Driving a very short distance up the hill from Kailua-Kona, one of the larger towns on the Big Island in Hawaii, I was amazed at how close all kinds of agriculture was to the “city”. As I rounded the driveway and parked in one of two or three unmarked spots, Pam leaned out the screen door of a charming farm house, waving for us to come in. Passing under the flowering vine ensconced arbor, I was surprised to find a small reception area with displays for their products, including t-shirts, fudge sauce and chocolate bars. Along the walls were various pictures of their cacao pods and other parts of their processes. Both the room and Pam were gracious and inviting.
Shortly after arriving I was invited to sample the 3 types of chocolate currently being made before being escorted out back to the orchard where the cacao trees grow. What an amazing treat to get to be up-close to the beautiful trees laden with the most beautiful assortment of cacao pods in all shades of yellow, red and green! I crunched around in the self-propagating mulch of fallen leaves gathered under the branches, surprised at the density and proximity of the trees to each other. The trees “like to hold hands” according to Pam. I was also treated to a taste of a freshly opened cacao pod, letting the floral but tart mucilage christen my taste buds.
The Original Hawaiian Chocolate Factory is the smallest chocolate factory in the world, and the only company in the United States that produces finished chocolate from beans they have grown. Bob and Pam Cooper, owners of the Original Hawaiian Chocolate Factory, had been coming to Hawaii on vacation for over 20 years. When they retired in 1997, they decided to move to the Big Island. They ended up purchasing a large cacao orchard, complete with a caretaker, mainly because it was beautiful. Once there, they became interested in what could be done with the 1300 Forastero cacao trees on the 6 acre plantation that had never really been put to use by the previous owner.
Bob attended chocolate school at Richardson Researches, Inc. (run by the Food Sciences department of UC Davis) for an intensive week-long class on chocolate technology. Next step was to consult an expert on the quality of their beans, so they sent their beans to Terressa, Spain for tasting. After receiving a favorable response, a conching machine was purchased from a purveyor in Spain.
Since the farm is on Bishop Estate land, no existing buildings can be torn down, so they had to lay out the chocolate factory within the existing barn. To this end, Bob and Pam hired an architect to help them with the planning and layout, and also obtained a loan from the State of Hawaii. The biggest challenge was the size – they needed to process much smaller batches than the commercially available machinery was designed for. This required improvising and custom ordering.
In some cases, such as the winnower, the apparatus was home-built with non-traditional parts which produce the same result. In other cases, such as the conching machine and the 1,000 lb storage tank, the machines were custom made for them.
Bob and Pam believe that cacao could be the next agricultural boom for Hawaii. They feel it is very sustainable in that it does not take anything from the land, and in fact actually improves it a bit. As of today, there are 60 growers on the islands, 13 of whom sell beans to the Original Hawaiian Chocolate Factory for use in their manufacturing. Two of these growers have begun to produce criollo beans in addition to the Forastero, and they are adding new growers at a rate of 3-4 per month
Bob manages all the agricultural aspects of the business. Their trees produce at a rate of180 days from flower to harvest, with a harvest every 2 weeks. Shucking is done every other Monday and the beans are left to ferment for one week – three days of rest and then turning each day of the remaining four days. After fermentation, the beans are sun-dried for 30 days until they reach 7% moisture. Once dried, they are aged in a humidity and temperature controlled room in 100 lb. burlap bags. The low humidity combined with a prolonged aging of 2 years are factors that Bob feels add to the unique flavor of their beans.
After the beans are cleaned with the assistance of an exercise treadmill, they are ready for roasting. Because the adapted coffee bean roaster was taller than the ceiling of the room it is in, a little ingenuity was required. The beans are actually sucked via a large hose from the storage room directly into the roaster where they are roasted at 265º for 28 minutes. Next they are moved to the homemade winnower that can process only 350 lbs. of beans in one day.
The beans are conched for the first two hour run to produce the chocolate “liquor” and then ingredients are added to make either milk or dark chocolate and conched for an additional 13 hours.
The finished chocolate is then stored in the 1,000 lb. storage tank, where it awaits tempering.
The chocolate is poured into the molds, shaken to remove air bubbles and cooled. They are stored in a cool room where the packaging is also completed. Pam plus 2 other employees comprise the packaging and shipping department. They go to great lengths to protect the chocolate when shipped, including foil wrapping and cool packs, but in the summer there are no guarantees.
The Original Hawaiian Chocolate Factory currently produces 6,000-8,000 pounds of milk and dark chocolate per year. Currently they make only plain bars in-house; a 60% dark bar, a milk bar and plumeria shaped disks. They have just started developing a single origin criollo chocolate and expect to start selling that in the next couple of months. . I had the opportunity to taste this new chocolate, and was delighted by the upfront earthy flavor with coffee, cinnamon and smoke undertones. It presented a superb flavor for a 60% chocolate.
In addition to their plain bars, they send their chocolate to Kailua Candy Company who enrobes macadamia nuts and truffles with their chocolate, and to Dan Belmont in Honolulu who uses Original Hawaiian Chocolate Factory chocolate to make a delectable chocolate fudge sauce for the perfect ice cream sundae. There are 35 outlets in Hawaii that sell their chocolate, as well as Bittersweets in Berkeley/Oakland, California and Sacamore Resort in upstate New York. They made their first $1 of profit last year, and are in the planning stages of an expansion for the factory. Both Bob and Pam seem to have a great love for their business, and take great pride in their handmade chocolate.
As I drove away with my t-shirt and bag of chocolates, I began to add up in my head the number of years I have until retirement, and comparing that to the number of years before Bob and Pam might consider retiring again….that would truly be paradise!