Heirloom cacao is cacao designated by the Heirloom Cacao Preservation Fund (HCP) after its flavor passes an international tasting panel and its trees pass a site visit and genetic analysis.
HCP was launched in 2012 with the USDA Agricultural Research Service and the Fine Chocolate Industry Association, and lists more than 24 designations across 12 countries.
Heirloom cacao is cacao that the Heirloom Cacao Preservation Fund (HCP) has designated for exceptional flavor and confirmed genetics. HCP describes its mission as to identify, preserve and propagate endangered fine flavor heirloom cacao. It has worked since 2012, launched in partnership with the USDA Agricultural Research Service and the Fine Chocolate Industry Association. Its site counts more than 24 designations in 12 countries and more than 3,200 farmers connected through the program.
| Designation | Origin | Country | Year | Bursary sponsor |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| HCP #1 | Alto Beni | Bolivia | 2014 | Tony Caputo's Market & Deli |
| HCP #4 | Hawaii Agriculture Research Center (Kamananui) | USA | 2014 | The Chocolateers |
| HCP #7 | Maya Mountain Cacao | Belize | 2015 | Chocolate Maya |
| HCP #9 | Piedra de Plata | Ecuador | 2016 | To'ak Chocolate |
| HCP #13 | Pham Thanh Cong | Vietnam | 2016 | Marou |
| HCP #15 | Akesson's Bejofo Estate | Madagascar | 2018 | Akesson's Organic |
| HCP #16 | Puentespina Farms | Philippines | 2019 | Emily Lucchetti |
| HCP #25 | Novo Horizonte | Brazil | 2026 | Tony Caputo's Market & Deli |
Why heirloom cacao needs protecting
Most of the world's cacao is grown for volume. Farmers facing disease and low prices often replace old trees with high-yield clones, and the old flavor lines can disappear with them. Our piece on the cacao types tells that story through Ecuador's Nacional and the clone CCN-51. The International Cocoa Organization counts fine or flavor cocoa as a small share of world exports. HCP's answer is to find the trees worth keeping and give their growers a reason to keep them. As its page for chocolate makers notes, cacao can be as much as a third of a small farming family's yearly income.
How a farm earns the designation
The process is slow and careful, and HCP lays it out step by step. A grower sends a pre-application and then beans, and HCP takes at most 10 submissions in a cycle. Guittard Chocolate processes the beans into chocolate and liquor to HCP's protocols. Those go to the International HCP Tasting Panel for sensory analysis. Samples the panel recommends get a virtual site visit and a genetic analysis, and the results go straight to the farmer. Only after both check out is the designation granted, followed by a public ceremony with a guided tasting.
The order matters. Flavor comes first and genetics second, so a rare tree that tastes ordinary does not pass, and a delicious lot has to prove what it is. The genetics also connect to the modern map of cacao's ten genetic clusters, which our types explainer covers.
Where the designated cacao goes
HCP's map of origins reads like a list of craft chocolate's favorite places. To'ak Chocolate sponsored Piedra de Plata in Ecuador. Marou, the Vietnamese maker, sponsored two farms there. Akesson's sponsored its own Bejofo Estate in Madagascar. Maya Mountain Cacao in Belize, a fermentary our fermentation piece describes, holds HCP #7. The 2026 class adds Novo Horizonte in Brazil, two farms in Peru and Maui Kuia Estate in Hawaii.
HCP's Heirloom Fine Flavor Review from August 2026 profiles makers who use designated beans. Clandestine Chocolates in New Hampshire pairs Heirloom cacao with notes about migrating birds. Diego's Chocolate switched to beans from Kampura Farms in Guatemala, HCP #17. If you see "Heirloom" with an HCP number on a wrapper, you can look the farm up on that map and see exactly where your bar began.
Questions
What is the Heirloom Cacao Preservation Fund?
A nonprofit that identifies, preserves and propagates endangered fine flavor heirloom cacao, in its own words. It has worked since 2012 and was launched in partnership with the USDA Agricultural Research Service and the Fine Chocolate Industry Association.
How does cacao get Heirloom designation?
A grower applies and sends beans. Guittard Chocolate processes them into chocolate and liquor to HCP's protocols, an international tasting panel evaluates them, and recommended samples get a virtual site visit and a genetic analysis before designation.
How many Heirloom cacao designations are there?
HCP's site counts more than 24 designations in 12 countries, connecting more than 3,200 farmers. The first, HCP #1, went to Alto Beni in Bolivia in 2014.
Is Heirloom cacao the same as Criollo?
No. Heirloom is about flavor and genetic identity, whatever the variety. Designated origins include farms in Ecuador, Madagascar, Vietnam and Hawaii.
Which chocolate makers use Heirloom cacao?
HCP's own list of bursary sponsors includes To'ak Chocolate in Ecuador, Marou in Vietnam and Akesson's in Madagascar, and its 2026 review profiled makers such as Clandestine Chocolates and Diego's Chocolate.
- Heirloom Cacao Preservation Fund: About
- Heirloom Cacao Preservation Fund: Explore Heirloom origins
- Heirloom Cacao Preservation Fund: For farmers, the designation steps
- Heirloom Cacao Preservation Fund: For chocolatiers
- Heirloom Cacao Preservation Fund: Heirloom Fine Flavor Review, August 2026
- Fine Chocolate Industry Association
- ICCO: Fine or flavor cocoa
