Trip to Chocolate Farm

A few weeks back Scott and his lovely sister, Trish, invited this old geezer to visit a chocolate farm. Being a Sunday and always on the make for an adventure, I jumped at the opportunity presented.

It was a brilliant day in Hilo and the drive to the farm was on a road with a view of the ocean.

The Chocolate Farm is owned and operated by a most interesting chap by the name of Sparky. Am quite sure he has another name but we will run with Sparky. In a former life, Sparky was a science teacher, and upon looking at him one does see how he might have been the 'mad science teacher' we all had at some point in our education. Mad being used to draw light to his original persona and presentation.

Every so oft, when the cacao trees have plentiful pods, Sparky holds a class for folks interested in learning about growing cacao trees and producing the beans that chocolate come from. There is a fee charged and Sparky leads you on a lesson that reveals all you ever wanted to know about the process.

Did you know that the small plant that grows into the tree takes 3 years to produce pods? And that is only if you are lucky to have the proper pollination of the plants.

Cacao Trees require a certain climate. Hawaii has that as well as the elevation that seems to promote very healthy trees and a plentiful amount of pods per tree.

The video shows what the pods look like. Pods are picked from the tree and gathered up. One has to pick the right ones as it will mean all the difference as to what lies within the pod. Scott, Trish and this old geezer hit the trees with gusto and before long have a huge sack of pods to place with the others picked. I might also mention that Sparky has planted vanilla plants, these wrap selves round the cacao trees. They look like large pea pods. More on the vanilla later.

When the pods are in a pile, one has to use a mallet to whack the pod to crack it and reveal the cacao beans inside. Dear reader, upon seeing the raw product, this old geezer was almost put off chocolate for life. It is very while and slimy and attached to a placenta. One pulls on the mess, separating it from the placenta and placing the muck into a large bin.

Some of the more adventuresome members of the class were eating the stuff, right out of the pod. I looked in the direction of Scott and was going to take my cue from him. If he placed the horrid stuff in mouth I would try it. Scott passed on the pleasure, as did one other lady and I stayed away from the tasting.

As the bin filled with the cacao beans, it was placed in another bin, one that allowed the much from the beans to drain off into a large bottle under. This 'nectar' was going to used later. We will return to that as well.

Sparky is very keen on cacao, as much as he is about coffee, which he also grows. Fancy that...

Sparky told us that 1000 pounds of pods would produce 90 pounds of beans and that dried beans would produce 30 pounds of finished chocolate. I am pretty sure that is the math I heard, but do not hold me to it. There is nothing exact about my knowledge.

The beans are dried out, run through a process to remove the outer shell and them ground up to the fineness required for chocolate making.

I learned an absolute from Sparky. Water and chocolate do not mix. I also learned that one has to get the who batch up to a certain temp. The end result, with pure sugar added, is a very thick, dark, bitter sweet brew that is placed into molds and chilled.

While we were waiting for the finished product, Sparky has Scott go round with a jug of liquid. Remember the liquid that was collected from the raw cacao beans? It had been chilled and was now being offered as a beverage for the class to taste. I could not get pass the smell and passed but there were some who drank the stuff as if it were the 'water of life'. The true believers were in heaven...

The finished product was given out to the class. It was the strongest tasting chocolate this old geezer has ever tasted. I also must fess up to not liking it much. It was too much. I am a 'milk chocolate' lover.

While the raw cacao bean looked nothing like or smelled like chocolate, the vanilla pod was a different story. Sparky broke open a pod and the distinct smell of the vanilla was very strong. No mistake there.

Scott and Trish took me on a most excellent adventure, one that will stay me for a very long time. I was on a 'chocolate' high all day. Mind, the visit to the farm was made all the better by the excellent company had on the journey. I rather think I will never see M&M's quite the same again...