Cocoa beans native to the Amazon rainforest are the basis of chocolate, and Mesoamerican foods including tejate, an indigenous Mexican drink.
Theobroma cacao is a small evergreen tree in the family Malvaceae. Its seeds, cocoa beans, are used to make chocolate liquor, cocoa solids, cocoa butter and chocolate. Native to the tropics of the Americas, the largest producer of cocoa beans in 2018 was Ivory Coast, at 2.2 million tons.
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Cacao is the seed from which cocoa and chocolate are made, from Spanish cacao, an adaptation of Nahuatl cacaua, the root form of cacahuatl. It may also refer to:
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Fair trade cocoa is an agricultural product harvested from a cocoa tree using a certified process which is followed by cocoa farmers, buyers, and chocolate manufacturers, and is designed to create sustainable incomes for farmers and their families. Companies that use fair trade certified cocoa to create products can advertise that they are contributing to social, economic, and environmental sustainability in agriculture.
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The chocolate industry in the Philippines developed after introducing the cocoa tree into Philippine agriculture. The growing of cacao or cocoa boasts a long history stretching from the colonial times. Originating from Mesoamerican forests, cacao was first introduced by the Spanish colonizers four centuries ago. Since then the Philippine cocoa industry has been the primary producer of cocoa beans in Southeast Asia. There are many areas of production of cacao in the Philippines, owing to soil and climate. The chocolate industry is currently on a small to medium scale.
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Bean-to-bar is a trade model in which a bean-to-bar chocolate manufacturer controls the manufacturing of chocolate from the procurement of beans to the creation of the end product of consumer chocolate.
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