Cacao, the fruit that would one day give the world one of its most exquisite delicacies, holds an origin story as extraordinary as its flavor. Its evolution is intertwined with the flourishing of civilizations and with the natural intelligence of tropical ecosystems that shaped its diversity over millennia.
This essay traces the origin of Fine Aroma Cacao: how it emerged, how it evolved, and how its ancient selection practices refined its lineage.
The land where cacao was born
Recent archaeological studies at Santa Ana–La Florida, in the province of Zamora Chinchipe, revealed traces of cacao starch and theobromine residues dated to around 5,300 years ago. These findings confirm that the first domesticated cacao on Earth was cultivated in what is now Ecuador, a revelation that redefines the global understanding of cacao’s ancestry.
The ancient Mayo-Chinchipe culture did more than gather what nature offered. Through observation and repetition, they practiced an early form of selective cultivation. They chose fruits with thicker pulp, deeper fragrance, and balanced sweetness, favoring trees that expressed harmony rather than mere abundance. From that deliberate care emerged the genetic line that the world now recognizes as Fine Aroma Cacao.
For these communities, cacao was intertwined with ritual and culture. Each harvest embodied a dialogue between people and forest, a practice that preserved biodiversity and identity. In these valleys, the relationship between humans and cacao began to shape a genetic heritage that endures across centuries and terroirs.
From this point, cacao would embark on a long journey through ancient trade routes, traveling northward toward new civilizations that would redefine its cultural and spiritual place in the world.
From the amazon to Mesoamerica
From its cradle in the upper Amazon, cacao began a long passage through the cultural and commercial networks of pre-Columbian America. Archaeobotanical and genetic evidence suggests that seeds and knowledge traveled northward along river and coastal corridors, linking the peoples of South and Central America through trade and ritual exchange. Over centuries, cacao reached the lands that now form Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica.
By the time cacao reached Mesoamerica, it had become more than a cultivated fruit. Among early cultures such as the Olmec and Maya, and later within the Aztec Empire, cacao acquired symbolic and spiritual meaning. It was prepared as a sacred beverage, fermented, ground, and mixed with water, maize, or local spices. The word xocolatl, from the Nahuatl language, came to describe this ceremonial drink in the Aztec world, where it was consumed during rites of birth, marriage, and offering. This early beverage marked the first origin of chocolate.
For the Aztecs, cacao beans held economic and divine value. They served as a medium of exchange and as tributes to rulers and deities. In their mythology, cacao was believed to be a gift from Quetzalcoatl, the feathered serpent god, who brought the seeds from paradise to enlighten humankind.
Through these traditions, cacao became a bridge between agriculture, spirituality, and taste. When European explorers encountered this culture in the sixteenth century, they discovered not only a flavor but a philosophy, the understanding that the essence of cacao lies in its capacity to unite the natural and the sacred, a heritage that had journeyed for millennia from its Amazonian birthplace.
The birth of “Cacao Nacional”, Ecuador’s golden bean
As cacao spread through the Americas, it continued to evolve, adapting to new soils and climates. In the fertile valleys of what is now Ecuador, the species found one of its most expressive environments. The warm humidity of the Pacific coast, the mineral-rich floodplains, and the biodiversity of the Amazonian foothills shaped a cacao of singular character.
Centuries after cacao’s first domestication, by the sixteenth century, Spanish settlers and indigenous farmers were cultivating cacao in the region of Guayas and along the Esmeraldas and Manabí coasts too. These plantations combined native trees, already adapted to local ecosystems, with seeds traded from other parts of the continent. Over generations, nature and human care produced a distinctive lineage, remarkable for its floral aroma and balanced flavor.
During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, this cacao became Ecuador’s most prized agricultural treasure. Merchants navigating the Guayas River would ask where the fragrant beans originated, and the farmers replied simply, arriba or upriver. From that response emerged the legendary term “Arriba Cacao”, that European chocolatiers considered it the standard of excellence. The variety behind this reputation was later identified as Cacao Nacional, a genetic lineage native to Ecuador’s coastal and Amazonian regions. Nacional expressed the country’s terroir with precision.
Between 1870 and 1920, Ecuador supplied more than half of the world’s fine cacao. The beans that defined Parisian and Swiss chocolates of the era came from these same valleys. Nacional became both a connection to luxury and the backbone of Ecuador’s export economy, shaping the nation’s prosperity and global identity. Yet this lineage would face its greatest challenge in the century that followed.
The Shadow over the Golden Age
At the turn of the twentieth century, Ecuador’s plantations faced their greatest test: the celebrated Cacao Nacional, prized for its purity and aromatic depth, was also delicate. In the early 1920s, a series of fungal diseases such as Witches’ Broom and Monilia reached the coastal plantations, spreading swiftly through humid valleys, devastating yields and threatening the livelihoods of thousands of families.
National production collapsed, from more than 80,000 tons a year to barely 7000. Many plantations, left barren, were soon converted into banana fields.
For many farmers, survival became an act of resilience. Faced with collapsing harvests and uncertain markets, they turned to new hybrids. Between the 1960s and 1990s, they introduced Forastero cacao, a hardy but less aromatic variety that favored volume over nuance. In 1964, agronomists crossed this lineage with Nacional, creating CCN-51, a hybrid engineered for yield and disease resistance. By the early 2000s, CCN-51 had become the dominant cacao across much of the country, ensuring productivity yet diluting the genetic and sensory heritage that once defined Ecuadorian fine aroma cacao.
Over time, the landscape divided. The new hybrid cacao brought stability to production, yet it also transformed the land itself. Forests once rich in biodiversity gave way to large-scale monocultures. As productivity grew, prices fell, and the farmers who had safeguarded Ecuador’s cacao legacy were often paid unfairly for their labor. The hybrid varieties ensured economic continuity, but they lacked the floral complexity and balance that had defined Ecuador’s fine aroma identity. The world’s appetite for chocolate became industrialized, volume replaced nuance, and the delicate sensory language of Nacional started fading from global memory.
Still, the spirit of the land endured. In isolated groves and shaded corners of ancestral farms, a few pure trees survived…
Rediscovery: the return of ancestral DNA
In the 2010s, scientists, farmers, and local cooperatives began to question whether the original Cacao Nacional had truly disappeared. Genetic mapping led by INIAP, in collaboration with international researchers, revealed a remarkable discovery. Scattered across old farms and forgotten groves, a few surviving trees still carried the pure Nacional DNA, Ecuador’s golden lineage, alongside other authentic descendants.
These findings changed the history of chocolate once again. The analysis confirmed that Ecuador’s native cacao was not only genetically unique but also a direct descendant of the world’s earliest domesticated trees from the upper Amazon. Protected groves were catalogued, and the first genetic banks were established to preserve the diversity of Nacional. Through the efforts of the Heirloom Cacao Preservation Fund (HCP) and Ecuadorian research institutions, dozens of rare genotypes were identified and propagated, ensuring that the nation’s cacao heritage would endure.
In the provinces of Manabí, Esmeraldas, and Los Ríos, smallholder farmers began restoring ancestral varieties, cultivating trees that take years to bear fruit yet produce flavors unmatched by any hybrid. Chocolatiers and cooperatives joined these efforts, working with scientific and governmental programs to conserve the native lineages and prevent another loss of genetic identity.
Today, the renaissance of Nacional is shaping the future of fine chocolate. The revival of Fine Aroma Cacao has also become a test of conscience for the chocolate industry. True excellence now demands more than flavor; it requires respect for origin and commitment to those who keep it alive.
A new generation of craft makers, research institutions, and ethical brands have begun to support the farmers who protect these trees, building a new standard of collaboration grounded in transparency, regeneration, and fairness.
Durca’s Mission: preserving the genetic heritage of cacao
At Durca, we believe that the future of chocolate depends on how we honor its origin. We are committed to craft chocolate that expresses the soul of its terroir, while preserving the living DNA of the world’s most extraordinary fruit.
Through a humane and transparent supply chain, we work directly with farming communities to guarantee fair compensation and regenerative practices that restore the land. Our sustainability approach integrates genetic research, reforestation, and traceability from seed to bar, creating a model where production and preservation coexist. Guided by our long-term goals for 2026 and beyond, we continue to expand education, innovation, and cultural collaboration, proving that true excellence begins where integrity takes root.
The story of chocolate is still being written, and at Durca, we invite you to write it with us.