Sur del Lago
A cacao growing region in Venezuela.
Venezuelanuttyfloralcaramel
The southern basin of Lake Maracaibo in western Venezuela, and the home of Porcelana — the pale-bean Criollo type that is among the most expensive cacao in the world. The area's association with fine Criollo material goes back to the seventeenth-century European trade.
- Country
- Venezuela
- Also known as
- Maracaibo basin, South of the Lake
- Flavour families
- nutty, floral, caramel
Terroir
Hot, humid lowland at the southern end of the lake, with alluvial soils. Plantings are small and low-yielding, and disease pressure is high.
Flavour character
Porcelana material from here is often associated with very low bitterness and astringency, with nutty, creamy and delicately floral character.
InferredSource: ChocolateHQ
How much of the mildness is genetic and how much follows from the exceptional care given to very expensive beans is not separable in the evidence consulted.
Other regions in Venezuela
Related
Part of
- VenezuelaThe southern basin of Lake Maracaibo in western Venezuela, and the home of Porcelana — the pale-bean Criollo type that is among the most expensive cacao in the world.
Varieties planted here
- PorcelanaDocumented as planted in this region, though plantings within a region are rarely uniform and material is frequently mixed. Sur del Lago — The southern basin of Lake Maracaibo in western Venezuela, and the home of Porcelana — the pale-bean Criollo type that is among the most expensive cacao in the world.
- CriolloDocumented as planted in this region, though plantings within a region are rarely uniform and material is frequently mixed. Sur del Lago — The southern basin of Lake Maracaibo in western Venezuela, and the home of Porcelana — the pale-bean Criollo type that is among the most expensive cacao in the world.
Sources
- ChocolateHQ editorial synthesis — ChocolateHQ(citation identity confirmed; passage not re-read)