Professional

3er. Concurso Nacional de Chocolate de Origen Colombiano 2024 – Winners

[Spanish below]

The International Chocolate Awards is pleased to announce the Winners of the 2024 Colombian Cacao Country Support Competition, the 3er. Concurso Nacional de Chocolate de Origen Colombiano, which was judged remotely in Colombia and also by our international pool of judges and Grand Jury during September-October 2024.

From left to right: Fedecacao agronomist Luis Alberto Castaño, Bogotá pastry chef and Colombian competition judge Helga Blaha, Domingo Pérez Manrique, one of the organizers and founders of the Salon de Cacao and Chocolate de Colombia in Arauquita, and Dr. Maricel E. Presilla.

The winners of the 3er Concurso Nacional de Chocolate de Origen Colombiano were announced last Sunday night at a ceremony held at the venue of the 11o Salón de Cacao y Chocolate de Colombia in Arauquita, the largest producer of fine cacao in the State of Arauca.

Excitement and anticipation had been building for the three days of the festival with people coming from all over Colombia and beyond to attend conferences, classes, tastings, and to buy fine chocolate and bonbons as well as local crafts.

With a full house in attendance to hear the results of two competitions run by the International Chocolate Awards and prizes for best cacao pods in the region and best technique in cutting cacao pods, a storm hit Arauquita and we were left without electricity. Determined to continue with our prize ceremony, we looked for candles and set the stage.

One of our judges, Rafael Carrillo, who is a cacao farmer as well as a singer and musician, started playing his four-string guitar (cuatro) and sang to the audience. Everyone joined in singing the soulful music of the plains of Arauca. Thankfully, just before the main announcements, power returned and we were able to read the list of winners and have them on stage to receive their certificates.*

From left to right): judge and pastry chef Helga Blaha; Rafael Harb of Carlota Chocolat; cacao farmer Enit Sanabria Páez who won first place in the Grano de Oro cacao competition judged in its final stage of 10 finalists as chocolate with the system of the International Institute of Chocolate and Cacao Tasting for her cacao from Meta; Lionel Murillo of Murillo’s Chocolate, who won a Silver for Barra Murillo Chocolate al 86% and a Bronze for Lionel Murillo’s Chocolate al 72%; Dr Maricel E. Presilla, co-founder of International Chocolate Award; Mónica Gómez of Carlota Chocolat, a Gold for Chocolate Meta 70%; to the left, Ehioxon Casanova Bravo, who won Silver in the Grano de Oro Cacao Competition. Behind Dr. Presilla: the agronomist Luis Alberto Castaño of Fedecacao’s experimental farm Granja Sta. Elena.

Judges

The judging panel included our regular judges from Colombia, along with many of our IICCT alumni and other specialists from the local area and members of our international Grand Jury panel.

All judging was anonymized, including the Grand Jury final session, where Golds, Silver and Bronze prizes were awarded by private voting according to the Grand Jury rules.

Grand Jury finalists can be viewed here.

Highlights of the competition

Notable among winners was the company Cacao Hunters in the large-batch category with bars made with cacao sourced from the local farm Villa Gaby in Arauquita and a limited edition with cacao from a social project in the north of the Cauca region. In the high percentage category, they obtained a silver with Hachimitsu 85% a bar with no added cacao butter or lecithin that captures the range of fine genetics growing at the Villa Gaby farm in Arauquita.

In the micro-batch dark chocolate category, Mónica Gómez and her husband Rafael Harb of Carlota Chocolat, a small company in Bucaramanga, Santander, received a Gold for a 70% bar featuring cacao sourced from a single farmer in the emerging Meta region, the same Gold winner in the cacao competition Grano de Oro that evening.

Micro-Batch dark chocolate Gold. Mónica Gómez of Carlota Chocolat, winning with Chocolate Meta 70% with Special Prize for Chocolate Maker. She is with her husband, Rafael Harb, who also works with her.

This competition celebrates the cacao-growing regions of Arauca, Antioquia, Cauca, Huila, Meta, Santander and makers from all over Colombia who source cacao responsibly and value traceability.

Notable among winners were chocolates flavored with fruits from the humid Pacific coast like borojo, which received a special prize for biome and traditional culinary preparations like the corn cake (arepa de maíz pelao) from Santander for a crunchy texture which won the brand Maluwa a bronze and special prize for gastronomy.

Cacao is the foundation of local economies, of social and cultural change in Colombia, and it’s the theme of the grass roots yearly Salon del Cacao y Chocolate de Colombia in the municipality of Arauquita by the Arauca River, the border with beleaguered Venezuela. When the festival started eleven years ago, it was held under a tent, a few steps from the place where prized bulls and cows were being kept for a concurrent livestock fair. The tent became a handsome building and the Salon has grown to host professional conferences on cacao and chocolate, performances by artists and musicians, important competitions, the sensory evaluation classes of the International Institute of Chocolate and Cacao Tasting, and now in its third year, the 3er Concurso Nacional de Chocolate de Origen Colombiano, organized jointly with the International Chocolate Awards.

*This Colombian Cacao Country Support Competition is not part of the International Chocolate Awards World Final series.

The 2024 Colombian Competition Winners are:

(Prizes are shown in score order for each medal)


Plain/origin bars

Plain/origin dark chocolate bars

Gold: Cacao Hunters  (Colombia) – Cauca 1622 (90.0)

+ Special: Limited edition

Silver: Cacao Hunters  (Colombia) – Arauca 70% (88.5)

Micro-batch – Plain/origin dark chocolate bars

Gold: CARLOTA CHOCOLAT  (Colombia) – Chocolate Meta 70% (89.1)

+ Special: Chocolate Maker

Silver: Legado Cacao  (Colombia) – Montaña Luminosa 72% (88.6)

Bronze: Maluwa Chocolate Company  (Colombia) – Huila 74% (87.9)

Bronze: Murillo’s Chocolate  (Colombia) – Barra Murillo’s Chocolate al 72% (87.5) ( * Bean to Bar Colombia)

Bronze: Cacao Hunters  (Colombia) – Tatacoa 70% (87.4)

Bronze: Korokoro Colombia SAS  (Colombia) – Manigua 70% (86.8) ( * Aroma a Cacao)

Bronze: ZAMUKIA CHOCOLATES  (Colombia) – Zamukia Chocolates 71 % (86.7)

Bronze: ZAMUKIA CHOCOLATES  (Colombia) – Zamukia Chocolates 71 % (86.5)

High % plain/origin dark chocolate bars (85% and over)

Silver: Cacao Hunters  (Colombia) – Hachimitsu 86% (88.5)

+ Special: Direct Traded

Silver: Murillo’s Chocolate  (Colombia) – Barra Murillo’s Chocolate al 86% (87.3) ( * Bean to Bar Colombia)

Silver: Maluwa Chocolate Company  (Colombia) – Antioquia 93% (87.2)

Bronze: Maluwa Chocolate Company  (Colombia) – Arauca 88% (86.7)

Micro-batch – Plain/origin milk chocolate bars

Gold: Cacao Hunters  (Colombia) – Cauca Leche 58% (89.0)

Plain/origin chocolate bars with alternative ingredients

Bronze: Origen Cacao  (Colombia) – San Roque Vegan Milk 50% (85.9)


Flavoured bars

Dark chocolate bars with an infusion or flavouring

Gold: Cacao Hunters  (Colombia) – Campesino 64% (89.1) (**)

+ Special: Recipe

Dark chocolate bars with inclusions or pieces

Bronze: Maluwa Chocolate Company  (Colombia) – Matilde 74% con Arepa de Maíz Pelao’ (85.5) (**)

+ Special: Gastronomic

Milk chocolate bars with an infusion or flavouring

Bronze: Almendra de cacao SAS  (Colombia) – 60% Cauca Identidad Cafetera (86.9) (**)

Milk chocolate bars with inclusions or pieces

Bronze: ZAMUKIA CHOCOLATES  (Colombia) – Zamukia Chocolates 61% con Café (86.4) (**)

Bronze: Maluwa Chocolate Company  (Colombia) – Matilde 51% con Arepa de Maíz Pelao’ (85.9) (**)


Ganaches, palets, ganache pralines and truffles

Flavoured milk chocolate ganaches or truffles

Silver: Provinzzia Chocolates  (Colombia) – Clásico #1 Borojó Del Pacífico (87.9) (**)

+ Special: Biome


Ingredients from cacao

Cocoa Butter

Bronze: Zurych Chocolate Artesanal  (Colombia) – Manteca de Cacao (86.4)


(*)  Declared chocolate maker for private label bars.

(**) Winner has declared the product is made with their own bean-to-bar chocolate or couverture.

(en Español)

Los ganadores del 3er Concurso de Chocolate de Origen Colombiano fueron anunciados la noche del domingo pasado en una ceremonia realizada en la sede del 11o Salón de Cacao y Chocolate de Colombia en Arauquita, el mayor productor de cacao fino del Estado de Arauca.

El entusiasmo y la anticipación habían ido aumentando durante los tres días del festival con ponentes y participantes así como visitantes de toda Colombia y más allá de sus fronteras para asistir a conferencias, clases, degustaciones y comprar chocolate y bombones finos, así como artesanías locales.

Con casa llena para escuchar los resultados de dos concursos con la participación del International Chocolate Awards y otros del Salón como premios a las mejores mazorcas de cacao de la región y a la mejor técnica en el corte de mazorcas de cacao, una tormenta azotó a Arauquita y nos quedamos sin electricidad.  Decididos a continuar con nuestra ceremonia de premiación, buscamos velas y preparamos el escenario.

Uno de nuestros jueces, Rafael Carrillo, quien es productor de cacao además de cantante y músico, comenzó a tocar su cuatro y cantó para el público. Todos se unieron en coro para cantar la música conmovedora de los llanos de Arauca.  Afortunadamente, justo antes de los anuncios principales, volvió la energía y pudimos leer la lista de ganadores y subirlos al escenario para recibir sus certificados.

Entre los ganadores destacó la empresa Cacao Hunters con barras elaboradas con cacao proveniente de la finca local Villa Gaby en Arauquita y una edición limitada con cacao de un proyecto social del norte del Cauca. En la categoría de alto porcentaje, obtuvieron una plata con Hachimitsu 85%, una barra sin manteca de cacao ni lecitina agregada que captura la gama de genética fina que crece en la finca Villa Gaby en Arauquita.

En la categoría de chocolate amargo en microlotes, Mónica Gómez y su esposo Rafael Harb de Carlota Chocolat, una pequeña empresa de Bucaramanga, Santander, recibieron un Oro por una barra con un 70% de cacao proveniente de un solo agricultor en la emergente región del Meta, la mismo ganadora de Oro en el concurso de cacao Grano de Oro esa noche.

Este concurso celebra a las regiones productoras de cacao de Arauca, Antioquia, Cauca, Huila, Meta, Santander y a los transformadores de toda Colombia que compran cacao de manera responsable y valoran la trazabilidad. Entre los ganadores destacaron chocolates aromatizados con frutas de la costa húmeda del Pacífico como el borojó, que recibió un premio especial por bioma) y preparaciones culinarias tradicionales como la arepa de maíz pelao santandereana para una textura crujiente con la que la Maluwa obtuvo un bronce y un premio especial de gastronomía.

El cacao es la base de economías locales, del cambio social y cultural en Colombia, y es el tema del Salón del Cacao y Chocolate de Colombia que se celebra anualmente en el municipio de Arauquita junto al río Arauca, la frontera con la sufrida Venezuela.

Cuando el Salón comenzó hace once años, se celebraba bajo una carpa, a pocos pasos del lugar donde estaban los corrales para preciados toros y vacas para una feria ganadera paralela. La carpa se convirtió en un hermoso edificio y el Salón ha crecido hasta albergar conferencias profesionales sobre cacao y chocolate, actuaciones de artistas y músicos, importantes concursos, las clases de evaluación sensorial del Instituto Internacional de Cata de Chocolate y Cacao, y ahora en su tercer año, el 3er Concurso Nacional de Chocolate de Origen Colombiano, organizado en conjunto con los International Chocolate Awards.