The cocoa for the praliné and chcocolat-chocolates and the NATURATA fine cocoa comes from the Yacao fair trade project in the Dominican Republic.

The Yacao project was established in 1999 by the Swiss company Pronatec. “Using capital from responsible investors in Switzerland we were able to help farmers with no financial means to produce high quality cocoa for export,” says Stefan Bloch who is in charge of the project at Pronatec. 

As one of the main customers, Naturata supported the project right from the start. Now 180 farmers in Yamasá and a further 430 in a second site around Villa Altagracia have long term order guarantees from Yacao. Jost Brunner works locally for Pronatec and visits the farmers in difficult terrain to advise them. The farmers also receive cocoa seedlings from the company at cost price. But, the most important thing: Yacao finances and organises organic certification.

Natural farming is matter of course for traditional farmers with small farms as the cocoa trees have always grown in rich biodiversity between the trees of the rainforest and other plants which humans cultivated for their own consumption. Not much was needed here for certified organic farming. The cocoa farmers in the Dominican Republic cut the fruits from the trees by hand which – unusual for nature – bear both flowers as well as ripe and unripe fruits. The beans are then processed in a central point where they are first fermented. Through this, the beans lose their bitter taste and develop a round aroma. Then they are dried in several “huge draws” which are taken indoors overnight or if there is rain. Once inside, solar energy warms the air and continues the drying process. The dried cocoa beans are then transported by ship to Europe where they are roasted and processed further to delicious NATURATA chocolate.