What a treat we found on the road to Hilo on the Big Island. We went north of the main road at a town called Honokaa to get a glimpse of the Waipio Valley (get to that tomorrow on TLT). We stopped in town to get an image of two of the interesting old buildings and saw an advert for a chocolate company with a tour and a tasting time. Sweet! So we went. It was a short distance from town but felt otherworldly with the deep foliage surrounding the tiny farm and its four small scale buildings. The company is on an old 5 acre farm and without the bright red sign would be very easy to miss. It is not Hershey’s “let’s build a whole village and a massive factory” kind of place. The company is called Honokaa Chocolate Company and the claim to fame is that they grow a lot of the beans they use right here. I think they mentioned another field or two not on the original acreage. So grown in Hawaii and made in Hawaii. Neat. And they do it well. We enjoyed a tasting of three kinds, though they make more varieties, and learned a bit about process and production. Again quite a contrast to Chocolate World. An owner, Mike, was passionate and knowledgeable and gave us a good overview of their products and the growing of the cacao trees. A serendipitous stop and, yes, we bought some souvenirs!
You can learn more about the Honokaa Chocolate here: https://honokaachocolateco.com
Mike explaining what we were about to taste.
Recently planted trees.
More mature plants near the gate
Honokaa also makes very small batch infused chocolate
This is one of the aging barrels with a Hawaiian product
Don’t forget a bit to take home.
The gate to a cool chocolate adventure