Cover Criollo cacao with Chris Fadriga
Criollo cacao with Chris Fadriga
1 / 1
Find out how this farmer is preserving the ultra rare and highly sought after criollo cacao and to learn why the world’s top chocolatiers are seeking out this elusive bean from Negros
Local farmer Chris Fadriga is not a chocolatier, but he grows the award-winning Criollo cacao mother trees in his nursery and plantation in Bago City, Negros Occidental that those in the know cannot get enough of. The Criollo cacao variety has been recognised to possess the best quality beans that in turn are made into some of the finest chocolates in the world. The Philippines is finding its way back into its rightful place as one of the most highly regarded cacao producers in the world after the local industry fizzled out back in the 1980s. A pity, truly, considering that during the Spanish colonial period our colonisers were growing these Criollo cacao trees in their backyards.
Fadriga is highly instrumental in once again putting our local cacao producers on the map, going against the grain when demand at the time was all about quantity over quality. He was steadfast in gathering what were suspected Criollo varieties, growing them in his nursery, and giving them the care they needed to become the champion stock they are now. He shares with us how he did it and just as importantly, why.
See also: From, dad: top chefs share meaningful messages for their children
Above Criollo cacao with Chris Fadriga
Criollo cacao with Chris Fadriga
1 / 1
How did you get into farming cacao?
I was growing natural farm vegetables, working for a Japanese in Carmen, Cebu. He was a retired country manager for Pfizer and back then, we were producing naturally-farmed corn. We raised pigs using natural feeds, which we sold at Ayala Metro in Cebu. Over time, Toshi (my former Japanese boss) told me, “you need to look into cacao because the prospects for cacao in the future are looking very good.” He sent me to Davao to learn about cacao, and prior to that, I had zero knowledge about it, as in none at all. Charito Puentespina of Malagos Chocolate was already my friend then because we were both farming flowers and ornamental plants before, and we would go on buying trips together to Hawaii and the US mainland. I told her my boss wanted me to learn about caca,o so she invited me to the farm. At the time, American brand Mars Chocolate was doing a promotional tour, and they were at Malagos teaching farmers about cacao. I did a four-day seminar there, and the Mars people were really pushing for quantity— they wanted bigger beans, teaching farmers to properly process them. They were pushing for the Trinitario cacao variety that was in demand by the MNCs because their beans are bigger, and they buy by weight. They don’t care about the quality as long as it’s big.
What made you shift your focus to growing Criollo cacao in which is reputed to be the most prized cacao variety in the world?
So back in Carmen, we started growing Trinitario cacao, but on my own time, I started doing my own research, and I found out that the Philippines was a beneficiary of the first cacao plant outside of Mesoamerica during the galleon trade. This piqued my curiosity, and I wondered if perhaps we still have remnants of these original cacao plants from Latin America. When I started asking around in Davao, where 80 per cent of cacao in the Philippines is grown, I asked about the criollo variety and they told me it was a losing proposition. According to them, the trend was to grow hybrids because the buyers wanted bigger seeds and vigorous trees. However, I found out that for several hundred years, the Philippines was actually only growing criollo exclusively when the country was under Spanish rule. While the friars were building churches all around the Philippines, they also brought their criollo cacao trees with them and planted them where they lived so they had their steady supply of hot chocolate. So, I knew we still had criollo in the country, and it encouraged me to keep looking.
Above Criollo cacao with Chris Fadriga
Criollo cacao with Chris Fadriga
1 / 1
How were you able to find this rare cacao variety in the Philippines?
According to my research, Criollo cacao has a distinct white or light pink coloured bean and that’s how one can identify it. I started searching for it in Cebu, stopping at houses on the way to my farm in Barili that had cacao trees in their backyard. I would do a test and cut through the bean to check if it was a white bean, which indicated it was the Criollo variety. It took a while, but most were violet, which means it’s a fusion with the Trinitario. I widened my search by posting inquiries on the internet, and I got replies, usually from Japanese, European, and American chocolatiers. It was a chocolatier from Japan who came to visit me and I asked him why he was so interested, and he said that there is already a larger demand for healthier chocolate options. So the key is to use better quality cacao, which means less sugar is needed. Criollo is known to be the least bitter of all the cacao varieties, making healthier, more nutritious chocolates that need less sweeteners. The Japanese came back with more chocolatiers, and they came back several times.
Eventually, it just had a life of its own, and the operation grew organically. When I saw the growing interest, I started reaching out to more farmers here who have seen the rare white/pink cacao and started gathering them. I would go to them, and do a bean cut test, take a scion from the criollo plant, and then graft it to the rootstock. This crossbreed gives the plant a better advantage with the superior quality of the criollo but with the more vigorous roots of a trinitario or forastero. This grafting will not affect the quality of the criollo beans, it will just be an exact clone.
Were people always supportive of your endeavours?
Actually, when I told farmers in Davao about what I was doing with the criollo trees, they said it was going to be difficult, or even downright impossible. But, I would sometimes see a criollo tree growing next to a utility kitchen, not in its ideal environment and not really being taken care of. Of course, you compare it to a trinitario, which is a hybrid and given the proper care and fertilisers out on a field, of course, it will thrive. So, I thought perhaps with the right care, it would also be possible to grow criollo at a commercial level.
See also: June 2025 Dining Radar: New restaurants, cafés, and bars to try this month
Above Criollo cacao with Chris Fadriga
Criollo cacao with Chris Fadriga
1 / 1
When did your endeavours start to bear fruit, both literally and figuratively? What are your plans for your criollo cacao trees?
I started growing criollo mother trees here in Bago City, and when they started to bear fruit, Ms. Charito asked, “Chris, why don’t you enter your beans in a competition?” Because nobody knew about criollo since it was not being grown commercially. That way we will know exactly what this Criollo is all about. So, we joined the regional competition in Iloilo, and our winning beans were sent to Davao. At the Philippine Cacao Quality Awards, it’s usually the Mindanao farmers who are always in contention. That year, though, when we joined in Davao, one of the judges was pastry chef Jill Sandique. She called me after and said she was “intrigued” by my criollo beans. She said that when she opened the buds, she knew the cacao was a cut above the rest and that it would be a “rockstar” in international competitions.
However, I'm not a chocolatier; I am just a farmer. I would not really know the difference between the quality of chocolate my beans will produce from other good chocolates. (Author’s note: he does sell his own chocolates in small quantities and they are actually quite exceptional.) But others have sent them abroad— to competitions in Italy, and then in France. October 2021, our criollo beans made it to the top 50 cacao beans in the world out of 256 entries!
Other farmers now come here to get my criollo plants to grow in their farms, because of course, they want to grow trees that have already won awards and are proven to bear good fruit. I am also working on a partnership with another farmer and businessman who has set aside 100 hectares of land to grow criollo trees here in Negros.
Topics
Jaclyn Clemente Koppe is a food and lifestyle writer, as well as a consultant to some of the country’s beloved food and beverage brands. Her passion for food and drink is only surpassed by her devotion to her family, most especially to her soulmate, Pepa the poodle.
