A Tasty Collaboration
During May, Caputo's did a limited release of 250 Wild Criollo bars as part of their Guardians of Wild Cacao chocolate bar series.
The Collaboration from BFREE's Perspective - by Jacob Marlin The first time BFREE made chocolate bars with our 100% wild Criollo cacao beans in any quantity was through a collaboration with the Guittard Chocolate Company and the Heirloom Cacao Preservation Fund (HCP) in 2018. BFREE staff member, Elmer Tzalam, harvested about two hundred pounds of wet beans from roughly 50 wild cacao trees scattered throughout the BFREE reserve over the course of five months. We fermented and dried small batches, eventually ending up with 80 pounds of dried beans. Guittard graciously used their facilities to manufacture the bars. Only about 225 bars were made. They were brought to a gathering of obsessed chocolate lovers at the Fine Chocolate Industry Association (FCIA) annual gathering in San Francisco as part of an awareness and fundraising initiative to promote HCP. I was quite curious what the response would be from this enclave of fine chocolate enthusiasts.
I’ll never forget while standing at the HCP table, up walks Matt and Yelena Caputo of Caputo's Market and Deli. They had purchased and tasted the chocolate bar, and inquired about the story behind the beans, and with excitement they expressed they had never tasted chocolate quite like this. They simply loved it! That conversation ignited a mutual desire to one day work together to create a special bar to be released to a much broader audience.
Since that first meeting, we have stayed in touch, with Matt asking me periodically, “How many tons of beans do you have?” and “Are you ready to make and share this phenomenal story and chocolate with the world?” My answer was always the same, “Sorry Matt, our harvest is just way too small, but our farm is growing. Maybe next year.”
Criollo cacao grown at BFREE has been genetically tested and is determined to be 100% pure criollo cacao, one of the few pure cacao types known on the planet. Pods shown here represent each of the four phenotypes found in the wild.
Finally in 2024 I called up Matt and said, “We’re ready, we have the beans, let’s make a splash and get this incredible story out there.” BFREE had spent the last six years tirelessly developing our cacao agroforestry program finally leading to producing enough pure Criollo cacao beans that our shared vision of creating a specialty bar could be actualized. Matt was excited as ever, and the work began. We shipped 200 pounds of beans from Belize to Lithuania, where Domantas Uzpalis, Master Chocolate maker from Chocolate Naïve did his magic.
The packaging was designed by Caputo’s with input from BFREE; we were finally ready to share this unique treasure with the world.
This partnership came to fruition as an online special event on May 22, 2025, and was attended by over 100 people who were eager to hear the story, ask questions and to taste this much anticipated rare chocolate bar. Several chocolate makers and guests were featured, including myself, Domantas, and of course, with Matt and Yelena at the helm.
Working with the Caputo Family has been such a joy. I couldn’t be happier with the results, and I am so thankful to everyone who has participated in making this dream become a reality. The feedback has been tremendous, with most people telling me this chocolate is the best chocolate they have ever tasted. I couldn’t agree more.
Yelena and Matt Caputo hosted the live tasting event on May 22, 2025
The chocolate was made in Lithuania by master chocolate maker, Domantas Uzpalis.
The Wild Criollo bar sold out within a few weeks and is slated for a second release in the coming weeks.
Tasting kits for the May online event included wild chocolate bars from Belize, Brazil and Bolivia, as well as and other treats.
Matt Caputo describes criollo cacao in this Instagram video. Click the photo to watch the video.
This collaboration, culminating in the release of our Wild Criollo Chocolate Bar, is more than chocolate. It's a shared mission. The rarest cacao, discovered by BFREE’s Jacob Marlin and alchemized into chocolate by Domantas Uzpalis of Chocolate Naive, this bar embodies our commitment to telling the stories of threatened ingredients that deserve our attention. Through Caputo's Preservation Program, 100% of sales are donated back to BFREE to support their vital conservation and research efforts.
This is a bar decades in the making and a symbol of what’s possible when passionate people come together to protect the past for the future.
