Jeanmarie Chocolat
Donation protected
Juan and Maria are the masterminds behind Jeanmarie Chocolat.
In the summer of 2009, Juan and Maria started the development of the gourmet chocolate industry in Puerto Rico with a mission to provide the finest gourmet cacao by using scientifically selected crops from Puerto Rican cacao trees. This project also included other goals such as providing food sustainability to the island and promoting clean and organic agriculture projects based on eco-friendly methods such as permaculture, renewable energy, among others.
"We have always loved chocolate but cacao was not locally grown in Puerto Rico. We discovered wildly grown cocoa pods at our parents's farms and started confectioning our first chocolate bar." - Juan Echevarria, Jeanmarie Chocolat's Founder
After a lot of sacrifices and hard work, the Hacienda Jeanmarie Chocolat started to grow and with it, Juan developed the initiative “Proyecto Pais”. It consisted in offering seminars, education and supporting other farmers in the island. The motivation to do so is that Juan visualized a strong and cooperative Agriculture project for the island by helping individual families to start their own agriculture projects based on selected cacao crops combined with other sustainable crops. The mission of Proyecto Pais is that the gourmet cacao produced by Puerto Rican families is managed and exported to international Chocolatiers to create a sustainable economy for the island.
During September 2017, Hurricane Maria destroyed the farms and tropical forests in Puerto Rico. Hacienda Jeanmarie Chocolat suffered major damages, including the production facilities and scientifically selected cacao crops that were ready to produce a considerable amount of gourmet cocoa in 2018.
We hope to recover the farm and the facilities that were destroyed by the hurricane in order to keep going with the mission of Proyecto Pais, helping Puerto Rican families and restoring the Agriculture Industry in the island that was devastated.
With your help, hard work and dedication, we can make this possible!
Thanks a lot!
Jeanmarie Chocolat Team
In the summer of 2009, Juan and Maria started the development of the gourmet chocolate industry in Puerto Rico with a mission to provide the finest gourmet cacao by using scientifically selected crops from Puerto Rican cacao trees. This project also included other goals such as providing food sustainability to the island and promoting clean and organic agriculture projects based on eco-friendly methods such as permaculture, renewable energy, among others.
"We have always loved chocolate but cacao was not locally grown in Puerto Rico. We discovered wildly grown cocoa pods at our parents's farms and started confectioning our first chocolate bar." - Juan Echevarria, Jeanmarie Chocolat's Founder
After a lot of sacrifices and hard work, the Hacienda Jeanmarie Chocolat started to grow and with it, Juan developed the initiative “Proyecto Pais”. It consisted in offering seminars, education and supporting other farmers in the island. The motivation to do so is that Juan visualized a strong and cooperative Agriculture project for the island by helping individual families to start their own agriculture projects based on selected cacao crops combined with other sustainable crops. The mission of Proyecto Pais is that the gourmet cacao produced by Puerto Rican families is managed and exported to international Chocolatiers to create a sustainable economy for the island.
During September 2017, Hurricane Maria destroyed the farms and tropical forests in Puerto Rico. Hacienda Jeanmarie Chocolat suffered major damages, including the production facilities and scientifically selected cacao crops that were ready to produce a considerable amount of gourmet cocoa in 2018.
We hope to recover the farm and the facilities that were destroyed by the hurricane in order to keep going with the mission of Proyecto Pais, helping Puerto Rican families and restoring the Agriculture Industry in the island that was devastated.
With your help, hard work and dedication, we can make this possible!
Thanks a lot!
Jeanmarie Chocolat Team
Organizer and beneficiary
Jeanmarie Chocolat
Organizer
Añasco, PR
Juan Echevarria
Beneficiary
