Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta Porcelana Cacao

The Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta is the highest mountain in Colombia: its peak reaches 5775 metres above sea level. It is a massif facing the Caribbean Sea, separated from the Andean cordillera, and is inhabited predominantly by the indigenous groups Kogi, Arhuacos and Wiwa, as well as mestizos and Afro-descendants in the lower areas. The mountain is characterized by an abundance of water, which results in large part from its perennially snow-capped peaks, and its vegetation consists of tropical dry forest. During the 80s and 90s, the area was an important centre for the production of illicit crops such as coca and marijuana, but today this has largely been replaced thanks to state and international cooperation programs.
On the slopes of the mountain, especially on the north face that looks out to sea in the municipality of Dibulla (province of Guajira), it is still possible to find wild porcelana cocoa plants, a local variety that has yellow-green pods, long leaves and thin white seeds with a strong aroma. Even though the earliest records of the cultivation of cocoa date back to 1895, wild cocoa has been found in the highlands of the mountains since time immemorial. For the indigenous population it represented an important source of energy and its ground grains were consumed by the elderly in a drink that was considered sacred.
Unfortunately in recent decades the porcelana cocoa, once abundant, has been replaced by hybrid varieties, cultivated by local producer cooperatives, intercropped with fruit trees (such as plantain and avocado), timber (oak) and leguminous plants (carob among others), and sold for an extremely low price at local intermediaries.