Ecuador is the country where the Theobroma Cacao plant was domesticated. New scientific evidence shows that cacao was first cultivated as a foodstuff more than 5000 years ago in the Amazon rainforest. The typical Ecuadorian genetic variety is Nacional, which is regarded as a highly prized cacao due to its organoleptic properties. It is also called Arriba Nacional.The story goes that in the latter half of the 18th century and in the early 19th century producers and lovers of good chocolate arrived from Europe to buy cacao. Proceeding to the port of Guayaquil they asked the locals where they could find this noble, much-prized cacao. The answer they received was “arriba… río arriba”, which means “up the river”, the Guayas river, whose estuary forms the zone of Guayaquil Port – the most important river port of Ecuador.

Our Organic Coconut Blossom Sugar comes from the Cocos Nucifera L. trees of Indonesia. It is extracted from the sap of the blossoms of the coconut palm – the sugary fluid which circulates in the plant. An ancient system, still passed down today from father to son, is used to harvest it. Farmers make a cut on the spadix and the sap starts to flow from the cut. The spadix is composed of small yellowish flowers and has around 50 secondary branches, protected externally by a large concave spathe. Every year each plant produces from 6 to 12 inflorescences at different times. The sugary secretion extracted is collected in small containers. The operation is normally carried out in the morning and in the afternoon. The sap is then exposed to heat until most of the water has evaporated and the sap can be made into blocks. The result is a crystalline sugar of a golden hue. It has excellent sweetening power, a light caramel flavour and a low glycemic index of 35.