New York - Media OutReach - 5 May 2015-Many people are wondering how To'ak Chocolate can charge USD$260 for a single bar of chocolate. New DNA tests confirm that one of the reasons is genetics; To'ak Chocolate is sourced from cacao trees that represent one of the last genetically-pure remnants of a rare heirloom variety called Nacional.

All of the elements of a To'ak Chocolate bar on display

Native to Ecuador and famous for its complex flavor profile, Nacional cacao was considered by many of Europe's earliest chocolatiers to be the world's most prized cacao in the 1800s. The variety was nearly driven to extinction in 1917 after the outbreak of Witch's Broom disease, and in recent years many experts did not believe that pure Nacional cacao trees still existed. Based in Ecuador, To'ak co-founders Jerry Toth and Carl Schweizer found a grove of Nacional cacao trees growing semi-wild in the valley of Piedra de Plata, deep in the hills of coastal Ecuador. The trees were planted at the turn of the century.

Toth and Schweizer brought leaf samples from the trees to research geneticists Dapeng Zhang and Lyndel Meinhardt at the USDA's Sustainable Perennial Crops Laboratory in the U.S. Genetic analysis by Zhang and Meinhardt confirmed the existence of the pure Nacional genotype among these samples. Dr. Dapeng Zhang writes, "Our hypothesis is that these trees represent the original Nacionalcacao cultivated in Ecuador before the 1920s. After that, most of the trees were destroyed by the [Witch's Broom] disease, and the original variety was replaced by hybrids, which are more disease resistant." 

Before co-founding To'ak, Toth co-founded Third Millennium Alliance, a rainforest conservation foundation in Ecuador. Now, Toth and Schweizer are working with cacao growers in Piedra de Plata to protect these rare Nacional cacao trees and sustain the genetic line through grafting and seed banks. 

To'ak produced only 574 bars of its inaugural edition and only 90 bars are still available. Each bar is packaged in a hand-crafted Spanish Elm wooden box that has the individual bar number engraved on the back. The box includes Spanish Elm tasting utensils and a 116-page booklet that provides a guide to the ritual of dark chocolate tasting and tells the story of the rare bean's sourcing.

The rules for dark chocolate tasting are like wine tasting. You always explore the aroma before tasting the chocolate. Also, you never chew; the chocolate should only be allowed to melt in the mouth. Toth and Schweizer organize elaborate chocolate tastings that incorporate aged cognac such as Remy Martin's Louis XIII cognac as a pairing. While the chocolate is still melting in the mouth, the cognac is tasted together with the chocolate to achieve an intriguing combination of flavors.

To'ak Chocolate is available worldwide at select retail stores and online at www.toakchocolate.com. Follow To'ak on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

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