Our Farms
Finding cacao farms that share our values is a key part of our chocolate making process. All of our cacao is certified organic and ethically sourced, which means we pay a premium price to ensure the farms can uphold ethical and sustainable practices. We believe chocolate tastes better when you know every detail of its creation.
Fazenda Camboa / Brazil
Fazenda Camboa is the first farm we have the pleasure of featuring. Above all, they prioritise sustainable farming practices and offer generous support to the local community. The farm is certified organic, and sits within the northern stretch of the Mata Atlântica rainforest, on the east coast of Brazil. The farm runs adjacent to the Almada river, where cacao trees are woven through thick rainforest.
The Mata Atlântica rainforest
Owned by the Carvalho brothers, Arthur and Eduardo, the farm is producing high quality Trinitario hybrid and Forastero varietal beans. What makes this place so special is that all the cacao is grown and processed within the single farm location, a true single-estate.
The farm employs 65+ workers, many of whom live in the neighbouring village. In addition to providing a salary and equity incentives to workers, the farm also supports their community with invaluable contributions to the local school and bus network.
Fazenda Camboa Farm - @silvacacao
HARVESTING & PROCESSING
Harvesting starts by removing the cacao pods from the small, understory trees. They are cut open, their contents removed and placed into wooden sweatboxes covered with banana leaves. Depending on the variety, the beans will ferment for 3-7 days whilst earnest farmers rotate the beans to ensure an even fermentation.
Cacao pods at Fazenda Camboa - @silvacacao
With the beans now fermented, they must then be dried in order to reduce their moisture content levels from around 60% to 7.5%. Farmers spread the beans onto large drying beds where they lay under direct sunlight for up to 7 days. Once dry the cacao beans are hand-graded, meaning only the best quality beans are packed into 60 kilogram bags. It’s from here that the beans begin their long journey to our little chocolate factory in Wellington, New Zealand.
60kg bag of Fazenda Camboa beans
Kilombero Valley / Tanzania
This outstanding organic cacao is farmed by a collection of smallholder farmers in the Kilombero Valley, bordering the Udzungwa Mountain National Park in Tanzania.
Sun setting over the Udzungwa Mountain National Park, Tanzania - @silvacacao
The farms here are producing some amazing cacao with a full profile, expressing notes of red stone fruit (think cherries and plums) with a smooth layered finish.
Kilombero Valley Cacao - @silvacacao
With a 100% traceable supply chain, 700 smallholder farmers benefit directly from the higher prices we pay for this premium, certified-organic cacao.
Kilombero Valley Cacao - @silvacacao
Fermentation and drying is completed by Kokoa Kamili, whos practices produce a more consistent quality. This method gives farmers a reduced workload, along with greater compensation, with farmers being paid immediately after Kokoa Kamili receives the wet cacao beans.
Workers at Kokoa Kamili stacking bags of cacao @silvacacao
This cacao grows in small-scale agroforestry, intercropped with banana trees, corn and other crops, forming a buffer zone to the adjoining Udzungwa Mountains National Park. The parks is well known for its abundance of bird and mammal wildlife. It is most famous for the eleven different primate species, bird life, and is one of three remaining sites that support Savannah Elephants in a mountainous environment. Current estimates say that 2,000 elephants reside in and around the Udzungwa area.
Wildlife inside the Udzungwa Mountain National Park, Tanzania - @silvacacao
We are proud to add Kilombero Valley organic cacao to our selection here at Shirl & Moss. We feel a personal responsibility to connect our customers to the land and the people who farm it. This connection to place and people is weaved into everything we do.
Workers at Kokoa Kamili taking a break @silvacacao