This grower association consists of 1,500 small
scale, certified organic, indigenous Mayan growers. It is a
member of the International Federation of Alternative Trade
(IFAT) and certified organic by the institute of market ecology
(IMO) from Switzerland and Quality Assurance International (QAI)
from the USA.
The organization was founded by two environmental
and social visionaries in the 1980's. Jose Caballero an agronomist
and Jorge Aguilar a priest (at that time) worked together to
champion the organic and fair trade movement amongst the indigenous
mayan coffee growers in the Sierra Madres of Chiapas, Mexico.
Jose Caballero would carry his slide projector and car battery
on his back hiking for hours into the remote villages through
the rugged mountain jungle terrain. After Jorge Aguilar gave
his sermon in the local churches they would run workshops for
the villagers on sustainable organic farming practices. Now
Mexico, in particular Chiapas, is the largest producer of organic
coffee in the world most of which comes from small scale indigenous
growers.
The network of mayan growers they work with
today is one of the largest indigenous grower associations in
the world. Jose Caballero lives on a small cacahuatal (cocoa
farm) and his passion is rescuing the original famous heirloom
criollo variety of cacao from Soconusco.
This is the original variety that was domesticated
by the Mayans over 2,000 years ago and that formed the basis
of the Mayan and Aztec civilizations. In his "Historia
General y Natural de las Indias" (General History and Nature
of the Indies), Fernàndez de Oviedo (1535) wrote "Cocoa
was more than a simple food. It was a divine food. Quetzalcoalt,
the sacred king of the Toltechi, high priest and king of Tula,
was the gardener of paradise where the first men lived. From
there, he brought the cacahuaquehitl or cacaotero to his country."
Cacao was considered sacred
by the mayans and was the major offering in most of their ceremonies.
Even though the cacao bean was
central to Mesoamerican life, only the very wealthy and powerful
could afford to use it. The Mayan and Aztec priests and royalty
drank copious amounts of a drink made from the fermented and
crushed cacao seeds. This drink was called xocoatl or "bitter
water" in Nahua. Later in Europe xocoatl became "chocolate."
Xocoatl was used for ceremonies and religious observances. Priests
used it as a part of their prayer offerings. Kings drank it
for breakfast. Marriage vows were sealed by drinking xocoatl.
It was a major part of every feast. During the 15th century,
Nezahualcoyotl's court in Texcoco is recorded as consuming "four
xipuipillis" or 32,000 beans each day. In the market place,
the beans were accepted as standard currency. On market day,
three beans would purchase a turkey egg, 100 beans a slave or
a dugout canoe, 65-300 beans a cotton mantle. Cacao beans continued
to be used as standard currency until 1887 in Mexico.The cacao
of soconusco was considered the finest, best quality cacao by
the aztec royalty and the largest annual taxes of cacao were
collected from this region.
With the rapid
commercialization of forestero cacao throughout the world and
due to disease and destruction of native habitats the original
criollo variety of cacao from soconusco has become extremely
rare. Jose Caballero is currently working with a group of indigenous
growers to rescue this original heirloom variety.
This criollo cacao
is shade grown under multi-story canopies that include fruit
trees such as avocado and papaya that lend their distinctive
nuances to the fine multi-floral flavor of this exquisite cacao.
