Kadayawan 2020: Davao Chocolate in the International Map

The Malagos Garden Resort is known to be the first to have a Chocolate Museum in the country. When this museum came to life, many of you took the time off your busy schedule to visit us once again. Some even said it was like a Willy Wonka factory dream come true. While all these have been appreciated, behind all its glory and beauty is actually a long and tedious journey of reliving the lost art of chocolate making in the country. 

“In Malagos, the soil, the sun, the climate- our environment- come together to create a unique terrain that gives our cacao beans an identity that cannot be replicated anywhere in the world,” this is what Mr. Rex Puentespina said during an interview with Good News Pilipinas. Our journey in making and experimenting with chocolates started in 2003. Our founder, Ms. Charita Puentespina rehabilitated the cacao trees in a farm in Malagos, Davao City. From the harvest, she would then make tableas by open-roasting the beans in firewood and then grinding and molding  each. Her advocacy has always been to revive the cacao sector and make a name in the chocolate industry. 

In 2012, after years of unrelenting testing the Malagos Agri-Ventures Corporation budded and started making premium single-origin cocoa liquor. And in 2013, we commercially launched the proudly Philippine-made Malagos chocolates. A single-origin rich and fine flavour tree-to-bar chocolate. Since then, the Malagos chocolates made its name on the international chocolate map of the world. Our proudly Davao chocolates won its first international award in 2015.  Its most recent recognition was from the 2018 Academy of Chocolate Awards, where its Malagos 72-percent Dark Chocolate and its Malagos 85-percent Dark Chocolate were given the Bronze award in the Tree-to-Bar Category. At the same awards’ Drinking Chocolate category, its Malagos 72-percent Dark Chocolate and its Malagos 100-percent Dark Chocolate received the Bronze award, while its Malagos 85-percent Dark Chocolate was given the Silver award. “These awards are a testament to our commitment to raising the quality of Filipino chocolates,” Mr. Rex Punetespina said. “Early on, we knew that the Philippines, especially Davao, has the potential for competing with the best chocolates in the world. We are committed to staying true to this vision,” he added.

Since then, the Malagos chocolate kept on expanding and growing by the day. In fact, to make Kadayawan 2020 even more special, the Malagos Garden Resort has introduced our very own DIY Baking Kits! So if you are still wondering what to expect in Kadayawan 2020, why not spend your long weekend with the family baking some indulgent desserts?

Our Malagos DIY Brownie baking kit is made even more special with our 72% dark chocolate as base. While our Malagos DIY cookies use our signature Malagos 65% dark chocolate chunks! You can even personalize each with whatever you and the kids want. Plus it is so easy the kids will surely love doing it. In just three steps: prep, mix, and bake, a delightful dessert made from world class ingredients has never been this easy. Be that pastry chef you’ve always wanted to be. 

So if you are looking for something exciting to do for the long weekend, head onto the Malagos Homegrown Produce and checkout our Baker’s Basket.With our baking kits, it will be one Kadayawan Celebration the kids will love to bits. Happy baking!