Chuncho

In 2017, a study carried out across La Convención confirmed what the valley already knew: Chuncho is native to southern Peru, but it is not uniform. Around 60% of the trees observed belong to pure Chuncho lineages; the others bear the traces of the crosses and movements that have passed through the valley. This diversity can be read in the beans: small, irregular, never quite alike. Around the cacao trees grow arabica coffee, black maize, orange trees, achiote, noni, pacay, chirimoya and chayote. Today the families look after these trees, which the abandonment of farms had almost wiped out.

On arrival, the fresh cacao is weighed, drained, then shut into wooden boxes for 36 to 48 h. Beneath the pulp, the yeasts begin their work, and the heat rises without being forced. The first turning brings in air; bacteria take over, and the mass reaches 40 to 52 °C. At the third box, a handful of beans is cut open, and the colour decides: when 7 beans out of 10 are properly fermented, fermentation stops. No more. After about 5 days comes sun-drying, on patios and raised beds, then sorting by hand. No one dictates to the cacao how long it takes: you watch, you turn, you open, and you know when to stop.