Any More Sugar? Chocolate Question. (Kailua, Hawi: home, luxury, costs)

[oregonwoodsmoke]

Is sugar still being grown and produced anywhere in Hawaii?

I was thinking that it would be great fun to grow cocoa and manufacture luxury chocolates. It would be additional benefit as they could be sold as 100% Hawaiian. High quality chocolates sell for a lot of $ and I think that just about everything you would need could be grown locally if sugar is still available. Except maybe cream if there are no Hawaiian dairies.

There are plenty of fruits and nuts for fillings.

So many people dream of retiring and owning a winery. Not me. A chocolate manufacturing plant sounds much more romantic to me than a winery.

Unfortunately, probably too expensive to set up for me. But wouldn't it be fun?

[OpenD]

Originally Posted by oregonwoodsmoke

Is sugar still being grown and produced anywhere in Hawaii?

Sugar is still being grown and produced on Maui, and is sold as a premium "natural" product such as Maui Gold Raw Sugar.
Maui Brand Natural Cane Sugars - Our Sugar

Originally Posted by oregonwoodsmoke

I was thinking that it would be great fun to grow cocoa and manufacture luxury chocolates. It would be additional benefit as they could be sold as 100% Hawaiian. High quality chocolates sell for a lot of $ and I think that just about everything you would need could be grown locally if sugar is still available.

Several companies are doing that. OHC Original Hawiian Chocolate in Kailua-Kona is one: Original Hawaiian Chocolate

Big Island Candies is another: Big Island Candies - Home Page

Originally Posted by oregonwoodsmoke

Except maybe cream if there are no Hawaiian dairies.

Meadow Gold Dairy is still operating in Hawai'i: Meadow Gold - About Us

Originally Posted by oregonwoodsmoke

There are plenty of fruits and nuts for fillings.

Yes, chocolate covered macadamia nuts are a big favorite with the tourists: MAUNA LOA Milk Chocolate | Premium roasted macadamia nuts smothered in rich milk chocolate.

Not to mention Dark Chocolate covered espresso beans, dried papaya, dried pineapple...
dark chocolate — Nuts.com

And vanilla is also being grown in Hawai'i now: Hawaiian Vanilla Company

Originally Posted by oregonwoodsmoke

So many people dream of retiring and owning a winery. Not me. A chocolate manufacturing plant sounds much more romantic to me than a winery.

Unfortunately, probably too expensive to set up for me. But wouldn't it be fun?

Dream big, brah, dream big!

[MyrrMade]

OpenD, you are THE LINK-MASTER!!!

WHERE do you find the link for absolutely every topic mentioned??? Amazing! Is there anything you don't know?

Many have gone bust in this area trying the vineyard/winery "hobby". Even though it is a good grape-growing region. My god, the WORK involved. Doesn't sound like "retirement" to me! My fabulously wealthy boss lost acres of grapevines when the temps plummeted to 18 below for a couple of winters. Hence, I vacate to warmer climes....

But yeah, what's better than wine and chocolate?

[OpenD]

Originally Posted by MyrrMade

OpenD, you are THE LINK-MASTER!!!

WHERE do you find the link for absolutely every topic mentioned??? Amazing! Is there anything you don't know?

Thanks. Yeah, there's plenty I don't know. But I've always had a trick memory for obscure facts, and much of my writing involves research and fact-checking, so I've developed some facility in that area. And I like being able to use that skill to give others a hand whenever I can.

Not to mention that anything to do with chocolate is intensely interesting to me.

[leilaniguy]

I have a small Cacao orchard, planted from seed. I waited 4 years for the trees to produce, nurturing, fertilizing, weeding. Then made my first chocolate. It's very involved, fermenting, then roasting, hulling, sorting and grinding. My chocolate turned out gritty and bitter, so I tried again with the same results, never tried it again. Of course I didn't have the right equipment to get it creamy, but that costs big buck$. I've given pods to other people to try and they had the same results. BTW rats just love Cacao.

[OpenD]

Originally Posted by leilaniguy

My chocolate turned out gritty and bitter, so I tried again with the same results, never tried it again.

Yeah, that's what chocolate is like until it is well processed. It's not naturally sweet. And no it is not easy. One of my favorite memories from San Francisco in years past was the old chocolate factory at Ghirardelli Square, where a huge iron roller from the 1800s, with a crank arm like a locomotive, would slowly roll back and forth, back and forth, milling the chocolate until it was smooth. You could smell the place from blocks away.

Anyway, then milk and sugar get added to offset the bitterness.

Or not. For Mexican mole sauce you want the unsweetened bitter taste of natural chocolate.

Or do what the Mayans and Aztecs did, and whip that bitter chocolate with red chile pepper flakes to make the spicy bitter beverage the emperors drank constantly... because it was an aphrodisiac.

[oregonwoodsmoke]

Yes, chocolate is a real art form. The guy who makes artisan chocolate probably has a lot in common with the guy who makes wine. There isn't a paint-by-numbers formula. You need the nose and the skill. I suspect it takes some expensive equipment.

Artisan chocolate seems to be going for about $36 a pound and that is just bars. Fancy filled chocolate bonbons should bring even more.

Nuts. Macadamia, cashew, pistachio? Possibly almonds at the higher elevations. Probably peanuts.

I'll try that chocolate making on a small scale. I make dynamite bonbons. It'll be interesting to try to make the chocolate, too.

leilaniguy, I think all chocolate is bitter until you load it down with sugar, Chocolate gets gritty if you stir it while it is melted. It's probably a temperature thing. I've only worked with purchased chocolate.

[OpenD]

Originally Posted by oregonwoodsmoke

Nuts. Macadamia, cashew, pistachio? Possibly almonds at the higher elevations. Probably peanuts.

Pistachios? They grow in deserts, need well-drained soil, do not do well in high humidity, get root-rot in wet soil. Probably best in drier parts of Ka'u, but I'm not aware of them being grown in numbers. More like a back yard garden kind of thing.

Cashews? They grow in Puna at lower altitudes, since they are tropical, but I don't know anyone growing them on a large scale. Their shells are quite toxic and require special handling.

Peanuts? Yeah, they're grown in small plots in various places, mostly used in Asian cooking and boiled as snacks. They show up raw sometimes at farmers markets.

Almonds? Some are grown in Hawai'i, but again, it's not a huge crop.

I've heard of people growing walnuts and pecans, but never seen them first hand.

[OpenD]

I was curious, so I found more on pistachios

Pistachios are a native plant to desert environments. The tree has the narrowest parameter for temperature requirements of any commercial tree crop. The desert must have chilling in the winter (1,000 hours below 45° F) but the ground cannot freeze. The tree will grow in humid climates, but the humidity interferes with the development of the nut itself. Long, hot, dry summers give the best nut development.

[HiloDiver]

Originally Posted by MyrrMade

when the temps plummeted to 18 below for a couple of winters.

18 BELOW???????? Please tell me you are kidding!!! Where?

And I thought S. Florida was too cold. Ah well, I suppose I won't regret packing my two electric room heaters and my electric blanket.