Origin

Wise Peru is sourced from the Alto Urubamba cooperative where a group of 90 families are doing an amazing work of rescuing one of the oldest cacao genetics in the world.

The unique distinction of Chuncho cacao is undoubtedly the result of a long process of domestication carried out by indigenous groups, today represented as the Machiguenga. 

In addition to the cultural imprint of civilisations from the Inca, the soil in which Chuncho cacao is grown also gives this product its exceptional quality.

Years ago, this rare genetic varietal was on the edge of extinction due to growing numbers of abandoned farms because of competition with other genetics that are more productive and more resistant to disease but less aromatic. 

Area: Urubamba sacred valley, Cuzco 
Altitude: between 700 and 1200 metres
Cacao variety: chuncho
Fermentation:  5 days in central fermentation wooden boxes
Drying: solar drying in elevated mesh drying with covered roof 
Harvest period: December to April 
Annual production: 40 tons 
Agricultural practices: agroforestry system with coffee, black maize, orange, achiote, noni, pacay and chirimoya. 

For generations, Chuncho cacao farmers have acquired an empirical understanding of the need to grow cacao with other complementary plants. In Peru, agroforestry is not a scientific agricultural method, but rather an ancestral tradition rooted in religion. For centuries, Peruvian civilisations have been developing diversified gardens, in the knowledge that association provides a mutual supply of nutrients.