La Ribereña, a cocoa farm in the Páez municipality of Miranda state, which opened its doors to the public so that they can learn how cocoa is produced, has Trinitarian-type trees that are over 100 years old.
Barlovento is not only beaches and fishing, its humid and fertile lands have been ideal since the XNUMXth century to produce one of the best cocoas in the country, and in the world, for the preparation of the most delicious chocolate bars and desserts.
And the La Ribereña cocoa farm, located in the Barlovento region of El Guapo, in the Páez municipality of Miranda state, is part of this cocoa history that decided to show the most curious and scholars of cocoa how this fruit is produced.
Through the excursion to the Cocoa Route, which the Lanaseso Cocoa production unit, the owner of the La Ribereña farm, organized for a small number of visitors; beyond the process of making chocolate from the seed, a town whose history is linked to cocoa was shown.
Its music, its food and its people, "people with a black face and brown hair", are fundamental pieces of this region that for almost 400 years has lived from the sowing of one of the fruits that most ingresos generated in our country for two centuries.
The Cocoa Route of El Guapo
The first excursion of the Cacao Lanaseso production unit consisted of a guided walk by cocoa specialists and chocolatiers through the cocoa farm and the chocolate plant, who, together with other residents of the region, complemented this visit with their typical foods and traditional music.
This hacienda of Trinitarian-type cocoa plantations has trees over 100 years old, which share shade and land with newer ones planted to add to the production of this valuable fruit for the region.
The contact with the land, the different vegetations and cocoa fruits that mutate naturally and intentionally by man is part of this tour accompanied by the explanations of those who know.
Cocoa trinitarian It is the most abundant type in Barlovento, one of the most famous areas of the country for this crop.
Its smell, color and shapes of this pod that mutates over time and that we can touch, look at, smell, is complemented by the possibility of being able to taste its mucilage, which is the name of the fleshy layer that covers the cocoa seed and that It stands out for its fruity flavor, somewhat similar to that of soursop.
And it is in this same land where cocoa grows, that the men of the field, dressed in boots, fresh clothes and hats, collect the harvest and open them to collect the seeds that will pass to the cocoa plant, to ferment, dry and process. to achieve different products to make chocolate and chocolate desserts.
At Cacao Lanaseso, cocoa powder, paste, butter, nibs and chocolates for desserts are made, which are sold without intermediaries to smallest merchants and entrepreneurs.
