Farmers interplant cacao trees with many other crops. Cacao is shade-tolerant and thrives in the semi-shade of the taller avocado, mango, and maguay trees.

Freshly harvested cacao pods ready to be split open for processing.

Using a small machete to open the freshly harvested cacao pods.

The cacao pod ranges in size from as small as a tennis ball to as large as an NFL football.

Opened cacao pod showing the sweet juicy white pulp that surrounds the beans.

Cacao Beans drying under the sun after 3-4 days of fermentation.

Fully dried cacao beans on a colorful blanket (a "manta").

The cacao beans "pop" or "crack" during roasting. Timing is critical as a few seconds on either side could produce an overly roasted and burnt bean or an under-roasted bean.

Hand-peeled cacao beans (cacao nibs) after traditional roasting.

Roasted and pealed cacao beans in front of the traditional clay/mud oven.

Every farm has at least one "batan", used primarily to grind spices, make sauces, and crush herbs for medicinal use.

Clean stone grinder. Farmers often search for years to find the perfect combination of a hard flat stone for the base and a heavy but manageable curved stone to grind.

Starting the arduous process of grinding the roasted cacao nibs into chocolate "liquor".

Hand grinding the cacao with stone tools, the most traditional processing technique.

Sometimes farmers place the grinder in direct sunlight to heat the stone naturally.

Grinding for 30-45 minutes reduces the particle size, creating a cacao paste.

The cacao mass, or "pasta pura de cacao" has formed...just a bit more to liquify the paste!

The cacao has now been ground up sufficiently. Some chocolatiers will continue to grind their cacao for one or more days using machinery to fully grind the cacao into a liquid and further decrease the particle size.

Fresh handmade truffles made from pure cacao paste and honey on display in a hotel in Lamay, Peru.

Chocolate creations made with our hand ground cacao paste!