Cacao

Preserving heritage, cultivating flavor, and restoring the rainforest

At Maya Mountain Research Farm (MMRF), we manage hundreds of plant and animal species within our diverse agroforestry system. Among these, cacao is one of our most valuable crops — cultivated both for local consumption and for market sale.

Our cacao grows beneath the canopy of a mature, multi-layered agroforestry system that closely mimics the structure and function of a natural rainforest. This design supports nutrient cycling, continuous fruiting, and biodiversity, all while providing ideal shade for sub-canopy crops like cacao, vanilla, coffee, and cardamom.

MMRF maintains a living seed bank of rare and indigenous cacao varieties. With the exception of a few trials using Nicaraguan and Venezuelan strains, nearly all of our cacao originates from the Maya Mountains. Much of it consists of criollo-heavy trinitarios—descendants of cacao brought by Kekchi Maya settlers around 1900 and crossed with local criollo trees, resulting in robust, flavorful cacao that produces exceptional chocolate.

Our cacao is planted with biochar-enriched soil, fostering healthy fungal and bacterial communities that enhance growth and resilience. One of our most significant cacao expansions comes from the Bladen cacao, a relic Maya variety collected during a 1999 joint expedition by the Ministry of Agriculture and the Toledo Cacao Growers Association. These ancient cacao trees, isolated for over 1,200 years near the ruins of Ek Xux and Muklebal, now thrive again at MMRF. We are one of only three farms in Belize with fruiting trees from this expedition and are actively sharing seeds to help build a specialty market for this unique lineage.

Unlike commercial cacao introduced to Belize in the 1980s for industrial production, our heritage varieties are grown for quality, flavor, and sustainability. We also produce and sell organic cacao balls, prepared on-site from our own beans.

Interested in our cacao or seed distribution?

Contact us to learn more.