Keepers of Ancient Cacao

In the deep rainforests of Central and South America, traversable only by river and inhabited only by wildlife, ancient secrets lie in wait. Cacao trees, their ripe golden pods gleaming like treasure, hint at the bygone civilizations that considered this food a divine gift.

In 2016, a legendary strain of cacao long thought to have disappeared was identified in Belize’s Maya Mountains. Anthropologists say the Mayans reserved this most valuable variety for royalty and sacred ceremonies. Today, thanks to a band of passionate chocolate trailblazers—including two U alums—you can experience the same delicacy consumed by past Mesoamerican civilizations.

“When you taste it, you understand why it was so revered,” says Matt Caputo BS’04. He and his wife and business partner, Yelena Caputo BA’03 HBS’03 JD’06, are among the key players bringing these edible artifacts to life. Together, they’re on a mission to protect wild cacao and the disappearing rainforests where it still thrives.

The Art and Craft of Chocolate

Mention Caputo’s Market and Deli to any Salt Laker, and you’ll likely hear about a favorite sandwich. Locals know Matt and Yelena as owners of the beloved establishment founded by Tony Caputo, Matt’s late father. Some may have taken Matt’s chocolate tasting classes at U of U Lifelong Learning or the Natural History Museum of Utah’s 2014 chocolate exhibit. Fewer people may know Matt and Yelena run the world’s largest distributor of artisan chocolate, A Priori, and have become what journalist Rowan Jacobsen calls “the ultimate champions of wild chocolate” in his book and podcast on the subject.

It’s a reputation they’d never have foreseen as students at the U. Motivated by an interest in international relations, Yelena earned her Juris Doctor from the S.J. Quinney College of Law after completing degrees in political science and Russian. Matt loved working at Caputo’s but didn’t necessarily envision a career there until a class in the David Eccles School of Business ignited a passion. He graduated in marketing and used his newfound expertise to grow the family business.

A self-professed “cheese geek” and gourmet, Matt took it as a challenge when a food writer friend rated Caputo’s chocolate section as sub-par. His curiosity led to a deep dive into chocolate’s craft and history, especially its mystical role in ancient Mesoamerican cultures. But it was a blind taste test of different cacao varieties that truly opened his eyes.

“The cacao bean offered a much more immediate and clear exploration of terroir than wine,” he says. “I could feel myself tumbling down the rabbit hole at that moment.”

Craft chocolate, made by master chocolatiers who spotlight the unique flavors of premium beans, fits right in among Caputo’s shelves of artisan olive oils, vinegars, and other comestibles. “There are food lovers. Then there are food nerds,” proclaims the Caputo’s website. A deeper mission drives the business: to fight against a food system dominated by industrialized production and monoculture farming.

“We’re worried that some of the world’s foods and culinary traditions could disappear forever,” says Yelena, who left her career as deputy district attorney in 2013 to help run Caputo’s and expand A Priori into a leading specialty foods importer and distributor.

Most grocery-store chocolate across the country comes from the same strain of cacao, bred for yield over flavor. The beans require deep roasting and added ingredients, explains Matt. The result tastes dark, toasty, and like vanilla—but not like cacao. “I view it as a confection,” he says. Craft chocolate, on the other hand, “is a taste of place and an expression of history.”

Fighting for Wild Chocolate

Craft chocolate was just the beginning. The Caputos began hearing tales of explorers searching Central and South American jungles for wild-growing cacao. “These intrepid Indiana Jones types were finding previously uncharted, untasted varieties,” Matt says.

Among those explorers is award-winning Brazilian chocolate maker Luisa Abram, who created what became the Caputos’ favorite bar, made with wild cacao growing along South America’s Juruá River. Abram sources only wild cacao, drifting through Amazonian waterways in search of undiscovered strains. Her first encounter with Juruá was “mesmerizing,” she says, evoking florals, honeycomb, and lychee.

Every bar made from wild cacao is a minor miracle. One growing season might bring floods, another drought. Landowners might decide to raze cacao-laden rainforest for cattle ranching. And the deep jungle’s lack of infrastructure threatens delicate processes like fermentation. It’s a costly labor of love. In 2020, floods and the pandemic hit Abram hard, forcing her to consider discontinuing her beloved Juruá bar.

But the Caputos couldn’t let it end there. It wasn’t just their favorite chocolate. It represented biodiversity, sustainable sourcing, traditional artisanship—everything their newly established Caputo’s Preservation Program aimed to protect. They offered to prepay, at top dollar, for the next harvest—well before they would see any financial return.

“I must have read that email three or four times in a row, like, ‘Am I understanding it right?’ ” says Abram.

The gamble paid off. The resulting Wild Juruá bar, made by Abram and branded under the Caputo’s name, was a hit. Production has continued, and now cacao harvesting is an integral part of the local economy.

The success of Wild Juruá spurred the Caputos to expand. They reached out to Volker Lehmann, a wild chocolate pioneer credited with creating the first such bar. On his Tranquilidad estate in Bolivia, trees thrive in wetlands on raised islands reportedly built for cacao cultivation centuries ago. Lehmann’s beans earned the first heirloom designation from the Heirloom Cacao Preservation Fund (HCP), which works to identify and protect exceptional strains from economic and environmental threats. Caputo’s funded the genetic testing through their annual chocolate festival, which has raised more than $50,000 for HCP.

When Matt and Yelena proposed a partnership to help maintain Tranquilidad, Lehmann agreed immediately. Utah chocolate maker Ritual pays him well above fair trade for his beans, and Caputo’s gives $1 per bar back to the estate. Matt calls the Caputo’s Wild Tranquilidad bar—with notes of citrus and spice—“one of the best-tasting dark chocolate bars of all time.”

The Food of the Gods

The Belize Foundation for Research and Environmental Education (BFREE) occupies a section of old-growth rainforest untouched since the days of the Mayans. This biodiversity wonderland shelters endangered wildlife such as the harpy eagle—the largest predatory bird in the Americas, with talons larger than grizzly claws—and thousands of plant species, including wild cacao.

“I saw this shade-loving species and thought it had social, environmental, and economic potential that could be transformative when it comes to agriculture,” says BFREE founder Jacob Marlin.

Curious, he sent the beans to HCP for genetic testing—and the results electrified the chocolate world. The beans were 100 percent pure Criollo, prized by Mayan royalty for its delicate flavor, low bitterness, and creamy texture. Long thought extinct, it had been hiding in plain sight.

For Matt and Yelena, the discovery embodied the mythology and romanticism that drew them to craft chocolate. To help bring it to life would be a dream. With conservation his first priority, Marlin agreed to share the beans if a portion of sales supported BFREE. The Caputos readily agreed, pricing the bar at $65 and pledging a share of proceeds. Then, a few weeks later, came a surprise.

“Matt and Yelena called me and said, ‘We care so much about BFREE’s mission that we’d like to give 100 percent of the revenue back to you,’ ” says Marlin. All sales—not just profits—would go to BFREE. “I was humbled. This just speaks to their spirit of lifting others and creating positive change by supporting organizations they believe in.”

To make the bar, they enlisted master chocolate maker Domantas Užpalis of Chocolate Naive in Lithuania. Užpalis calls Criollo “one of the best cacaos, if not the best cacao, we’ve ever worked with. It’s fruity, nutty, creamy, delicious, soft, indulgent—on par with the food of the gods.”

The first Caputo’s Wild Criollo bar sold out in five weeks. More shipments followed, and BFREE has received over $16,000 in donations to date.

Small Miracles

Matt and Yelena are the first to point out that their wild chocolate line relies on partnerships. The names on the packaging tell the story: Luisa Abram, the Novo Horizonte community that harvests Juruá, Volker Lehmann with Tranquilidad, Ritual Chocolate, BFREE, and Chocolate Naive.

“We’re blessed to work with equally passionate people who get it,” says Yelena.

They know these efforts are fragile—built on relationships, persistence, and a stability that can shift overnight. One deal with a developer, for instance, could mean the disappearance of an undiscovered gastronomic treasure. “And we would never know,” Yelena says. “I can only imagine the scale at which that has happened throughout modern history. So when we find these miracles, and we have the capacity to help save them, sign us up immediately.”

Lisa Anderson BA’02 is associate editor of Utah Magazine.