Cacao Prieto

Cacao Prieto's Red Hook factory Cacao Prieto

Cacao Prieto's specially restored turn-of-the-century stone mill

Cacao Prieto's line of specialty chocolate bars Cacao Prieto

Cacao Prieto's Vortex Winnower was the first of several machines invented at Cacao Prieto Cacao Prieto

Cacao Prieto's custom still, installed in 2012 Cacao Prieto

Avoiding Regret

For more than a century the Prieto family has farmed organic cacao (chocolate beans) and sugar cane on their Dominican Republic plantation.

Now, their Red Hook factory and retail location offers New Yorkers a chance to see how these ingredients become chocolates and specialty liquors.

Cacao Prieto boasts chocolate products that are 100% organic, kosher, and sourced directly from the family’s Coralina Farms in the Dominican Republic, a system that, according to the website, makes them one of only a few chocolate factories in the world to be completely vertically integrated.

Another unique feature of Cacao Prieto is its line of cacao-based rums and liqueurs; Cacao Prieto operates NYC’s only licensed rum distillery since Prohibition, where it produces “the only spirits in the world distilled from Cacao.” All of Cacao Prieto’s products are manufactured on site at their Red Hook factory.

The company is so dedicated to its craft that it has invented its own line of specialty machines to aid the process of transforming cacao beans to chocolate products. Visitors can learn more about Cacao Prieto’s processes and sample the results on one of the factory’s guided tours.