A French colony attempted cacao introduction to Vietnam in the 1870s but soon abandoned the crop without yielding successful harvests. Growing wild for over a century, Vietnamese cacao is now being revived by local farmers and making an entrance on the international chocolate stage.
Ben Tre is a coastal province in southern Vietnam. This low-lying, tropical region has hundreds of miles of canals that feed the fertile land. This cacao is grown at an altitude of less than 5m above sea level when most cacao in the world is grown at an altitude of between 30-300m.
Our supplier Meridian Cacao has teamed up with Saigon-based chocolate maker Marou to bring Vietnamese cacao to North America. Marou has partnered with small groups of farmers. Each group has a farm that has a fermentation centre and buys beans from surrounding faming families.
On the front of this bar you will find an image of our three chocolate grinders. We have two 70 lb machines and one 35 lb machine. You will find these machines running 24/7 in the store. The average grind time for a batch is 5-7 days.
The artwork on the package was completed by Kristofer Parley. Kristofer is a Victoria based artist who focuses on working with water colours and ink. We met him our first year in St. Andrews while he was staying in town for the KIRA Artist Residency. For more information on him please visit the Staying Creative Studio.
