RAW cacao beans of Puentespina Farms were recognized as one of the 50 Best Bean Samples worldwide.
Last Wednesday, August 16, Malagos Agri-Ventures Corporation Sales and Marketing Head Rex Victor Puentespina released official announcement saying their raw cacao beans were awarded as one of the 50 best bean samples during the 2017 Cocoa Excellence (CoEx) Programme in France.
Puentespina Farms cacao beans were among the 166 cacao beans evaluated from the 40 participating countries worldwide.
The 50 winners will be processed into chocolates by the international technical committee of the CoEx and will be showcased at the Salon du Chocolat in Paris on October 28 to November 1.
“This is a valuable recognition for us since the focus of the evaluation is on the bean quality – the raw material itself. This is huge for the cacao industry as this proves that Philippine beans can compete side by side with the other top producers from cacao-growing countries,” said Puentespina.
Currently, their farm grows Trinitario clones, a cross breed of Criollo and Forastero varieties, specifically and predominantly the UF 18, BR 25, and PBC 123 clones. These beans are what the farms used to produce their award-winning chocolates.
CoEx Programme is believed to be the entry point for the International Cocoa Awards (ICA) which is a global competition “recognizing the work of cocoa farmers and celebrating the diversity of cocoa flavours.”
Puentespina Farms is the only winner coming from the Philippines. Other countries that were able to make it to the top 50 include cocoa producers from Australia, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cote d’Ivoire, Dominica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Ghana, Guatamela, Haiti, Hawaii, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Jamaica, Madagascar, Malaysia, Martinique, Nicaragua, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Puerto Rico, Samoa, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Trinidad and Tobago, Vanuatu, and Vietnam.