When Sittie Aisah Balt started her artisanal chocolate brand Kakaw Meranaw in Marawi City, Lanao del Sur, it was to find a way to use the beans from her father’s backyard cacao farm. Now, this small but growing brand is known for highlighting Maranao flavors as well as supporting local farmers and working students. “Kakaw Meranaw is produced by Maranao individuals and is from Lanao del Sur,” she said in Taglish.

“We [instruct] farmers from a cooperative on how to plant, harvest, and post-harvest [process cacao], and we are also helping students in Marawi City through the production of the chocolates. It’s a two-way process where we are helping the farmers through the farming side and we are also helping students through the chocolate making side.”

The former high school science teacher shared that before cacao, her father planted crops like abaca and bell pepper but kept getting discouraged by market forces. His foray into cacao began in 2019 when he saw cacao being sold by the roadside while visiting a nearby barangay.

Balt’s research began online. She found out how to make tablea and used the lull created by the pandemic to perfect it. She later acquired a provincial seed grant for ₱100,000 which she used to learn about artisanal chocolate production and to create Kakaw Meranaw, the pioneering chocolate bar producer in Lanao del Sur.

Kakaw Meranaw started in 2022, producing around 240 bars a month. It has since expanded its production capacity to a maximum of 2,500 bars a month.

The brand also uses cacao from the Kamapiyaan Sa Tagoranao Marketing Cooperative in Bayang, Lanao del Sur, where her father’s farm is also located. “The heart of Kakaw Meranaw is the cooperative, or let’s say, my father,” she said. “He drove me to do everything that is happening right now. His main reason for doing this is to help other farmers grow high value crops.”

The cooperative distributes cacao seedlings for free, but interested farmers must take a one day seminar on cacao cultivation. “We teach them how to prune, how to maintain a farm, and how to ferment.”

The majority of Kakaw Meranaw’s employees are university students who work part-time, usually while they’re reviewing for exams. “Why employ the youth? Because I understand their struggle,” Balt said. “They’re from other municipalities and come to Marawi to study.”

The facility is managed by an aunt who is an ex-OFW. “Here in Lanao del Sur, our culture and religion is that women should be only inside the house, but there are things that women can do even outside the house that don't disrespect culture or religion,” she said.

Kakaw Meranaw has a variety of products, but its two most popular ones are inspired by flavors unique to Maranao life. The first is palapa, a condiment made from coconut, ginger, local shallots, and chili that accompanies practically every meal. “Why palapa? Because it’s already in the palate of the Maranaw community.”

The other is binaning, or turmeric. “Binaning means yellow, so we added turmeric [to white chocolate] to make it yellow. If you’re familiar with Maranao dishes, most of our dishes have turmeric.”

The palapa and turmeric are sourced from other cooperatives in Lanao del Sur. Other flavors include milk and 70 percent chocolate, as well as a coffee series that uses beans from PCQC-winning farms within BARMM (Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao).

Kakaw Meranaw started small, with customers tricking in. Then stores started carrying them, starting with one owned by a family friend in Cotabato City. Now, Kakaw Meranaw can be found in stores in Marawi and Iligan Cities as well. Balt also joined an online entrepreneurial platform, which led to an opportunity to speak about her products in Thailand.

A friend who joined the Philippine Coffee Quality Competition (PCQC) brought some chocolate bars to give away as souvenirs, and these were spotted by an event organizer, who recognized the products’ potential. This led to Kakaw Meranaw products being sent to Paris, where its palapa and binaning flavors won the Gourmet Award at the AVPA Paris in 2023. AVPA stands for Agence pour la Valorisation des Produits Agricoles, or Agency for Valorisation of Agriculturals, a non-government organization whose aim is to raise public awareness about the importance of agricultural products.

“We want to be known locally and internationally, as something that the Maranao are capable of doing. I see on social media that there is cacao in Davao, there is cacao in Baguio, there is cacao in Bohol. We also have cacao in Lanao del Sur that we are able to grow and that we are able to make chocolate out of.”