Words and photo by Nick Meador. Photo: Ruk'u'x Ulew founder Ceclia Mendoza Chiyal speaking in 2022.
You may have noticed that the price for a package of Heart of the Earth cacao has risen a lot recently.
There are some contributing factors affecting all the cacao varieties we carry, like global inflation and a 2023/2024 season drought that reduced supply drastically.
However the case with Heart of the Earth (HOTE) is unique.
They had someone helping them with business operations until 2022, which involved evaluating their back-end costs to determine their wholesale price. But unfortunately they've been without that sort of help in the meantime.
As a result, they didn't increase their price at all in those two years, not realizing how unsustainable it was for them. They spent some months in 2024 evaluating what changes they would need to make, finally announcing their new prices. Cecilia explains it herself in a video shared on our Instagram.
Their wholesale rate is now the highest of any cacao that we carry, and the retail price we sell it for will reflect that.
This is quite a change from when HOTE was the lowest-priced variety we carry. Soon it will be the highest price we carry.
Our prices are entirely determined by the wholesale price that the indigenous cacao producers set for their own products. It's important to use not to exert too much influence over what they decide for themselves. It's a real human relationship, not just a financial or commercial one.
Ruk'u'x Ulew (pronounced roo-koosh oo-ley-oo, which means Heart of the Earth in their Maya Kaq'chikel dialect) is the one indigenous group we work with that is not only 100% Mayan, but 100% female owned and operated. The cacao blocks are made fully by hand, except for the grind in a mechanical mill.
This keeps a lot more money at the source compared to factory-made chocolate products, which are sometimes wrongfully called "ceremonial cacao."
Our whole mission is about humanitarian support and social justice in pre-Hispanic cacao-growing nations that have been harmed so much by foreign exploitation.
At the same time, we know that is affects our customers and it can be hard to explain why our products are priced the way they are.
Please see this article to better understand that and how our cacao is more ethical than even so-called "fair trade."
Thank you for supporting this model authentic ceremonial cacao sourced through ethical direct trade.
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