Limited Release, Malekula Island
Limited Release, Malekula Island
Our Malekula Island dark chocolate is intoxicating with creamy, malty-vanilla cocoa notes and hints of nuts & sweet candied papaya. Pinalum Village farmers harvest wild cacao along the coast, and local husband and wife team Roy & Lily Buktan carefully manage the post-harvest process. Bite into this smooth and rich bar to visit one of the happiest places in the world.
About This Bar
We love experimenting with new bean types from different regions, and when our friend (who also happens to be a cacao geneticist and international man of mystery) Dan O'Doherty told us how excited he was about these uniquely flavorful beans from the other side of the world we had to try them!
About the Malekula Beans
Malekula island is halfway around the world from Massachusetts, and is the second largest island in the nation Vanuatu in the South Pacific. It's a tropical paradise, with groves of coconut trees covering the coastline and tropical rainforest in the interior. Old growth "wild" cacao grows naturally in the shade of the coconut trees.
In the 1800s European settlers introduced the Amelonado genetic type to the island, and since then the cacao trees have naturally flourished in the wild environment with no introduction of new genetic material. The Amelonado cacao found on Malekula Island is one of the 10 distinct genetic strains documented in Motamayor's 2008 genetic cluster research. In crafting chocolate, Amelonado cacao is generally known for having natural flavor notes of deep, classic cocoa flavor.
The beans we used to craft this bar are grown in Pinalum, a small village on the northeastern coast of Malekula. The general store and the gas station are the only two businesses in town, and homes are modestly built with thatch roofs, as the local inhabitants have adapted to the sometimes violent forces of nature, rebuilding quickly after cyclones and other natural disasters.
The main industry on Malekula Island is agriculture, and cacao is the second largest export after copra (dried coconut). Between April and August villagers in Pinalum harvest cacao from their surrounding trees, and husband-and-wife team Roy and Lily Buktan drive their truck around town collecting the wet cacao. They then carefully ferment and dry the beans in their post-harvest facility. At the end of the season, they blend and bag the dried beans, then ship them by barge to the island of Efate. Once there most of the harvest goes to Vanuatu tree-to-bar chocolate maker Gaston Chocolat. Gaston Chocolate has a close relationship with the farmers on Malekula - so much so that once the harvest season is over Roy Buktan travels to Efate to make chocolate in their factory.
Vanuatu is truly one of the happiest places on earth. Since 2019 Vanuatu has held the #1 spot on the Happy Planet Index. Thanks to this bar you can skip the trip to this remote island nation and still taste the happiness for yourself.
We're very grateful to have had the chance to work with these beans, and we hope this bar makes you as happy as it does us!
Flavor notes: Creamy, malty vanilla cocoa notes with hints of nuts and sweet candied papaya.
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