When I took ownership of this farm, I inherited more than land and trees. I inherited also a responsibility I had not anticipated - one that made everything about what we are doing here more complex and, at the same time, more meaningful than I had imagined possible.
Beneath the soil where our cacao grows, there is a 2,300-year-old pre-Columbian site. Its name is Caju. In the Maleku language (the language of the indigenous people of this region) Caju means cacao.
The fact that a site named for cacao was found on a working cacao farm is the kind of detail that stops you and makes you think about what you are really part of.
WHAT WAS FOUND
During cacao planting operations at Finca Blue Valley in Llano Azul, ceramic fragments began emerging from the soil. The decision was made to report them to the National Museum of Costa Rica rather than stay quiet. That was the right decision, and the right way to handle it.
The National Museum investigated and registered the site as a new archaeological monument: Caju, A-549 Ca. The ceramics are associated with the Ron Ron phase - a pre-Columbian cultural period dating from approximately 300 BC to 300 AD. The site covers approximately 6,300 square meters of dispersed pre-Hispanic ceramic remains. It is protected under Costa Rica's Ley N6703. Case reference: Arqueologia 2019-075.
No negative impact was found on the site. The cacao trees growing above it now act as a natural protection - their root systems stabilize the soil and prevent the kind of earthworks that would disturb what lies beneath. For the next 20 to 25 years, the trees are the guardians.
The National Museum commended the proactive reporting. We are proud of that. But what struck me more deeply was what the discovery meant beyond the archaeology.
WHAT IT MADE EVERYTHING
Learning about Caju made our work here more complex. We had to navigate the legal process, engage the government, work with the antiquities department, and review the certifications that come with being the steward of a registered archaeological monument. That is not simple. It takes time and care to do correctly.
But it also made our work more interesting - genuinely, deeply interesting - in a way I did not expect.
We talk about protecting people and planet. We talk about our responsibility to the land, to the ecosystem, to the communities around us. The Caju site made me realize that protecting people and planet includes protecting the knowledge and legacy of people who are no longer here. The Ron Ron culture that left those ceramic fragments in the ground beneath our cacao trees is gone. Their physical presence on this land ended roughly 1,700 years ago. But the evidence of their lives is still here. And we are responsible for it.
That responsibility is not a burden. It is an honor.
We continue to find fragments on the property - pottery, shards, pieces of a world that existed on this land long before any of us. If you visit the farm, you can see some of these pieces for yourself. They sit quietly alongside the cacao trees, two histories occupying the same ground.
THE RON RON AND THE MALEKU
This is where the story of our farm and the story of our name meet.
The Ron Ron people are gone. A culture that once lived on this land, that named things here, that built their world in this valley - they disappeared. Their language, their knowledge, their way of being in this place: lost.
The Maleku people are still here. But only just.
There are approximately 650 Maleku people remaining on earth. They live across three communities on a reservation in northern Costa Rica, not far from where our farm sits. They are one of the last indigenous groups in this region, and there is a real possibility that within a generation they could go the way of the Ron Ron - their language fading, their knowledge unrecorded, their story no longer told.
When I decided to keep the name as Maleku Chocolate, I did not make that decision lightly. I went to Jakhima, one of the leaders of the three Maleku communities, and I asked him directly what he thought about us using the name. He wanted us to use it.
Not as a formality. Not as a courtesy. He wanted us to use it because he understood that a name on a product - on a bar of chocolate that travels the world - carries a story with it. He felt it would help get the Maleku people's story out to a wider audience that the community alone, at 650 people, simply cannot reach.
That conversation changed the way I think about what we are making here. A chocolate bar is not just a bar. It is a carrier of place, of history, of people. Every bar of Maleku Chocolate that someone picks up anywhere in the world carries the name of a community that is fighting to survive. That matters. We take it seriously.
WHY WE ARE DIFFERENT
Most chocolate companies talk about sustainability in terms of carbon and packaging. We are as committed to those things as anyone. But our version of protecting people and planet runs deeper than that.
It includes the Ron Ron people, whose ceramic fragments we protect beneath our cacao trees.
It includes the Maleku people, whose name we carry and whose story we are committed to telling.
It includes the ecosystem - the animals, the endemic species, the soil - that we are rebuilding on land that was depleted before we arrived.
And it includes you, the person holding the bar. Because clean food from a protected farm, made with care for everyone and everything that touches it, is what we believe chocolate should be.
We are the only chocolate maker in the world to protect a certified pre-Columbian archaeological monument on its working farmland. We did not plan it that way. But we are glad it is true, and we will honor that responsibility for as long as we farm this land.
COME AND SEE
If you visit our farm at Llano Azul, we will show you Caju. We will show you what the fragments look like, where they were found, and what the cacao trees growing above them mean for the protection of the site. We will tell you about the Ron Ron and the Maleku, and about what it means to make chocolate on land with this history beneath it.
Some stories are best told in the place where they happened.
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FAQ
Q: What is the Caju archaeological site?
A: Caju (A-549 Ca) is a registered pre-Columbian archaeological monument on the Blue Valley Chocolate farm at Llano Azul, Alajuela Province, Costa Rica. Associated with the Ron Ron cultural phase (300 BC - 300 AD), the site covers approximately 6,300 square meters of dispersed pre-Hispanic ceramic remains. It is protected under Costa Rica's Ley N6703. The word Caju means cacao in the Maleku language.
Q: Who are the Maleku people?
A: The Maleku are an indigenous people of northern Costa Rica. Approximately 650 Maleku people remain on earth, living across three communities on a reservation in the region. Their language and cultural heritage are at risk of disappearing within a generation. The Maleku Chocolate brand name was chosen with the explicit blessing of Jakhima, one of the leaders of the Maleku communities, who wanted the name to carry their story to a wider world.
Q: Is Blue Valley Chocolate the only chocolate maker with an archaeological site on its farm?
A: To our knowledge, Blue Valley Chocolate is the only chocolate maker in the world to protect a certified pre-Columbian archaeological monument on its working farmland.
Q: Can visitors see the archaeological site?
A: Yes. During the farm tour at Finca Blue Valley in Llano Azul, visitors can see ceramic fragments found on the property and learn about the Caju site, the Ron Ron phase, and the connection to the Maleku people. Book the farm tour
