What makes cacao “ceremonial-grade”?
What’s in a name? What’s in a cacao? What makes one cacao ceremonial and another not?
What makes something sacred? Is it our relationship to it or does it have something innately special or different? What does sacred even mean?
We begin with what might seem a simple question, but we quickly find when we start to unpack and uncover the question itself that some less simple questions follow.
Before anything else - ceremonial-cacao (preferably all cacao) needs to be ethically & fairly sourced.
This is the only thing that I can definitively say when it comes to ceremonial cacao.
Beyond that there are a few things that can contribute to making cacao ceremonial, and truth is I don’t believe there is one answer - so I will offer them, and my view or feeling and you can choose your own adventure from there.
The main factors are: where it is grown, why it is grown, how it is processed and the type of cacao.
Cacao originates from the American continent. Its home soil is Central & South America, its origin, its roots physically and spiritually are there. This can mean there is a deep connection in a cacao from these lands. For some people this is important, for others a cacao from Bali or the pacific islands can also offer a lot - and there are some brands doing beautiful cacao from Samoa & the Solomon Islands.
I do find that given I began my connection to cacao IN Guatemala, and feel such a connection to the culture and people then I resonate with the cacao from there. I also believe that the energy of the land it is grown in affects the cacao. In the case of Guatemala the soil is volcanic and rich in nutrients but for me more importantly; energetically the Mayan people have never stopped making their prayers and offerings to the fire & to the land and the medicine is rooted in their culture. Mythology, cosmovision & connection remains strong. They’ve been working with cacao for thousands of years.
Cacao is such a common and popular plant given the prevalence of chocolate in our diets!
Because of this the “why” it is grown and the preparation of the plant, for me, is important when it comes to what makes ceremonial cacao different to every-day cacao (and the where can be a factor within that). Is the cacao being planted with the intention that it be used for connection or confection? Is it being mass produced, with the hope for the highest yield & thus profit (noting that of course farmers need to make an income from their plants). We can’t always know what the growers & producers hold in their hearts but what is their intention, connection & relationship to the plant as they work with it?
Another piece in the cacao puzzle is the word winnow. Maybe you’ve heard of this before - winnowing is how most cacao beans are removed from the shell or husk that forms during fermentation & drying. It is done by using a machine that cracks the beans and uses vacuum / air to separate the now cacao nibs from the husk. This is to say most cacao is not hand-peeled. The cacao I work with is. And I notice a difference. The process of someone sitting and removing the husk of each bean is a labour of love and one that feels to me like it adds something special to ceremonial cacao (noting that not all ceremonial cacao is hand peeled). Cecilia from
Ruk’u’x Ulew speaks of the process of roasting & peeling the beans like a prayer or meditation that she does, that the women do collectively.
Lastly, the type or strain of cacao. There are 3 major strains; Criollo, Foraestero & Trinitario. And often in teh ceremonial cacao world the criollo bean is spoken about as the cacao for ceremonial use. I used to believe this was extremely important. Now I know that whilst criollo has been the coveted strain - it does not equal a ceremonial grade cacao. It is so coveted because it is indeed very rare. There is confusion because the word criollo means “native to” in Spanish - this is to say there is plenty of cacao that is native to a region and thus can be called “criollo” but isn’t genetically criollo cacao. Much like the confusion around the use of the word raw in the cacao industry, but I won’t dive into that here.
Cacao genetics is quite complex but this article is a great source and goes into a little more detail about what I’ve just shared.
As there is no industry, no regulation, there isn’t a set answer to the question of what makes cacao ceremonial. Ask questions to those who are selling or marketing cacao as ceremonial, can they clearly tell you who and where they get the cacao from?
Listen to your guidance, to your feelings. Try a few different cacaos from different places and see what you notice when you sit with them.
And of course, have fun doing it!