Up the forested Corosal Road in the Montserrat Hills of Gran Couva, around a sharp bend and behind two huge mango trees is a cocoa estate described as centuries old.
Surrounded by ancient immortelles, covered in bright orange blossoms, is the five-acre Santiago Estate whose cocoa trees are more than five decades old and still producing some of the world’s most prized beans.
Angela Tang Howad, “65-plus”, a former cashier who now owns this estate, refuses to let her age be a hindrance to her as she putters around between the trees in her straw hat, tall boots and a cutlass on her waist.
She prunes a bit here and there while chickens peck among dry leaves on the ground. The estate is so silent the loudest sound is that of the wind rushing gently through the trees as if whispering tales of times long gone. Humming Birds flit between shrubs and woodpeckers, parrots, cornbirds, yellow tail birds and semps break the quietness.
It’s the picking season but Howad and her brother, Peter, and their labourers have to wait until the green pods on the trees ripen for another harvest. Last week, they picked cocoa, cracked them, filled buckets with the beans and dropped them off to the San Antonio Estate a few miles away.
The Montserrat Cocoa Farmers Co-operative is located there and has a central fermentor for the area’s farmers. Howad is a member of the co-operative’s board. Her beans and those of other Montserrat farmers are fermented, sun dried in a cocoa house and danced, all in the traditional way, which contribute to their uniqueness.
Howad’s single domain cocoa grown on the special Montserrat clay are searched out by the world’s finest chocolatiers. “Our beans are known for their fruity, floral taste and are used to flavour cocoa from other parts of the world.” Her cocoa is bought by Valrhona, a 1922 premium French chocolatier who also produces a chocolate called Gran Couva.
Swiss chocolatier, Laderach, also buys Howad’s cocoa beans to make its chocolates and a Japanese broker purchases them to sell them to buyers in Japan.
Reliable foreign exchange earner
Howad, formerly of Gasparillo, lives at Preysal, some five or six miles away, and drives to Gran Couva almost daily to help Peter, who stays there and runs the estate. Her husband is deceased. “I supervise and do little odds and ends. I do a little pruning, cut a bunch of fig, help pick, heap and crack cocoa.”
Howad said she loves the quiet, relaxing atmosphere on Santiago Estate and believes the fresh air and activity help keep her healthy. “I enjoy coming here.”
As for her energy? “I keep trusting in the Lord. I ask Him for the grace to function.” She recounted how prudent planning and vision led her to own a cocoa estate.
“I used to work at Imperial Stores in San Fernando (established during the colonial era) which were run by the Montanos.
“They also owned San Salvador Estate which they had bought from the previous owner.
“When I was promoted from cashier to secretary to assistant property manager, I used to come here and walk through the estate with the overseer to check on it,” she says.
When the Montanos decided to cut up San Salvador Estate and sell it out about 20 years ago, Howad bought a five-acre plot.
“I said when I retire I will have a place to come to where I can work and relax. The plot was already under cocoa cultivation and I already knew about it,” she said.
She’s passionate about the estate.
“It’s exciting to see the fruit of your labour. We try to produce a good bean. We had a ten per cent increase in production because we are doing chip grafting of new varieties on the old trees.”
Howad said cocoa remained a reliable foreign exchange earner. “There is always a demand for our cocoa. Foreigners are always coming to visit us up here. When you have no oil, cocoa is always there.”
Howad urged the Government to place more emphasis on cocoa cultivation and said work gangs could be employed on estates. “Cocoa should be king once more,” she said.