Food of the Gods from the Island of the Gods
Big Tree Farms work directly with almost 2,000 farmers farmers on the islands of Bali and Sumatra to procure our fine cacao.
The history of the Bali and Lombok Cacao is linked to the history of the legendary Java Criollo, which is linked to the Philippines, which is directly linked to the cacao the Spanish brought there from the legendary Aztec cacao orchards of Soconusco, Mexico.
These genetics that made their way into Indonesia were dominantly planted on old Dutch plantations found on East Java. These same genetics that were so highly regarded were also planted on the next island over, Bali. As the chocolate industry become more industrialized in the mid 1900’s and production output replaced quality of flavor, the plantations started to replace the Java Criollo with hybrids that increased the volume of cacao per hectare.
Fortunately, the island of Bali was mostly ignored during the hybridization period. This is probably due to the fact that villages and small family farms populated these smaller islands, not plantations. In the mid 1900’s, Bali was nothing like it is today; it was still quite forgotten and remote. Today, many of Bali’s farms still remain as they were. The cacao is grown interspersed with other food crops such as, vanilla, exotic peppercorns, passion fruit, banana, jackfruit, palm trees and mangosteen. We refer to these as “food forests”.
What makes this RAW Cacao so special?
Totally Unique Flavor Profile, Unique Variety: Astringent, Chocolately, Grassy, Fruity hints of vanilla, nutmeg, banana, and clove... Made from Single origin Indonesian organic wild Balinese cacao, descended from the prized Criollo variety. A noticeably RAW tasting product that gives you amazing energy.
Incredible Nutritional Profile: 87,800 ORAC score per 100 grams, (22% fat content)
Beyond Fair Trade: Empowering 3,000+ sustainable organic cacao farmers in Bali with a ground breaking organic, beyond fair trade cooperative facility for value-added processing, increasing farmers incomes over 30%!
Beyond Sustainable: Wild-harvested in the truly sustainable, biodiverse food-forests of Bali. The purchase of this product preserves rainforest and protects the soil
