The vast majority of fermentation is actually done on cacao farms. Poor farmers who are already working tremendously hard harvesting their cacao crop, are also expected to manage the complex fermentation process. In most cases they don’t have the money necessary to build a proper fermentation set up. As a result, primitive methods are used, such as throwing fresh cacao beans in a plastic bag and letting the cacao ferment under the sun. Nothing is more sure to produce a bad tasting chocolate.

Living with cacao farmers has taught us a very valuable lesson. Farmers should be left to do what they know how to do best and enjoy doing most. That is caring for the cacao plants. In the Marañón Canyon, where we operate, the farmers are agricultural geniuses. They can grow anything.

On a recent trip to the Canyon, we brought dates and sunflower seeds, luxuries not available in the jungle where the cacao grows. By the time we left, many farmers had little date trees and sunflowers growing on their land. On the same farm with cacao they grow bananas, apples, oranges, papaya, coconut, coffee, and many other edible crops. They are aggro-forestry specialists.

We work with one farmer, Noe, who is a cacao savant. He can walk through the countryside and using his “cacao sixth sense”, pick out cacao trees that are rare and special. He lead us to the discovery of the Fortuanto No. 4 “mother tree”, the purest expression of Nacional cacao anywhere on the planet.

The point is this: for the sake of quality, it makes much more sense to let the farmers worry about farming.

We’ve made it our own responsibility to master fermentation. All of the pure Nacional cacao that goes into our Fortunato No. 4 chocolate is processed in our centralized cacao processing facility. We have a 8 person staff that scrutinizes every single cacao bean to make sure that each bean is being done correctly.

Traditionally, artisan cacao is only fermented to 80% of its potential fermentation. While the fermentation process is what brings out the flavor in cacao, it also creates a lot of vinegar. A 100% fermentation allows you to develop all of the flavors of the cacao bean. It can also give cacao a vinegar or acid taste.

Because we leave farming to farmers, we’re able to devote all of our time to mastering cacao processing. The result has been the discovery of a proprietary step that, as far as we know, is not used by any other company. This step lets do a 100% ferment; extract and develop the full flavor potential of the pure Nacional bean; and then remove any vinegar flavor that would negatively affect the chocolate.

The result of our partnership with the farmers and attention to detail is a chocolate unlike you’ve ever tasted before. I encourage you to contact one of our select chocolatiers today. Fortunato No. 4 is the rarest, most cared for chocolate in the world.

Cacao must be constantly moved around on the dryer beds. Otherwise, only one side of the bean will be exposed to the sun. If you’re not careful, you’ll end up with a bean that is too dry on one side and not dry enough on the other.

That’s why we’ve hired two single mother from the local community to work with us. Yasmin is only 18. She has twin baby boys. Yessica is a little older and has three children. She’s got a wise look to her and is a very good cook. Her family has a small restaurant down the street from our facility.

All day long, they work with the beans on the dryer beads. They sift through the cacao looking for any beans that aren’t perfectly shaped or may have been damaged earlier in the process. The beans are moved around gently as the girls do their selection work.

It takes three to six days for beans to dry in the Maranon Canyon. The biggest single factor affecting drying time is the weather. When it rains, the drying process takes much longer. Since the beans dry outside, under the sun, the process is extremely dependent on climate. I just spoke with my brother Brian a couple of days ago and he informed me that the Canyon is currently experiencing torrential rain fall. Good for us that it is early in the harvest season and we don’t have a lot of beans out on the beds just yet.

We taste the beans throughout the drying phase of the process. As you become more expert at tasting the subtleties of cacao, you can taste when a bean is perfectly dry. It will have a perfect, nutty, cacao flavor. There is no vinegar left in the bean and it has not completely lost its juiciness. Of course, we don’t rely on taste alone. We test the moisture in the beans multiple times every day with an electronic moisture tester.

Literally the moment that the beans are dry enough, they come off the dryer beds. We pack the cacao in industrial grade jute bags and take them down to our warehouse. The warehouse provides a cool environment, isolated from any elements that could affect the flavor.

The bags hold 110 pounds of cacao beans. Along with our workers, we put these heavy bags up on our shoulders and lug them down to the warehouse. No wonder I lost 18 pounds down there! It is hard work. We could easily just leave the beans up at the facility, but the conditions are not ideal.

That is what we’re all about. Our Fortunato No. 4 chocolate is made with cacao beans that have been obsessed over. We cut no corners. From the point of origin until the time you enjoy the luxurious chocolate, every detail has been scrutinized over. The farmers are well trained and receive a far above market price for their cacao. We have a large and knowledgeable staff who are passionate about cacao. Of course, we have Yasmin and Yessica making sure that only perfect beans go into the chocolate.

Beans that are dried to perfection make phenomenal chocolate. Fortunato No. 4 is just such a chocolate. We invite you to taste for yourself the rarest, most cared for chocolate in the world.

My wife and I lived about two blocks from the facility. Every morning, I got up at 6:30am and went to a local market to buy fresh fruit for breakfast. Our favorites were the local bananas but they were out of season and hard to come by. Next best was mango brought in from the coast. We always ate a big breakfast of fruit and oatmeal. It was important to be well fed because cacao processing is very physical work.

The work day starts at 8:00am. I always showed up ten minutes early to unlock everything and wait for the guys. All of our workers live right there in town and always showed up on time, except for one. Juan always showed up late. It was tough to notice though because he had a slick way of sneaking in. As soon as he got there he would start barking orders. He was a natural leader and the others always did what he said. The first time every day that I noticed him, he seemed to be taking charge and getting stuff done. Thataboy Juan! I figured him out eventually and we fixed the problem.

At the facility, the first order of business is always water. Processing cacao is a messy business that requires a lot of cleaning, especially the way we do it. We spend so much time testing the beans, touching them, and making sure that they’re perfect that cacao pulp gets everywhere. It takes water and hard thistle brushes to clean that stuff. Water in the little town is only accessible between 6:00am and 11:00am and again after 5:00pm. That was always confusing to me because it rains pretty hard almost everyday during the harvest season. It sure seems like there is plenty of water to go around. There is another obstacle to getting the water into our possession. We fill a big tank with water whenever can. The facility is configured in such a way that the tank is located above the water source. As water can’t flow upwards without enough pressure, we have to pump water into the tank using an electric pump. Our problem is that storms knock out the electricity from time to time. If there is no electricity, we can’t pump water into the tank. In that case, we have to fill up lots and lots of buckets with water and use bucket water to clean. Using bucket water makes every job much harder and is a serious pain.

Once the water situation is figured out, we have to clean the fermentation room. The mucilage that covers freshly picked cacao beans drips onto the floor through the fermentation boxes. If we just leave it there it will go bad and start to stink up the room. Also, the white juice is very acidic and eats right through our floors. Generally, lots of bees hang out in the fermentation room. They are attracted to the high sugar content of the mucilage. Unfortunately for many bees, their trip into our facility will prove to be a doomsday mission. The juice puddles up and they drown in it. So, we have to clean up a lot of dead bees as well. As a rule, somebody gets stung in the fermentation room almost everyday. I got stung 3 times myself.

Unfortunately, the vast majority of the world’s cocoa farmers live in extreme poverty. They are beholden to giant chocolate companies who pay them very low prices for their cocoa. As a result, they don’t have the resources or the motivation to take great care of their cocoa crops. The chocolate made from such beans isn’t very good. The true flavors have to covered up with huge amounts of sugar and vanilla and artificial flavorings.

However, there are some artisan chocolate companies work closely with cocoa farmers and pay more for cocoa beans. They work with the farmers to ensure that the cocoa beans are grown and processed correctly. Farmers begin to see cocoa as a way to improve their lives and the lives of their family.

But just paying higher prices and lending a helping hand once in a while isn’t enough if you want to make truly spectacular chocolate. This requires truly spectacular cocoa beans. In order to take the flavor of the chocolate to the next level, a deeper commitment is needed. Somebody from the company needs to go down and live with the farmers. Trust and camaraderie must be established with the community. This can take years to achieve but it is the only way to convince farmers to change their whole outlook on working with cocoa.

Of course, it is also necessary to pay farmers higher prices. Most farmers have very large families. They also have fertile land on which they can grow a variety of crops. If they can’t support their families with one crop, they’ll switch to another.

We’ve done everything possible to make Fortunato No. 4 from Peru a truly extraordinary chocolate. Our company has made enormous commitments of time, energy, and money to the farmers and their families. In return, they’re making a tremendous effort to treat their Pure Nacional cacao like the precious jewel that it is.

When you taste Fortunato No. 4 Peru chocolate, you’ll know immediately that it is something very special. The care, the craft, and the dedication shine through. The sacrifice and attention to detail is unmatched in any other chocolate.

This can only be achieved by forming a bond with the local community. Our family company has spent over a decade working in Peru. We have Peruvian wives and Peruvian grandchildren. During the cocoa harvest season, you’ll find us in the field working with farmers. If we’re not in the field we’ll be in our processing facility where we personally ferment and dry every single bean. The facility is located in a small farm town right near our partners, the farmers. Our ten Peruvian employees have the highest paying jobs in town. All are sons and daughter of cocoa farmers.

On behalf of the entire team, we invite you taste Fortunato No. 4 Peru for yourself. A whole community has put its heart and soul into it. The result is amazing. To learn more about Fortunato No. 4 Peru chocolate and working with farmers, please visit our website www.maranonchocolate.com.

The star treatment starts on the farm. We’ve identified 218 farmers in the Maranon Canyon that have Pure Nacional cacao growing on their land. Our farmers go to extreme measures to make sure their cacao trees are taken care of. This means pruning regularly, using only all natural organic fertilizer, and never growing other types of cacao on their farms.

Only the most perfectly ripe and perfectly shaped cacao pods are picked for Fortunato No. 4 Peru. We literally hand pick every cacao pod. If the cacao isn’t absolutely flawless, we sell it to other chocolate makers and they use it in their chocolate. Only perfection is acceptable.

In our jungle processing facility, we and our employees work around the clock. Every little detail is scrutinized and measured. For two years we processed cacao and made chocolate without selling a single bar of chocolate to anybody. By obsessive testing and experimentation,we’ve developed processes that are not used anywhere else. Our clients appreciate extraordinary products. They want the best.