Completely Traceable Value Chain
Centralized processing facility. Expert knowledge at every stage. Trusted people in place at Origin.
Our Nurseries
- 50,000 Cacao Seedling Capacity
- Fine Flavor Cacao Varietal
- Sown by hand
- Environmentally Sustainable Management Practices
Quality starts with the careful selection of “mother tree” seeds from select farms in Belize in our own cacao sapling nursery. These nurseries provide healthy and desirable cacao sapling varietals for our farms. During planting, the saplings are carefully selected for each farm
considering the micro-climates that exist in the geographic area. These saplings are used to plant our raw land farms as well as to replace older trees in pre-existing farms which have passed their peak production cycles.
Cacao Farms & Harvesting
- 75,150 Peini cacao trees in 167 acres of planted farmland
- Certified Organic farms, facilities and processing
- Environmentally & Sustainably managed
Centralized Cacao Fermentation
- 9.8 Metric tonne capacity per cycle
- 6 – 7 Day traditional fermentation cycle
- 3-Tier wooden box system
- Systematic evaluation cut tests
- Monitored for flavor & consistency
In the industry cacao fermentation & drying is often handed off to bulk processors who are interested only in mass-production and not fine flavor. We don’t believe in this. We’re focused on producing only fine flavor 100% Belizean cacao. To ensure the best quality cacao beans we manage fermentation in-house in our own cacao Fermentation and Drying facility.
The fermentation process is key step in developing the natural fine flavor of our cacao. This process starts immediately after the pods are harvested and beans extracted from the pods. Upon collection, we verify that the beans are free from any foreign object such as placenta, pieces of cacao husks, rocks or damaged beans. A brix reading is taken to ensure that no water is added to the beans.
Passing the evaluation, the beans are then transferred into BCT approved collection bags, weighed and immediately delivered to our processing facility.
At our central processing facility the wet beans are re-checked for any foreign objects that may affect the fermentation process and weighed before they are placed in cascading 3-tier custom-built wooden fermentation boxes.
The beans are fermented for approximately 6 days following a fermentation protocol established specifically for the characteristics of each batch. Cut tests and temperature readings are recorded to monitor the fermentation progress and adjustments are made to achieve the well fermented cacao beans worthy of the Peini brand.
Centralized Passive Solar Drying
- Direct and indirect sun drying
- Precise drying further develops subtle flavor notes
- Systematic evaluation cut tests
- Measured for precise moisture content
- Monitored for flavor & consistency
Our beans are dried until they reach a moisture content of 6.5% and we do this using passive solar energy. Sometimes this is challenging in a sub-tropical climate with high humidity, especially during inclement weather conditions. Under bright, sunny conditions this can be achieved in 6 days. This slow drying process is important to producing fine flavor cacao.
Our purpose-built proprietary drying facility with roll out drying racks allow for consistent drying with constant airflow and direct and indirect sunlight. Our beans are constantly monitored and turned by a team of experienced post-harvest personnel led by our Quality Control Manager, Samuel Tsui. The dried beans are then aged for various time frames which further develops their flavor profiles.
