The Chocolate of Western Ecuador
The Chocolate of Western Ecuador
Ecuador’s largest city, Guayaquil, isn’t just the gateway to Galapagos Islands tours, a short two-hour flight away. It is also the gateway, and through history, a port of great importance to Ecuador’s chocolate industry. Of the many varieties of cacao trees grown in Ecuador, some are more flavorful than others. It is the region’s humid lush forests north of Guayaquil that are home to Ecuador’s most famous, most flavorful chocolate bean, the Arriba.
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The Chocolate of Western Ecuador
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Chocolate connoisseurs know that Arriba is the must-have chocolate bar experience during their Ecuador tours. Arriba beans are appreciated for their fruity and flowery taste. The tree species derives its name from where it grows, meaning “above” in Spanish, in particular, the upper Rio Guayas, north of Guayaquil. The beans are also grown in western Ecuador’s provinces north and east of Guayas.
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Ecuador has established export standards that divide Arriba cacao into three categories, according to the quality of the beans. Superior Summer Selected is the highest grade, comprising a very small percentage of Ecuador’s cacao exports. Superior Selected is a lesser grade than Superior Summer Selected but higher than Superior Epoca, the most plentiful of the Arriba beans exported by Ecuador.
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The well-known French company, Richart, describes the taste of its Ecuador-based Arriba bar, the Equateur 82%, as “conjuring up the images of a fresh wet meadow and young forest flowers with hints of blackberry and orange citrus.” Who could resist that divine concoction? Better still, travel to Ecuador and enjoy a chocolate bar or hot chocolate beverage in the Arriba homeland. Chocolate bars are more popular in cities than the countryside, so visitors will be more likely to have the chocolate experience on Ecuador tours outside the country’s growing regions than where cacao trees actually grow.
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If you travel through Guayaquil on the way to your Galapagos Islands tours, know that almost all of Ecuador’s cacao beans are passing through the city too on their way to become the chocolate bars we enjoy at home. Passengers traveling with Southern Explorations on Galapagos Islands tours have several options if they wish to begin their Ecuador adventure travel in Guayaquil instead of flying into Quito. These include all of the Galapagos Islands cruises and two of the land-based Galapagos Islands tours, the nine-day Galapagos Hiking Adventure and Galapagos Multisport trips.
