[eltdf_dropcaps type=”circle” color=”” background_color=”#FE4365″]P[/eltdf_dropcaps]ure Nacional, with its complex fruit and floral flavour, once dominated the fine chocolate market worldwide. It was thought to be extinct after a disease that destroyed 95% of the trees in Ecuador. This rare cacao was rediscovered recently by Dan Pearson and Brian Horsley in the remote canyon of Marañón River in Peru.
The high canyon walls created a unique microclimate for the trees where they thrive at some of the highest altitudes ever reported for cacao, between 3,500 and 4,100 feet. The cacao pods are filled with a mix of 40% white and 60% purple beans – a rare phenomenon in the cacao world.