Venezuela

Venezuelan chocolate is made with cocoa grown in Venezuela, a country with one of the strongest reputations in fine cocoa thanks to Criollo. Criollo is the rarest and most delicate of the cocoa varieties, low in bitterness and long on aroma, and Venezuela is where the best known Criollo populations have survived. Expect dried fruit, sweet spice and a wine like depth rather than sharp acidity.

Valrhona take their Venezuelan cocoa from the Sur del Lago region, working with Cacao San Jose, a family business that has produced cocoa since 1830 and has geolocated all of its plots since 2022. Valrhona's involvement in Venezuela goes back to the 1990s, when the focus was on rehabilitating ancient varieties such as Porcelana.

Our Venezuelan Single Origin Chocolate 

We stock two Venezuelan dark couvertures, and they do different jobs. Valrhona's Araguani 72% is a Grand Cru, named after the Araguaney, an iconic Venezuelan tree, and after the Guarani people. Callebaut's Botanical Venezuela 72% has a low fluidity, which suits ganache, chocolate fillings and large moulding such as Easter eggs and Christmas figures.