Chuao

Chuao
Country	Venezuela
State	Aragua
Municipality	Santiago Mariño Municipality
Elevation	254 m (833 ft)
Time zone	VST

Chuao is a small village located in the northern coastal range of Venezuela, founded in the 16th century. The village is famous for its cacao plantations. The village is surrounded by mountains and dense rainforests to the south and the Caribbean Sea to the north. The nearby Henri Pittier National Park the oldest national park in Venezuela created in 1937. There is no road access and visitors must come by boat from the town of Puerto Colombia along the coast, or by foot, crossing the mountains and the cloud forest from Turmero near Maracay.

The Chuao plantations grow Criollo and hybrid varieties of cacao. Criollo beans from Chuao are of very high quality, and are considered Venezuela's finest beans together with Porcelana Blanca beans from Lake Maracaibo (another genetically pure variety of Criollo). Amedei, an Italian chocolate maker, and Chocolate NAIVE, a Lithuanian bean-to-bar chocolate maker, offer chocolate bars made with Chuao cacao. Naive was the winner of the European gold medal at the International Chocolate Awards in 2014.

In November 2000, the cacao beans coming from Chuao region were awarded an appellation of origin under the title Cacao de Chuao, allowing producers to negotiate higher prices and attract investment.

Gallery

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  Chuao Bay
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  Cacao beans
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  Chuao cocoa beans under the sun
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  Plaza de Secado. The Church yard where the cocoa beans are sun dried
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  Plaza de Secado. Boy helping his mother to collect the cocoa beans. Chuao. Venezuela
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  Plaza de Secado. The mother collecting the cocoa away from the sun. Chuao. Venezuela
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  Cocoa under fermentation process
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  Chuao church
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  Chuao Fishers boats
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  Chuao new town