The Craft · The material
It starts with
a single palm.
Every Montecristi begins in the rainforest, with the toquilla palm — Carludovica palmata — harvested, cleaned and split by hand into fibre finer than thread.
Named in 1798
The palm the botanists named.
The jipijapa, iraca or toquilla palm was catalogued as Carludovica palmata by the botanical expeditions sent from Madrid in 1798. It grows in the humid forests of Ecuador’s coast, and it is the only straw fine enough for a true Montecristi.
Domingo Carranza marks the ideal day to harvest on the calendar — always after rain, when the humidity is high — then walks to the toquillal to choose and cut the young stems by hand.
From grove to fibre
Four hands, before a single row.
Harvest
After days of rain, the healthiest young stems are chosen and cut cleanly with the machete.
Clean & sort
At home the buds are cleaned and inspected; any beaten, marked or broken shoot is set aside.
Tear to fibre
The ribbons are tapped apart and, with a deer-horn tip, the heart is torn into fibres finer than a plume.
Cook & whiten
The bundles are boiled to draw out the chlorophyll, then whitened over sulphur — and in the moonlight.
The straw is whitened in the moonlight — it is what gives it its softness.
