Chocolate extravaganza returns for more sweet fun

When Farsheed Bonakdar was a young boy growing up in Iran, he spent whatever pin money he had on his favorite treat: "dark kiss," a dome-shaped confection with a filling akin to whipped cream.

"The shell appeared to be solid chocolate, but it was actually very thin, so when you bit into it, it crunched and melted in your mouth," Bonakdar recalled. "That was so amazing to me! Years later I learned about the chemistry of chocolate — that when it’s tempered properly, you can mold it into hearts, flowers, shells, butterflies, all kinds of beautiful, delicate forms that will hold their shape until you eat them."

Today, Bonakdar eats chocolate every day as the founder, co-owner and vice president of Cocoa Outlet, a wholesale bakery and distributor of chocolates, pastry ingredients and wedding cake decorations in Kealakekua on Hawaii island. "We stock 11 brands of chocolate," he said, "and I love them all! Each brand has 10 to 25 different kinds of chocolate, based on the amount of cacao in them. The higher the percentage of cacao, the darker the chocolate."

Bonakdar is also president of the Kona Cacao Association, which was established last year to produce the annual Big Island Chocolate Festival. "The association’s mission is to promote and develop our island’s cacao industry," he said. "We see the festival as a great educational and outreach opportunity for cacao farmers and the hospitality industry. Hawaii is the only state in America that grows cacao, which is used to make chocolate."

Chocolate festivals have been held in Kona since 1993, albeit on a smaller scale. Nirvana for chocoholics, this year’s second annual Big Island Chocolate Festival is expected to draw 500 attendees from around the state.

Proceeds will benefit the $1 million "Equip the Kitchen" campaign for the culinary arts program at the future Hawaii Community College-Palamanui campus, the first permanent college campus in West Hawaii. The event will also support efforts to build a community amphitheater at the Kona Pacific Public Charter School in Kealakekua.

Attendees can savor three days of chocolate-related events and activities (see sidebar). Like the inaugural festival last year, they will be able to meet visiting and local chocolatiers, tour a cacao farm and chocolate factory, watch chocolate-making demonstrations and sample an array of ono chocolate creations.

New this year is a Prelude Reception and a plated dessert competition spotlighting culinary students from colleges on Maui, Kauai and Hawaii island. Further demonstrating their skills, Hawaii Community College-West Hawaii students will be preparing mole with beef, chicken and tofu at the Evening Gala.

The festival’s prestigious judging panel includes chef Donald Wressell of Guittard Chocolate Co., who will be putting the finishing touches on a 40-pound, tropical-themed chocolate sculpture at the event.

"Chocolate makes people feel good; it brings big smiles to their faces," Bonakdar said. "The Big Island Chocolate Festival is a fantasyland of chocolate. It inspires our pastry chefs. It encourages our farmers to grow cacao and shows our chocolatiers that chocolate can be a viable business. Hawaiian coffees have received international acclaim. Following suit, I believe our chocolate is on its way to being ranked among the finest chocolates in the world."

Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi is a Honolulu-based freelance writer whose travel features for the Star-Advertiser have won several Society of American Travel Writers awards.