PHYSICAL AND ORGANOLEPTIC CHARACTERISTICS
EVALUATION ..................................................................3.5 
SWEET FRUITY .................................................................. 2.5
CITRUS FRUITY .................................................................. 2.0
FLORAL....................................................................... 1.0
ACRIOLLADO.................................................................... 2.0
COCOA ......................................................................... 2.5
FOREST ........................................................................ 2.0
SPICES ......................................................... 0.0
ANNUAL PRODUCTION (MT) .......................................................... 17
MAIN CROP ............................................................ DEC-MAY
MID CROP ........................................................ JUL-AUG
CRIOLLO BEANS .................................................................... 30%
FERMENTED BEANS .................................................................. 89%
PURPLE BEANS ..................................................................... 9%
SLATY BEANS ...................................................................... 2%
TOTAL ............................................................. 100%
Beans / 100 g.: .................................................................. 90
g./1 Bean: .................................................................. 1,11 g
CERTIFICATION .................................................................. YES
AWARDS .................................................................. YES
Malt • Peanut • Nut
Cacao
Wood
Fuente: Ing. Ms. Gladys Ramos
The cacao Gran Palo Blanco possess high genetics of "Marañon Nacional", around 30% of white cacao beans that provide its quality and aroma.
The predominant tonality in the beans is the bright brown colour, and when cutting transversely we can see grains of white ivory colour, as well as, light and dark brown.
Its cut analysis reveal, fermented beans (± 89%), with violet beans (± 9%) and slate beans (± 2%).
In relation to its weight generally, 90 beans weight around 100 grams, that is to say that each bean weighs 1.11 gr.
Fruity of plums, floral herbal infusions, toasted walnuts and panela malt, stand out in a soft cacao background and acidity of citrus fruits. These are the notes that enhance the map of flavours of this special cacao that grows under the shade of fruit trees such as avocado, sapote and banana trees; This cacao receives superficial irrigation through canals of water from the region of Piura, transferring abundant nutrients that round off its sensorial profile said Ing Ms Gladys Ramos.
Gran Palo Blanco is special cacao and recognized for its delicate flavours, aromas and fragrances.
These cacao beans are bright brown, with sweet and fruity acidity that remains, with a touch of nuts such as dry plums, medium rounded body, with strong chocolate flavour, presence of malt notes and nuts It is a cacao of low astringency and bitterness, with a creamy texture.
The sweet aroma of the “algarrobos” trees, the freshness and protection of the sapote where the diversity of the wild flora and fauna, infuse the exquisite sensorial notes of the cacao typical of the oasis of the region of Palo Blanco, said Ing Ms Gladys Ramos.
Gran Palo Blanco is a very special cocoa. The post-harvest process begins in the farms with the harvesting of the cacao pods, the beans are place in jute sacks and drained for 24 hours, then transferred to the collection centre of the community, where a specialist receives the cacao, weighs it, and place the cacao into to the fermentation boxes, carefully following the protocol established according to the characteristics of the selected cocoa.
Trinitario &
Criollo
Box type: Wood
Turn-around frequency: Every 24 hours
Trinitario & 
Criollo
Floor type: wood beds and cement floors
Humidity: 7%
Gran Palo Blanco has the Certificates Fairtrade, Direct Trade and Orgánic EU.
In the year 2014 he obtained the Gold Cacao Award from the "Asociación Peruana de Productores de Cacao".
The community Cesar Vallejo of Palo Blanco is located west of Piura, about one hour and a half in a 4 x 4 vehicle, in these area about 30 years ago, Don Juan de la Cruz Rivera Olemar planted its first cacao trees, "the parachutist who landed in his farm, "as described by Luis Paucar, in his article in the magazine Publico.
Don Juan de la Cruz, was one of the first cocoa farmers in Palo Blanco, where one of the best Peruvians cacao is now produced. He never imagined, that those first trees would make him worthy of the most prestigious award for smallholders cacao producers, the Gold Cacao Award 2014 given to the best cacaos of the Peruvian Nation.
The producer, proud of his past has a tattoo of a supersonic warplane on his left arm. It was done in 1976, shortly after serving in the command and special force in group 6 of the Air Force, in Chiclayo. Familiar and cheerful man, aged 65, has four daughters: Melba, Mery, Sara, Cindy, and a son, Joel.
Don Juan standing under a flowering cacao tree, remembers his jumps as a parachutist and raises his sleeve, then you can see the tattoo of a Mirage made in France, the country that years later, many years later, when he became one of the first cocoa producer in Piura, would be its main market.
Today the community is organized under the name: Association of Producers Cesar Vallejo of Palo Blanco, they have a modern Collection Centre and are part of Norandino, Don Juan promoted the organization of the community, to grow more and better cocoa, under strict controls of quality and with fermentation protocols adapted to the cocoa of the zone.
Most of the farms in the community have less than a hectare of extension, and irrigation is done by gravity with water that comes from the surrounding mountains, Palo Blanco is like an oasis, where under the shadows of trees of mangoes kent, Bananas and orange trees, they produce an exceptional cocoa.
Harvesting and post-harvest treatment is standardized. In the small farms, the cocoa is harvest only when the cacao pods are completely mature, the beans are place in jute sacks and drained for 24 hours then transferred to the collection centre. A specialist weights the beans and check the quality, then poured them into large wooden boxes where they are fermented for six days.
After fermentation, the cocoa beans are spreads over wooden beds or floors of polished cement, for a drying period between 5 to 6 days. Two hours in full sun and the rest of the day under shade. On the third day of drying, cocoa is exposed to the sun all day. Exposure times are rigorous and carefully monitored. At this point the moisture evaporates and the seed reaches an optimal state.
The fauna and flora of Palo Blanco is diverse and the cocoa grows under the shade of orange, mangoes and banana trees, in the oasis that are formed at the foothills of the dry forests of the region.
Species of “algarrobos” and “zapotes” can be appreciated in the area and in general, a Dry Forests of “algarrobos”, “guayacán” and “hualtacos”, predominate in this area of the High Piura.
In the riverbeds there are “epiphytic” and “quinonal” trees, inhabited mostly by various species of birds, reptiles and by some mammals such as deer and bears.
In the Dry Forests, plants have had to learn to live from the opportunity, large green trees, that dominate the forest like thick-walled lookouts and store water in their thick trunks to survive along the endless drought periods.
The wild fauna present in the area is typical of the Dry Forests of Northwest Peru, finding endemic and threatened species, such as red headed parrot, parakeet, white-throated squirrel, iguanas and the white-tailed deer.
Thanks to the effort of the “Cesar Vallejo Association”, 200 hectares of the community were declared in 2016, Private Conservation Area, ensuring the enjoyment and correct management of the flora and fauna resources of the Dry Forest of the Zone.
Luis Paucar sums it up in this way, one day in mid-2007, a foreign importer came to Chulucanas to see mango production in the area and found out, to his surprise, cacao plantations more than a thousand kilometres north of Lima.
This importer also discovered that in that area, called Palo Blanco, there were small plantations that also extended to places like Chililique Alto, San Juan de Bigote, Platanal Bajo and Charanal. This is how he asked to his engineers to investigate the cacao potential of Piura because he wanted to know the quality of those cacao beans, and perhaps to buy them.
Since the smallholder producers did not have money, to check the quality of their cacao beans, the “Centro de Investigación y Promoción del Campesinado, Cipca, financed a study to Norandino, and they visited each sector, community and farmer and organized the producers.
When they visited Don Juan de la Cruz Rivera, who, by that time already had 185 mothers plants of cacao, and was selling its cacao beans in Chulucanas without knowing that from there they went to Ecuador to be exported to the United States, to be sold as excellent Ecuadorian cacao.
When the importer understood and fully appreciated the qualities of the cacao beans of the area, he started buying from the smallholders’ producers of Palo Blanco.
According to Juan de la Cruz, "I entered the organization and we became an association. Then I began to put a lot, a lot, a lot of effort and effort ", in the farm that was named to honour of its mother " Nicolasa ". The first export they made together was seven tons and went to Germany.
Rivera was responsible for starting to talk about Theobroma Cacao in this part of the country.
Today through the support of our allies Norandino, we export directly to the best chocolatiers in the world the Ultra-Premium cacao: Gran Palo Blanco.
SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
The main objective is to collaborate and enrich communities, and to be a promoter of good agricultural practices. All of this is made possible thanks to the contribution and union with the PROSPERI FOUNDATION, a non-profit organization, committed to maintaining and promoting the historical, cultural values and agricultural aspects of Venezuela. Through educational programs like "Back to the Farm", the foundation demonstrates that the cultivation of cocoa, is a profitable profession that generates social change.