Madeline's Travels: Tabasco: Ruta de Cacao

The expression that: “No es el cacao sino el chocolate tiene su origen en Méco” (Not cacao, but rather chocolate originated from Mexico) is a good way of summarizing my motive for embarking upon a week and a half long cacao adventure in Tabasco this month. There are different theories about the origin of the cacao plant, but many say that it originated in Central or South America. Though the cacao plant does not derive from Mexico, it was in Mexico that indigenous communities, largely the Mayas, first cultivated the plant and consumed cacao as a drink. Since prehispanic times, cacao has shaped part of Mexico’s history, culture and gastronomy. Today Mexico’s cacao production is small relative to that of the Ivory Coast of Africa, South America and South East Asia; nevertheless, there are still thousands of tons of cacao grown and processed each year in Mexico. Of the two most cacao-intensive producing regions are Tabasco and Chiapas. Tabasco accounts for approximately 80% of Mexico’s total production. With cacao as such an important economic source in Tabasco, it was not difficult to fill each day with chocolate research.

The initial proposal of my trip was to visit the three cacao plantations that form the so-called “Ruta de Cacao” (Cacao Tour) in Tabasco. My trip easily expanded into visits to twelve plantations, cacao warehouses, chocolate factories and shops. They ranged from official tours that charge 35-500 pesos to impromptu factory visits. The three official cacao plantations that constitute the Ruta de Cacao are Hacienda la Luz, Finca Cholula and Hacienda Jesús María. Even within those were market differences. Hacienda la Luz was founded 60-years by a German immigrant of the last name Wolter. His granddaughter, Ana, who currently runs the hacienda, showed me around the plantation and the Wolter chocolate museum that has antique chocolate machinery. In contrast, my tour at Finca Cholula longer and more environmental oriented. When I arrived for the 9 am tour, I probably woke up the son because he still had sleep in his eyes when he answered my knocking at the door. We chatted about the history of Finca Cholua and their environmental education programs. At noon a group of students from the University of Tabasco arrived for their tour of the plantation and chocolate-making demonstration. I was invited to join them, which turned out to be beneficial to me but a distraction to them because of the fascination of having a foreign visitor. Together we learned how to make an ancient drink of the Mayans that contains cacao, chile peppers, honey and other spices. We also sampled pozol, the traditional indigenous drink made from ground toasted corn and cacao (more about ancient drinks to come). By the end of the tour one of the students exclaimed that he had never consumed so much chocolate in his life before. If only he were in my position, spending entire days dedicated to chocolate! The third plantation of the Ruta de Cacao is Hacienda Jesús María. It is the largest and most recognized of the three plantations, which apparently gives them more liberty in charging a hefty tour price. But the price was well worth it. My six-hour personalized tour with the official “chocolate investigator” of Jesús María was filled with information about the history of cacao in the Maya-Chontal civilization, how the consumption of chocolate has evolved in Mexico, and predictions for the future of the chocolate market. We finished off with a tour of the chocolate factory, which reminded me of a larger scale production of Scharffen Berger chocolate in Berkeley, California (either that or a mini Willie Wonka factory!).

Many themes surrounded the production of cacao, among which is environmental sustainability. The cacao tree thrives in biodiverse environments. Taller trees called “árboles madres” provide shade for the cacao plant while a natural compost of vegetation, decomposing leaves and insects provide humidity and nutrients. Both to maintain the biodiversity for the cacao trees and for farmers to sustain themselves economically between harvests, it’s common practice for cacao producers to also cultivate crops such as banana, avocado, cinnamon, vanilla and oranges. The ancient cacao variety is cacao criollo, which today is prized for it’s more delicate flavor. However, thirty or fifty years ago a second variety called cacao forastero was introduced to Mexico as a more disease-resistant crop. Cacao forestero today dominates the cacao plantations. Only one plantation, Hacienda la Joya, remains completely dedicated to the cacao criollo. Ironically enough, none of what Hacienda la Joya produces stays in Mexico; rather, the chocolate is exported to Europe where fine chocolate is something like a quality wine. After a bit of hunting down, I managed to find Hacienda la Joya and get in touch with the current owner, Doña Clarita. Doña Clarita is in her seventies, but continues to spend her days fermenting, drying and hand-grinding the cacao seeds that the plantation produces. She proudly showed me a guest book of the dozens of important European chocolate artisans who have visited her plantation. The book is reserved for people “of importance.” Perhaps one day I’ll write my name in her guest book, but I didn’t make it into the book on this visit.

One of my favorite plantation visits, albeit less educational than the others, was to la Pasadita. La Pasadita is a quintessential family-run business that exudes Mexican hospitality. When I arrived they were still eating breakfast, so they prepared me a glass of pozol, the traditional cacao beverage of Tabasco. Then they showed me the process to grind cacao beans, cinnamon, vanilla and sugar into paste, followed by a walk through the cacao plantations. Everything was done on an informal basis, and I spent just as much time chatting about their daily life as the actual cacao production. One of the workers’ four-year old son was hanging around the plantation, so he and I played soccer for a bit while the grandmother cooked me a hearty breakfast (my lunch by that point) of scrambled eggs with ham and beans. She and I chatted about the history of the plantation, but our conversation ended when she went off to take her mid-afternoon siesta.

As I’ve mentioned, pozol is the traditional cacao beverage of Tabasco. It was affectionately known as the poor man’s drink because during ancient times, when cacao was such an item of luxury, people of the lower classes mixed ground cacao with cornmeal so that they were have the taste of chocolate along with the corn to fill their stomachs. Peasants would leave for the fields carrying containers of pozol to help them bear the hot climate of Tabasco, then return home in the late afternoon for another drink of pozol. Today, farmers continue the tradition of taking their pozol in the fields, but pozol has also become a drink of the masses. Street venders sell pozol and horchata in the zócalos and mercados, and pozolerías are small shops where people can buy corn meal and cacao to make pozol at home. I probably had pozol ten times while in Tabasco, my favorite was a fermented pozol that has a slightly sour taste mixed with horchata. Now I understand how this ancient drink can sustain someone through the heat of an afternoon in Tabasco. It is nutritious, energizing and refreshing all at once. Another typical drink of Tabasco is polvillo, which is identical to pozol in ingredients but differs in that the corn is more finely ground and it uses cocoa (the ground cacao nibs without cacao butter) rather than entire cacao beans. In the historic center of Comalcalco I visited la Fábrica Cordova, a factory that produces polvillo mix and cocoa powder. It was an entirely spontaneous visit, but the owner was nice enough to chat with me about the traditional cacao-derived beverages in Tabasco. Not surprisingly, she and I both sipped on pozol throughout the conversation.

It has not been difficult to run into people willing to chat with me about the cultural significance of drinks derived from cacao. The irony, however, is that chocolate as a sweet is hardly consumed in Tabasco. Tabasco’s hot and humid climate is ideal for cacao cultivation, but less than ideal for elaborating and storing chocolate. According to nearly everyone I asked, cacao forms part of Tabasco’s identity more for it’s production than consumption. Cultivating cacao is the livelihood of thousands of families in Tabasco. The past three or four year of cacao production in Tabasco have suffered from a disease called molaníasis, which wiped out up to 80% of the cacao production on some plantations. The sustainability of cacao is clearly a matter of urgency of Tabasco, yet the recuperation process is slow due to insufficient government funding and lagging motivation amongst the farmers. Many farmers have switched to more resistant crops such as sugar cane rather than risk yet another lost crop of cacao due to climate changes and diseases. The three cacao warehouses that I visited each expressed their concern regarding the drop in cacao production in the past few years. They showed me rooms with wooden boxes that are usually filled with fermenting cacao seeds only filled with a fraction of their total capacity. When asked if they felt that the cacao production in Mexico is endangered, the reply was a saddening yes.

When I met with Esteban Elias Avalos, president of the Asociación Local Agrícola de Productores de Cacao, I asked him about what should be done to help Mexico’s cacao production. Certain things such as climate changes are unavoidable, but something that Mexico’s youth is capable of doing is to amplify their understanding of the history of cacao, integral in the Mexican heritage. Even when I wasn’t doing activities directly related to cacao, the topic managed to follow me. At the two archeological sites that I visited—that of Comalcalco and Palenque in Chiapas—there was mention of cacao used as an offering to the gods by the ancient Mayan civilizations. When I went to the annual Tabasco Expo show, I was impressed by the displays of artisanal jícaras, carved gourd bowls used to drink pozol and hot chocolate. At the zoo and Olmec artifact sites called la Venta, there were dozens of cacao trees growing amongst other tropical plants. I even lodged at a cacao plantation for three nights to see what it is like! Cacao forms part of Mexico’s, but in particular Tabasco’s, historical, cultural and social identity. The challenge ahead is to maintain it as such.