RAREST CHOCOLATE IN THE WORLD
FORTUNATO NO. 4
Made from Pure Nacional cacao, Moonstruck reintroduces the long-deprived world to rare & complex flavors of fruit, flora, nut & coffee.
Lost in Ecuador, Rediscovered in Peru Originally discovered by a Swiss chocolate couverture manufacturer traveling in Ecuador in the early 1800s, Pure Nacional was prized for its unique cacao scent & fully developed flavor characteristics. It dominated the fine chocolate couverture market before the cacao trees were decimated by diseases nearly 100 years ago. The few surviving disease-resistant & hybrid varieties never could compare in quality.
Recently, Dan Pearson & Brian Horsley of Maranon Chocolate discovered pods of white & purple cacao beans in the Maranon Canyon of northern Peru. Told by locals that the cacao was used in couverture, samples were sent to the US Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) genetics laboratory for DNA testing. The lab confirmed that the Pure Nacional variety, thought indigenous to Ecuador & extinct, lived on in Peru. Fortunato No. 4 is named after the Peruvian farmer, Fortunato, on whose farm the beans were found. The number four was chosen because the fourth of 14 samples sent to the USDA was the purest expression of Pure Nacional cacao, the same cacao used to create Fortunato No. 4 chocolate.
Pure Nacional trees thrive at the highest altitudes ever recorded in the remote micro climate of the Maranon Canyon. Once harvested, the beans are transported first by foot, then by burro & motorcycle, & finally by all-terrain vehicle for quality post-harvest processing. The resulting cacao offers an unsurpassed range of delicate & rare flavor.
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