Elizabeth "Ely" Rosales Aguilar has built Raíz Chocolate from her San Diego home kitchen, turning a childhood love of chocolate into a small but thriving business. She carefully sources Mexican cacao and crafts silky bars and rich drinking chocolates, like champurrado, using recipes passed down for generations. Her work is precise and deliberate, highlighting skill, patience and artistry while remaining deeply rooted in tradition.

From bean sourcing to finished bars, Ely keeps her process transparent and small-scale, with an emphasis on preserving natural flavors — a sharp contrast to mainstream chocolate production. The name Raíz, which means "source" or “root” in Spanish, reflects that commitment to honoring cacao’s origins and the heritage behind each recipe.

California's home kitchen and cottage food laws allowed her to turn that passion into a legitimate career, offering an alternative to mass-produced chocolate. Her story blends resilience, entrepreneurship and cultural heritage, showing how craft, intention and tradition can transform a home kitchen into a business that delivers exceptional flavor while preserving the legacy of Mexican chocolate-making.

Guests:

• Elizabeth "Ely" Rosales Aguilar, Raíz Chocolate founder

Sources:

• Home Kitchen Operations: Microenterprise Home Kitchen Operations (MEHKO) and Cottage Food Operations (CFO) (SanDiegoCounty.gov)
• California Cottage Food Operations (University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources)
• ​Microenterprise Home Kitchen Operations (California Department of Health)
• Restaurant Owner Demographics (National Restaurant Association)
• At-home businesses are growing. Women and people of color benefit the most (Chabeli Carrazana, The 19th, 2021)
• Almendra Blanca Bar - 70% Single-Origin, Finca Frida, México (Raíz Chocolate)
• Revival Cacao (Supplier for Raíz Chocolate)
• ILAB Cocoa Storyboard: Exposing Exploitation in Global Supply Chains (U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of International Labor Affairs)
• Mars Supply Chain Transparency (Mars)
• In Maya society, cacao use was for everyone, not just royals (Richard Kemeny, ScienceNews, 2022)
• Life, Death and Chocolate in Mesoamerica: The Aztecs and the Maya; Where did the Ritual Use of Cacao Originate? (Caroline Seawright, 2012)
• The Maya civilization used chocolate as money (Joshua Rapp Learn, Science, 2018)
• What is the chocolate and cocoa industry worth in Mexico? (Laura Islas, Merca 2.0, 2025)
• Mexico cocoa bean imports and exports (World Integrated Trade Solution)
• Cottage Foods and Home Kitchens: 2021 State Policy Trends (The Harvard Law School Food Law and Policy Clinic, 2022)