The good news: last weekend, our production crew turned the last of our 2019 albino cacao beans into your favourite Jaguar Pure and Jaguar Swirl chocolate bars!
The not-good: due to ongoing COVID19 quarantine protocols in Mexico, this year’s shipment of albino cacao beans has been delayed by over 40 days. As the timeline of COVID19 mitigation protocols remains uncertain, we unfortunately cannot guarantee when these cacao beans will finally make their way to Canada. Our hope is that the shipment will arrive in late June. This means when we sell out of the current bars, we won't have more for a while.
The better: when it does arrive, we will be welcoming our biggest shipment ever of albino cacao beans! Over 1,600 kg will be heading for our Toronto home- an increase of over 140% from last year. This means we will have a steady supply of Jaguar chocolates and Jaguar specialties coming your way all year long!
The best! This year is our 13th anniversary of working alongside the San Felipe community on the albino cacao regeneration project, and we’ve come a long way from the 3kg of beans we purchased back in 2007! Since those early days, we have supported the building of a food-grade processing facility for processing albino cacao in the community; co-founded a community co-operative that has been operating since 2008 to sell albino cacao in Oaxaca City; and helped plant hundreds of albino cacao trees. This work not only means we can purchase more albino cacao today than ever before, it is also playing an integral part in the renewal of the area’s natural ecosystem. The Chinantla region of southern Mexico is recognised worldwide as a biodiversity hotspot, but many years of coffee monoculture left the ecosystem and communities vulnerable. Albino cacao and other plants increase the ecosystem diversity and resilience, providing more stable sources of income and sustenance for the Chinantla communities. In 2018, community elder Don Max said that he hoped more people will know about the rich flavour and benefits of albino cacao so that his community could grow and sell more of the unique beans. Today, we’re thrilled to have helped and to see more craft chocolate makers in Mexico, Canada, and around the world experimenting with red and albino cacao integrations and combinations in their chocolates.
3 comments
I am still hoarding my Pure Jaguar and Jaguar Swirl for lean times. It’s more valuable than gold in my house. Such a treat.
Definitely my favorite chocolate medicine ever! So excited about the news of it being available all year round ☺
I love the Albino chocolate so much! The Unique flavour is unsurpassed! My favourite was the Albino chocolate with the pumpkin seeds and cranberries. Will you be making any more of that in the near future? I would like to order some.
Thanks,
Ann