Cru Chocolate founder, Karla McNeil-Rueda grew up in Honduras. It was
there where she developed a reverence and passion for the history,
cultural significance and cultivation of cacao, and the production of
fine chocolate for both eating and drinking.
After
emigrating to the United States, McNeil-Rueda pursued a degree in
Engineering and an advanced degree in Sustainability. She also studied
Cacao technology and fine chocolate confectionery at the Chocolate
Institute of La
Cru Chocolate founder, Karla McNeil-Rueda grew up in Honduras. It was
there where she developed a reverence and passion for the history,
cultural significance and cultivation of cacao, and the production of
fine chocolate for both eating and drinking.
After
emigrating to the United States, McNeil-Rueda pursued a degree in
Engineering and an advanced degree in Sustainability. She also studied
Cacao technology and fine chocolate confectionery at the Chocolate
Institute of Latin America and the Caribbean in La Habana, Cuba.
She
learned to integrate and combine her empirical and cultural knowledge
of chocolate with her experience as an engineer. Together with her
partner and fellow engineer, Eddie Houston, they founded Cru Chocolate—a
hand-crafted bean-to-bar company that sources fine Cacao from
Mesoamerica and the Caribbean to use in their chocolate and other Cacao
based creations. All their chocolate is produced in small batches at
their home kitchen.
Cru Chocolate’s mission
includes a focus on assisting people at origin in creating and growing
their own business by providing education and facilitating small scale
equipment.
