About Us
Montadero Chocolate History
Montadero Chocolate was born to preserve the family tradition of our grandmother Mita, who when we were kids made us chocolate with the cacao grown from a family farm located in the Montadero sector of Isabela. Our grandmother continued with the family tradition of her father Don Fermín, who planted cacao, while she, in turn, made it as her father had taught her as a child. Doña Mita fermented, roasted and refined cacao to make hot chocolate using her father Fermín's special recipe. Unfortunately, when our grandmother dies, the tradition is lost since none of her children learned the art of making chocolate, although they did know the recipes by heart.
It was not until 2017, during a trip to Switzerland dedicated to cheese tasting, that my wife, Kenia, and I became interested in the world of chocolate. Upon our arrival to Puerto Rico, we were greeted by the winds of Hurricane Maria. Days after the impact of Maria, we headed to the farm to find it completely devastated. Faced with this sight of destruction, I felt it was my duty to restore it so that the family tradition would not be lost.
We gave ourselves the task of interviewing family members and little by little collected the necessary information to start the tradition again. We toured the mountains where our great-grandfather harvested cacao, we learned about the processes through conversations with the family and we rescued the recipe that Grandma Mita made.
Montadero Chocolate is committed to use high quality ingredients; our cacao has been selected within the best 50 around the World to indulge the richest taste experience for chocolate lovers. We are dedicated to making “single origin” artisanal chocolates using cacao harvest in Puerto Rico. Our small batches are filled with aromas and a rich chocolate flavor with hints of coffee, nuts and fruit. The Cacao is purchased directly from the farmers in Puerto Rico, thus entering the Fare Trade market.