El Rey Chocolates

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Chocolates El Rey is a Venezuelan chocolatier international company established in 1927. Its a family business and the best chocolate manufacturers in Venezuela. Its president is Jorge Redmond Schlageter, based in Caracas, Venezuela.

[edit] History

1973 The Zozaya family and the Redmond family become partners. The company changes from a family enterprise to a stock company, which now has a new name: Chocolates El Rey, C.A., the same brand as the products processed in the factory.

1974 First transformation of the company. This occurs when the processing technology is improved and the exportation of cacao derivatives (cacao liquor, cacao butter and cacao powder) increases.

1975 The Venezuelan government monopolizes the marketing of cacao in Venezuela in detriment of the generations of Venezuelans that made history by placing Venezuelan cacao in the world markets.

1979 The construction of a new factory begins in Cumana. State of Sucre, with the intention of transferring all the operations there. At that time, the city of Cumana absorbed 60% of the national production.

1980 The government changes the rules of the game in so far as cacao prices are concerned by favoring the export of the cacao grain. The company is forced to abandon its exporting efforts and to focus exclusively on the domestic market.

1989 After a stable but limited growth period, Chocolates El Rey, C.A. quickly reacts to a new government initiative: to lead the country along the path of a market economy. A second transformation in foreign trade takes place in the country; this time, it is based on the comparative advantages of Venezuelan cacao in an effort to become competitive within a regional and world economic integration scheme.

1995 Inauguration of the new factory in Barquisimeto, Lara State, where all the industrial operations are now integrated. A new international stage of the company begins with the first exports to the United States.

1997 Massive consumption products are inaugurated and exports are made to Colombia, Surinam, Trinidad, Curacao and Aruba.

1998 Chocolate exports are made to Japan.

1999 The Venezuelan massive consumption market is explored with a new line of confectionery.

2001 Chocolates El Rey, C.A. is awarded the ISO-9002 certification (given by Fondonorma) thereby ratifying the company's high quality standards in accordance with the requirements of the Venezuelan COVENIN ISO Standard.

[edit] The Venezuelan Chocolate

On small plantations, in secluded coastal valleys, the grassy plains and the foothills of the Andes, generations of Venezuelan farmers have developed the art of nurturing the finest varieties of criollo and trinitario cacao.

For centuries experts have agreed on one basic truth: Venezuelan cacao is the most flavorful and aromatic in the world. And El Rey uses only 100% Venezuelan cacao, fermented and sun dried, and processed using state-of-the-art technology. From this marriage of art and science are born unique chocolate couvertures that redefine world standards of excellence.

An exceptional chocolate starts with the land, but it takes the art and science of man and a long journey from plantation to glistening factory to turn a humble heap of cacao beans into a luscious chocolate bar.

Chocolate is made from the beans of a beautiful tropical plant with a suggestive name, Theobroma cacao - The Food of the Gods. Cacao grows in humid, warm forests around the world sheltered by a canopy of taller trees.

A mature tree will bear between twenty to forty pods a year. Each pod contains from twenty to forty almond shaped beans enveloped by a mucilaginous ivory tinged substance with a delicious tart flavor. Depending on the variety, a cacao tree will produce between one to three kilos of dried beans per year.

The Spanish conquistadors were fascinated by the hearty chocolate beverages they found in the lands of the Maya and the Aztecs. Their detailed accounts contributed to association of cacao with Mexico. Yet the birthplace of cacao is South America.

[edit] Types of Venezuelan Cacao

• Criollo: It is located in the South of Lake Maracaibo and in the foothills of the Venezuelan Andes. The King of Cacao, criollo is considered to have the finest flavor and aroma. In Pre-Columbian times criollo, traveled north to Central America and the Caribbean. The Spaniards who knew a good cacao when they saw one took it across the world as far as Asia. Today, criollo is in danger of extinction and of being replaced by high yielding, disease resistant forastero. Criollo pods are usually deeply ridged, warty, and with pointed ends. When the criollo beans are cut open, the cotyledons range from pure white to shades of pink. When properly fermented, the criollo beans dry to a tan color and exude a distinct chocolate aroma. Venezuelan criollo are highly appreciated by chocolate connoisseurs for their lack of bitterness and astringency, and their pure, lingering chocolate taste.

• Forastero: It is located in Western and Central Amazonia. The Cacao Forastero is a sturdy, disease-resistant Amazonian cacao. When cut open the cotyledons have a deep purple color. This pigment is given by substances that impart a bitter, acid, and astringent flavor to the forastero beans. Today, forastero is the cacao of choice in the large commercial plantations of Africa, Asia, and Brazil.

• Trinitario: It is Born in the island of Trinidad from the crossing between Forastero and criollo cacao. Since the eighteenth century, trinitarios grow in Eastern Venezuela and sell at a premium at the world cacao market.