La Campesina del Cacao

– COCOA TRADITION –

Who are we?

We are an organization formed by cocoa producers interested in recovering the environmental, cultural and gastronomic value of cocoa. We are located in the region of Comalcalco, Tabasco, dedicated to the artisanal elaboration of a variety of products based on 100% Mexican cocoa, cultivated under practices that promote the conservation of biodiversity and natural resources.

Our production process starts from the reception of cocoa in sludge, to its transformation into various products that we market under the brand name “La Campesina” and “Embajadoras del Cacao”, striving at all times to maintain proper quality control (taking care of our processes from manufacturing to marketing).

Also in recent years we have ventured into the agro-tourism sector, developing various workshops on the elaboration of chocolate within our cocoa farm. We currently have:

-Unit of artisanal production of chocolates

-Registered trademark “La Campesina”

-Registered trademark “Ambassadors of Cocoa”

-Distinctive of gerontological tourism

-Clean Point Badge

-Cooks certified by the Conservatorio de la Cultura Gastronómica Mexicana

Mission: To develop authentic products derived from cocoa, offering our customers maximum quality control, from manufacturing to marketing in harmony with nature, as well as focusing on consumer satisfaction, seeking to generate value for our shareholders and the well-being of our employees and the community.

Vision: To be a leading company in the national and international market meeting the standards of quality processes.

We are an organization formed by cocoa producers interested in recovering the environmental, cultural and gastronomic value of cocoa. We are located in the region of Comalcalco, Tabasco, dedicated to the artisanal elaboration of a variety of products based on 100% Mexican cocoa, cultivated under practices that promote the conservation of biodiversity and natural resources.

Our production process starts from the reception of cocoa in sludge, to its transformation into various products that we market under the brand name “La Campesina” and “Embajadoras del Cacao”, striving at all times to maintain proper quality control (taking care of our processes from manufacturing to marketing).

Also in recent years we have ventured into the agro-tourism sector, developing various workshops on the elaboration of chocolate within our cocoa farm. We currently have:

-Unit of artisanal production of chocolates

-Registered trademark “La Campesina”

-Registered trademark “Ambassadors of Cocoa”

-Distinctive of gerontological tourism

-Clean Point Badge

-Cooks certified by the Conservatorio de la Cultura Gastronómica Mexicana

Mission: To develop authentic products derived from cocoa, offering our customers maximum quality control, from manufacturing to marketing in harmony with nature, as well as focusing on consumer satisfaction, seeking to generate value for our shareholders and the well-being of our employees and the community.

Vision: To be a leading company in the national and international market meeting the standards of quality processes.

Our history

We are an organization formed since 2013, over the years our cooperative has had the following achievements:

2013
Our beginnings

We legally constituted the cooperative and participated with workshops of traditional drinks and ancestral chocolate in the different festivals of the Mexican Republic.

2015
First steps

We built the artisan chocolate factory and opened the doors to agrotourism.

2017
Development of producers

-We began to develop more cocoa farmers in the surrounding communities with the aim of strengthening the supply of healthy cocoa.

-We participate in the festival “Mexico con las manos” (“Mexico with the Hands”), organized by chefs of Mexican gastronomy.

-We received a certification in Gerontological Tourism.

-We welcome 350 seniors (pensioners of the IMSS) in our facilities.

2018
International scope

We made the first chocolate shipment to Berlin, Italy, UK and Canada.

2022
Sharing knowledge

We participated in meetings with cocoa producers from Oaxaca and Chipas, topic; exchange of knowledge on good practices of fermentation.

2023
Traditional Cook

We participated in the meeting with cocoa producers from Oaxaca and Chipas, topic; exchange of knowledge on good practices of fermentation.

2013
Our beginnings

We legally constituted the cooperative and participated with workshops of traditional drinks and ancestral chocolate in the different festivals of the Mexican Republic.

2015
First steps

We built the artisan chocolate factory and opened the doors to agrotourism.

2017
Development of producers

-We began to develop more cocoa farmers in the surrounding communities with the aim of strengthening the supply of healthy cocoa.

-We participate in the festival “Mexico con las manos” (“Mexico with the Hands”), organized by chefs of Mexican gastronomy.

-We received a certification in Gerontological Tourism.

-We welcome 350 seniors (pensioners of the IMSS) in our facilities.

2018
International scope

We made the first chocolate shipment to Berlin, Italy, UK and Canada.

2022
Sharing knowledge

We participated in meetings with cocoa producers from Oaxaca and Chipas, topic; exchange of knowledge on good practices of fermentation.

2023
Traditional Cook

We participated in the meeting with cocoa producers from Oaxaca and Chipas, topic; exchange of knowledge on good practices of fermentation.

Partnerships

– In 2016: We made an agreement with the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) to receive annually the students of the Agricultural Engineering degree to carry out field internships.

– In 2017: We made an agreement with the Universidad de Chapingo to receive the students of the Agricultural Engineering degree for the development of their field practices.

– In 2019: We signed an agreement with the Rainforest Alliance to work on the “Mercados por un Futuro Sostenible” initiative.

– In 2022: We signed an agreement with the  Tecnológico Superior de Comalcalco so that students can carry out their residency at our facilities.

– In 2023: We signed an agreement with the Universidad Juárez Autónoma de Tabasco, so that students can carry out their social service and professional internships at our facilities.

Our products

Our main line of business is the offer of chocolates of different flavors in bar and tablet presentation, for direct consumption or preparation of drinks. We have a line of powdered products based on cocoa, which allow the preparation of traditional drinks from the region.

We promote the gastronomic and environmental value of cocoa through workshops on the production of artisanal chocolates such as: roasting process in clay griddle, shelling, milling in metate and milling, foaming of chocolate with traditional grinder and tasting of pozol with different sweets (cocoa heart, coconut, wild papayita, royal lemon, among others). We also carry out tourist demonstrations at the Hacienda de La Campesina located in Tecolutilla, Comalcalco. These services focus on culture, consumption and the history of local communities, highlighting the social and environmental importance of cultivation in the region.

Activities to do in La Campesina del Cacao:

– Tours in cocoa plantations for students

– Workshops of cocoa products

– Rural Agrotourism

– Catering services

– Field practices

– Pozol tastings with typical sweets

– Gastronomic workshops

Workshops and tastings

In our cocoa farm, you can find countless gastronomic experiences through workshops, tastings and tastings offered by our certified traditional cooks, offering you a great sensory experience around cocoa:

Workshop for the elaboration of Chocolate

*Activities: Our visitors will live the experience of making artisanal chocolate that includes from the selection of seeds, roasting, peeling and grinding to then foaming the chocolate with water; it is also considered the tasting of various traditional Tabasco drinks such as chorote (pozol with cocoa), as well as typical sweets of the area.

*Duration of the workshop: 2 hours

Workshop for the elaboration of Tortilla and Pozol

*Activities: Our visitors will live the experience of preparing the dough and making corn tortillas and preparing pozol (the emblematic drink of Tabasco), as part of the same workshop tells the story of this drink and its identity.

*Duration: 2.5 hours

Workshop on the preparation of Traditional Food

*Activities: Considered one of the most traditional cuisines of Mexico and within this the preparation of chicken picadillo is one of the typical and traditional dishes of the state, so our visitors will learn the technique and the process of preparation.

*Duration of the workshop: 3 to 4 hours

Tasting of Pozol

*Activities: Our visitors will be able to prepare and taste 4 types of pozol with washed cocoa, fermented cocoa, pataxtle and cocolbosh. These drinks are accompanied with 4 types of traditional sweets.

*Duration: 2.5 hours

Choco Break

Banquet service offering typical dishes, traditional sweets and drinks such as: pozol and seasonal fruits

Sustainability report

11
partners

Number of producers
(4 men and 7 women)

60
hectares

Number of hectares with best production practices

3
tons

Annual production with
best practices

40
families

Number of families
Impacted

– We are made up of 11 producing partners (7 M and 4 H) and additionally we have an alliance with 18 producers in the Comalcalco region, achieving with this a supply capacity of 60 hectares of Trinidadian cocoa and some foreigners.

– Our products are full of tradition and culture, with a deep background that begins long before the production process, and that starts from the forest, where cocoa coexists and receives the shade of multiple trees and grows together with an entire ecosystem formed by fungi, bees, pollinating flies, mosquitoes, butterflies, among others, which makes this chocolate the representation of a latent and present life cycle.

-Since our beginnings we have sought to develop more producers in the surrounding communities, in order to strengthen the supply of healthy cocoa, for which we have participated in various activities: field schools and knowledge exchange, among others.

-Through the “Giant Foundation” project, we have developed competencies in our producers in order to improve agricultural productivity and sustainability, through actions aimed at strengthening the resilience of cocoa production systems to climate change.

-With the “Alliance for Sustainable Landscapes and Markets” we have connected producing communities and ejidos, with markets and consumers to promote more sustainable value chains, while reducing degradation and deforestation processes in productive landscapes.

-With the initiative “Markets for a Sustainable Future”, we seek to articulate the different actors of the production and supply chain, promoting more sustainable and traceable products and services, produced according to principles and procedures that promote quality and sustainability in their processes.

-In 2022 we participated in the meeting with cocoa producers from Oaxaca and Chiapas, topic; exchange of knowledge of good practices of fermentation and solar drying.

– Gender equality and equity has been an issue in the life of our organization since its inception, currently the majority of the members are women (7 out of 11 members), as well as the management positions correspond to women: legal representative, secretary and treasurer.

– The members are actively involved in the operation (they are producers, so they know the primary part of cocoa cultivation, up to the post-harvest and chocolate processing processes within the cooperative).

– Through a program of young scholarships, young people from the region are given the opportunity to be trained in everything related to the production processes carried out in La Campesina del Cacao, with the aim of starting to train and develop skills in this activity.

– We seek to appropriate and develop all the links of the value chain, with which processes have been standardized and grain quality improved, gaining access to better markets, which in turn translates into better selling prices, which allows us to increase the profitability of our activity and at the same time maintain a policy of fair prices as payment to producers for their raw materials.

Alignment with Sustainable Development Goals

SDG 1: END POVERTY

Through the integration of our entire production chain, we have generated diverse sources of work for all our partners and producers.

SDG 5: GENDER EQUALITY

We are a cooperative committed to gender equality and the promotion of women’s empowerment, as we are mostly made up of women members.

SDG 8: DECENT WORK AND ECONOMIC GROWTH

We generate various actions that allow us to maintain the economic growth, both of our cooperative and of our collaborators and producers through a policy of fair wages and prices.

SDG 10: REDUCING INEQUALITIES

Our value chain encourages the participation of women and young people, enabling us to obtain better prices for our products and services and to pass those benefits on to all members of the chain, reducing inequalities.

SDG 11: SUSTAINABLE CITIES AND COMMUNITIES

We aim to increase production per hectare and crop profitability by finding new markets that value a sustainable supply chain and offer a fair pricing policy.

Gallery

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