Cacao: Chocolate from the Amazon

We sell chocolate to help support our student scholarship program for indigenous youth.

The business of cacao
We also see chocolate production as a possible long-term solution to the lack of employment in indigenous communities of the Amazon.

Members of the Association of Cacao Growers of
San Francisco, Amazonas, Colombia

The director of Amazon Pueblo with a cacao seedling.

Why is it a solution?

1. Cacao, the tree from which chocolate is made, may have originally developed in this area of the Amazon (about 400 km upriver from Leticia).  It grows very well in our area.
2. There may soon be a world-wide chocolate shortage.  With the combination of climate change (drought) and mismanagement in chocolate producing countries, we may be seeing a chocolate shortage in the coming years.  
3. Our region of the Amazon IS NOT forecast to have a decrease in water due to climate change.
4. We have the water, the climate, a willing workforce, and the waterway of the Amazon River to economically transport our chocolate.

So, we have been encouraging the people in indigenous villages of the Colombian Amazon to grow cacao, the tree from which we produce chocolate.  It takes three years from planting cacao until it produces the beans from which we can make the chocolate.

The pods
The trees take about three years of growth before they produce cacao pods.  Each pod can contain up to 50 cacao beans.  During this time they need at least partial shade.  Large, old growth trees among the cacao trees are an excellent source of this shade.  Other crops like plantain may also grow along side the young trees.  Properly managed cacao plantations encourage healthy cacao and overall forest biodiversity.

The growers inspecting the trees.

Removing the seeds from the pods.

Empty pods.

Processing
After being grown in the villages the cacao beans are transported downriver to the city of Leticia, were they are processed into chocolate by Makambun Chocolates.

Cacao ready to toast

The grinder

For the future
We are thinking about the future.  We teach and help the students in indigenous villages how to plant, grow, and tend cacao.  In three years time the cacao seedlings in the pictures below will be producing pods.

Putting cacao seed into seedling bags

Seedlings ready to plant

Chocolate Now

I could say that in the future your chocolate bar may come from the Amazon.  But the future is NOW!

The chocolate that I am bringing back to Maine this June.  We have two
varieties, milk chocolate and macambo chocolate.

This is Amazonian, indigenous grown and produced, organic chocolate.  This summer it will be in Midcoast Maine, and if it sells well, hopefully beyond.

It is produced by Makambun Chocolates (Arcecio Rendon is the owner), in Leticia, Colombia.  The cacao used by Arcecio is grown in the indigenous community of San Francisco, about 70 km upriver from Leticia.

A graphic of our business model:

Click on the above image and it may enlarge

Please visit us

Amazon Pueblo has published a website  called Amazon Cacao to help promote and sell the chocolate.  It may be found at:  http://www.amazoncacao.org/ .

We also have a new Amazon Cacao Facebook business page:
https://www.facebook.com/amazoncacao/

Making farina: A popular Amazon topping that (WARNING) may break your teeth!

Farina is a staple food source of the Amazon made from yuca (cassava).  It may also be made and sold to produce an income.  However, this tasty nutty-flavored food topping, if eaten incorrectly, may break your teeth!

These bags sell in Leticia for $2 USD per kilo 

In this blog post we are showing off La Libertad's newest farina processing plant.  This allows the villagers to produce a higher quality (less likely to break teeth) farina in less time and under safer conditions for the makers.

And at the end of the post we will explain how to safely eat farina and avoid a trip to your favorite dentist.

Gasoline-powered yuca grater.  This makes a finer farina.

The yuca mash is then placed into large bags which are pressed to remove water.

One thing missing was a good oven to roast the farina.
In this picture we are collecting river clay to build an oven.

While the clay was messy, if was a very fun activity for a hot day.

We are building the frame for the oven.  A large steel pan is
placed over the frame to help with its formation.

Cutting grass which will be mixed into the clay.

The grass helps to improve the insulating qualities of the oven's walls.

At last the oven is finished!  Earlier ovens were made from mud, which did
not insulate well and would deteriorate quickly.

Toasting farina.  The good walls and one opening helps to shield
the toaster's legs and body from the heat of the oven.

It takes three to four hours to roast one big batch of farina.  This farina is almost
finished, but the kids can't wait to try it!

How to eat farina:

1. First, look at the coarseness of the farina.  If it has large particles that seem to be very hard, ONLY use it in soups or other hot, moist dishes.
2. Sprinkle about two tablespoons per serving.
3. If the farina is of good quality and finely ground, you may put it on anything (ice cream?).  It may even be eaten plain by the cupful, as enjoyed by the children of the village.
4. Chew farina only with the back teeth.
5. GOOD LUCK!

Why we are very happy with the farina plant of La Libertad

We, the Amazon Pueblo project, are very happy with the farina plant.  The plant is helping the villagers to make high quality farina which they can eat and/or sell for profit.

But another reason is more important.  They borrowed the money for part of the plant, which they are repaying.  They also built much of the plant by themselves.  And it is used almost weekly.  This is one of our most successful projects.

Christmas dinner in the jungle!

First, thank you to all the supporters of the project.  After a rough end of 2017, we are back on track for this year!

I especially would like to thank all of the people who donated to the Christmas dinner through Google's platform, One Today.  Next year we hope to feed more of the village's adults in addition to the children.

The weather was great during the morning, but it started raining in the afternoon.  Luckily everyone wanted to cook and eat early, so we had everything eaten and cleaned up by 1 pm, just in time for the showers.

Preparing the meal.  Everything was cooked over an open fire.

Cooking the chicken.  The broth was used for soup.

Soup for you!

Waiting in line for arroz con pollo (chicken mixed with rice and vegetables).

This year we cooked the most food of the past three years, and it went quickly!

The sun was strong in the late morning, but it rained during the afternoon.

The cooks and helpers resting after the Christmas feast.

Feliz Navidad!

Year End Emerald Sale for Amazonian Students

The year is coming to an end and we are having an emerald sale to support indigenous students of the Amazon!

Please take 10% off of the marked price.  I am returning to Colombia on Saturday, December 30, so all sales must be finalized by Friday the 29th, 2017.  All work is done in high-quality Colombian silver.  I bought most of these emeralds during my last trip to the emerald district in Bogota, Colombia.  Colombian emeralds are the finest in the world.

$130, very small emeralds, but they have a spectacular color and brilliance

$50, small, light-colored emeralds

$150 A small bracelet with 5 small emeralds of superior color and brilliance

$180 Necklace earring set with large, light colored opaque emeralds

$160, necklace earring set with 3 small matched superior colored and brilliant emeralds 

$130, six small light colored emeralds in a crossed setting,
Size 6

$130, 2 matched superior colored brilliant emeralds,
Size 6

$100, light colored brilliant emerald,
Size 7

$90, small, spectacular colored emerald,
size 8

$180, excellent colored and brilliant emerald,
Size 7

$900, medium-sized, good colored, custom designed set.  The pitured does not show the quality of this piece (I must learn to do close-up photography!)

$600, the ring that we had made with the earrings and pendant.
Size 8 

Are you interested in buying one (or more) of  our emeralds?  Send me a message!  benangulo@amazonpueblo.org

Happy Holidays and an Amazon Pueblo update

Happy Holidays from Amazon Pueblo!

Thank you to all of our friends and supporters during the past year.  It was difficult at times, but we are adapting our program and moving forward in 2018.  Fortune favors the bold.

A platano Christmas tree.

Project update
A new newsletter service
First off: We are using a new newsletter service.  It is called Benchmark Email.  They help us to send out information more easily and to better comply with anti-spam policies.  If you no longer wish to receive the newsletter/updates, you may now unsubscribe!

@amazonpueblo.org email address
We have restarted using our domain name for email.  Our new newsletters will also use this domain.  The first example is: benangulo@amazonpueblo.org.  Try it out and send me a message.

Sponsor a Student program
For 2018 we have sponsors for 14 Amazonian students, six more than last year.  Four of the new students are from La Libertad.  One is from Leticia, and one is from Tabatinga, Brazil.  Tabatinga shares a border with Leticia.  That makes our Sponsor a Student program multinational!  If we find another sponsor for this year, we would like to enroll a student from Peru.  Do you want to sponsor a student?  There is still time, CLICK HERE!

In a village classroom.

Traffickers update
Our contacts in the village have said the narcotics traffickers have not returned to La Libertad.  The village has heard nothing from them since the police raided their compound and burned the coca fields in October.

NOT the actual photo of the fields in back of the village.

Elections for a new village chief
The old village chief is being replaced (due to term limits) with a new chief.  The voting date is Sunday, December 24.  Hopefully a good leader will be chosen.

The town meeting hall is called a Maloka.

Late Christmas Dinner
I will return to the Amazon after the new year. When I am in the village we are planning a late Christmas dinner.  Thank you to all the people who donated on the Google One Today app!  Without their help the dinner would not be possible.

From Christmas, 2016.  I will upload pictures from Christmas 2017 in late January.

I hope to have the next update with the latest news towards the end of January.  Thank you for reading!

Amazon.com supports Amazon Pueblo!

Support us when you shop on Cyber Monday. Go to smile.amazon.com/ch/46-0893738 and Amazon donates to Amazon Pueblo.