The coastal Ecuadorian province of Manabí is famous for bananas, mandarins, and most vitally, cocoa. Try Ecuadorian chocolate, and you’ll understand why we were a tad excited.

Our friend Mario was preparing a presentation on cocoa beans for his agronomy thesis, and took us to an uncle’s cocoa plantation, to show the gringos where chocolate comes from.
After being bruised up like fruit in an open truck, among hills bursting with groves, birds and clouds, we arrived at the shady hilltop plantation.

The uncle, a man of few words, wore rubber boots and a ‘Panama’ hat (crafted in Ecuador, make no mistake!) and waited patiently as we inspected the bright-coloured fruit gathered in piles.

The care-taker, a kindly man with missing teeth and an old machete, showed us how to split the fruit, scoop the beans out, and toss them into bags, to be fermented and sent off to the producers. Cacao nacionál, he explained, comes from the best fruit – yellow – not to be confused with the inferior red and orange fruit.

In his stilted, flood-proof house, the uncle fetched a hefty little block of pure home-made cacao. ‘Grate or break off a small piece and boil with milk and sugar’.

Back at Mario’s house, we followed his instructions. It was divine, but no better than the common made-in-Ecuador Nestlé cocoa, also cacao nacionál. Conclusion: it’s impossible to drink mediocre chocolate in Ecuador.