Hawaii makes waves with home-grown chocolate

September 21, 1995

From Correspondent Carolyn O'Neil

KONA, Hawaii (CNN) -- Hawaii, famous for its scenic beauty and deep blue surf, is making waves with the U.S.'s first home-grown chocolate.

Cocoa grower Jim Walsh of Hawaiian Vintage Chocolate, is passionate about pushing his chocolate, called Vintage, because like wine, each batch is labeled by the season of its harvest.

A whack with a machete reveals the true innards of a cocoa pod -- kernels covered in a slimy white coating, which are then fermented to achieve maximum chocolate flavor.

Cocoa is the name of the plant which bears pods full of cocoa beans. Incidentally, it takes 10 pods to make a pound of chocolate.

The next step is sun-roasting the beans, another unique process since other companies oven-roast their beans.

Chefs who work with chocolate have praise for Hawaii's new crop.

Philip Padovani, executive chef at Manele Bay Hotel on the Island of Lanai, says Hawaiian-born chocolate inspires him.

"This chocolate from Hawaii (has) incredible taste. We just released the '94 vintage two weeks ago ... it's like a great wine."

But like a room with a great view of the Pacific surf, luxury comes with a price -- Hawaiian Vintage chocolate sells for $28 a pound.

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