I started making chocolate using cacao from La Mosquitia, Honduras back in 2014. At first, I admired its rich chocolate flavor with very little bitterness and the fact that it came from one of the largest remaining swaths of intact tropical rainforest in the Río Plátano Biosphere Reserve. I could taste the earthiness of the jungle in the raw cocoa bean I first tasted and could only imagine its surroundings. In 2014, I knew about an undiscovered and legendary “Lost City of the Monkey God” located somewhere at a secret location in the Río Plátano Biosphere Reserve, not far from where the cacao was harvested. The initial discovery was made using LIDAR technology, which uses a laser beam to target objects from an airplane. LIDAR enables you to make a 3D representation of an object on the ground. I was quite familiar with this technology from my former career in geospatial mapping and was amazed at this new application of LIDAR to map the jungle floor to make an archeological discovery.
Cacao flowering in the rainforest of La Mosquitia
My husband and I were so intrigued by the notion of archeological remains soon-to-be-discovered from a past civilization hidden in this pristine rainforest, so we named our chocolate bar after the Lost City. We continued to follow the discoveries as they were unveiled in 2015, followed by an article in the New Yorker magazine, a best-selling book “The Lost City of the Monkey God” by Douglas Preston, and a film entitled, "The Lost City of the Monkey God" produced by Benenson Productions.
In 2018, I was shocked to be handed the phone at the chocolate factory to find Steve Elkins on the other end! Steve Elkins discovered our Lost City, Honduras chocolate and came to visit us in Florida. Unexpected moments like this make life so exciting. We spoke about how the discovery of the Lost City, known now as “Cuidad Blanca”, opened a pandora’s box for the need to protect the archeological site from looting and the rainforest around it, which is increasingly being deforested each time they return. Steve recognized the importance of building an industry around cacao in the region, because it can exist in tandem with the conservation of the natural patrimony of Honduras.
In 2018, I was shocked to be handed the phone at the chocolate factory to find Steve Elkins on the other end! Steve Elkins discovered our Lost City, Honduras chocolate and came to visit us in Florida. Unexpected moments like this make life so exciting. We spoke about how the discovery of the Lost City, known now as “Cuidad Blanca”, opened a pandora’s box for the need to protect the archeological site from looting and the rainforest around it, which is increasingly being deforested each time they return. Steve recognized the importance of building an industry around cacao in the region, because it can exist in tandem with the conservation of the natural patrimony of Honduras.
Steve Elkins and Denise Castronovo at the first showing of the "Lost City of the Monkey God" film at the Environmental Film Festival in Washington, DC
On October 31st (Halloween night) at 8pm ET/PT the Discovery Science Channel will premiere the “Lost City of the Monkey God” movie. I collaborated with Steve Elkins to create a gift box of 4 chocolate artifacts from the Cuidad Blanca for you to read about and taste while viewing the movie. They can be purchased online here or at our retail location in Stuart, FL.
#LostCityOfTheMonkeyGod
#LostCityOfTheMonkeyGod
Collection of 4 Dark Chocolate Artifacts with a brochure explaining each, made in collaboration with Steve Elkins
Replica of an artifact discovered at the Cuidad Blanca
Replica of an artifact discovered at the Cuidad Blanca
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