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Ecuador has become famous for world-class, gourmet chocolate made from native cacao varieties.Photograph by RODRIGO BUENDIA, AFP/Getty Images
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Where to find some of the world’s best chocolate
Ecuador’s sustainable, local practices have helped the country make a cacao comeback and chocolate lovers can share in the sweet rewards.
BySarah Barrell
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Ecuador sits on a gold mine of cacao. In its 19th-century heyday, the country was the world’s leading exporter, but plant disease and global market changes cost Ecuador its top spot in the early 1900s. Recent years, though, have seen the country make a chocolate comeback thanks to local farmers, sustainably minded businesses, and (before travel restrictions) an influx of foodie tourists.
Editor’s note •
Want to make your valentine melt?
Buy that special someone an artisan chocolate bar made in Utah.
The Wasatch Front has several companies that follow the “bean-to-bar” chocolate-making process. That means they ship cacao beans from some of the world’s best-growing regions think Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela then roast, grind and infuse their own flavors into the mostly dark-chocolate bars.
The process leaves out the refined sugars, artificial ingredients and preservatives often found in drugstore brands.
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Utah producers earned national attention a few years ago when Saveur magazine called the Wasatch Front the “country’s epicenter of chocolate innovation.” Editors compared the midsize region to larger, more well-known chocolate epicenters like Seattle, San Francisco and Portland.