Mission Chocolate Brazil 70% Dark with Cupuaçu

Born in Los Angeles, CA to Mexican immigrants, Arcelia Gallardo has spent most of her time in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and the rest in California. Proudly a farmer's daughter, she has been working with chocolate for 20 years as a chocolatier, chocolate maker, and chocolate consultant/teacher.

She has studied chocolate and cacao in 23 countries; from boutique chocolatiers in Paris to isolated communities in the jungles of the Amazon Rainforest. She has worked with Zapotec women in Oaxaca, Maya women in Guatemala and Belize, Ngäbe women in Panama, and Inca women in Peru.

Her goal is to make delicious chocolate recipes that have never been done before while respecting the farms, farmers and the environment. In addition to chocolate making, she travels through Latin America to work with cacao growers, chocolate makers, chocolatiers, and to teach indigenous women to make chocolate. A leader in the craft chocolate industry, she is a co-founder and past president of the Associação Bean to Bar Brasil, Advisor with the James Beard Foundation, past Co-Chair of the Good Food Awards (Chocolate) in San Francisco, California, and past judge for the Northwest Chocolate Festival Awards in Seattle, Washington.