Oh wow, cacao! | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

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PHOTO COURTESY ADOBE STOCK/MAVO IMAGES

The next time you’re about to buy a dark chocolate bar, take a look at its cacao content — it should be 70% or higher, according to Maria Carl-Rogers, who co-owns Kahaluu-based 21 Degrees Estate cacao farm with her husband, Michael Rogers.

“Dark chocolate is defined as having 70% cacao or higher; it typically has two or three ingredients,” Carl-Rogers says. “Those ingredients are the cacao and something to sweeten it. Sometimes we’ll add a third ingredient like cocoa butter to prevent a chalky mouthfeel.

“When you’re trying to figure out if a dark chocolate bar is a good one or not, check the cacao percentage, look for the ingredients, and see if the origin (where the cacao comes from) is mentioned,” she adds. “The average cacao content in supermarket candy bar is 3%-5%, which is really low. Since those bars are commercially produced, it’s cheaper not to use cacao.”

This is just one of many chocolate facts you’ll discover during 21 Degree Estate’s tour, during which visitors learn more about growing cacao trees, along with the harvesting and post-harvest process of cacao beans.

“With cacao, we harvest every three weeks for 10 months,” Carl-Rogers says. “In Hawaii, we have diverse microclimates within the state and on each island, and you get all kinds of wonderful cacao flavors that come from that.”

The origins of chocolate are associated with pre-Columbian societies, like the Aztecs, Olmecs and Mayans, and for most of chocolate’s history, it was consumed as a drink, per Carl-Rogers.

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“Since cacao was known to have medicinal properties, it became elevated in most societies,” she explains. “To show its value in Aztec societies, the bean was used as the currency. When the Spanish came in the 1500s, they learned about cacao and ascribed a lot of value to it. They brought the cacao beans to Spain, and the drinking chocolate habit continued there.”

The trend spread throughout Europe and further evolved once a Dutch chemist figured out how to separate cocoa butter from the powder.

“With that came a staple baking product that you know as cocoa powder and cocoa butter,” Carl-Rogers says. “Confectioners could then create what we know as chocolate bars and bonbons.”

With the craft chocolate movement about 15-20 years ago, Carl-Rogers explains a shift occurred from being a chocolatier to becoming a chocolate maker.

“Chocolatiers were typically given different origins in the form of a blended mass that was already ground and mixed together,” she says. “Similar to coffee roasters, craft chocolate makers want to start with the bean and express the unique characteristics of that origin.”

Most people are surprised to find that chocolate comes from a tree — in fact, it starts as a tiny flower. Once the buds open up, they’re pollinated by a tiny, flying insect known as the cacao midge, according to Rogers.

“If the flowers are successfully pollinated, tiny pods start to form,” he says. “The goal is to harvest at the peak of ripeness. When I crack the pods open on harvest day and take out the seed, I want it all to fall apart beautifully.”

On harvest day, machetes are used to cut the pods’ thick stems from the trees. The pods are cracked open, the seeds are separated, and the post-harvest process — fermenting and drying — begins.

“We need to take the wet, pulp-covered seed and turn it into the dry cocoa bean,” Rogers says.

During fermenting, all the wet seeds go into a wooden box that’s wrapped in banana leaves; the internal temperature is about 113 degrees and the seeds are kept there for 10-12 days, per Rogers. When the fermenting is complete, the seeds are taken out to air dry and are eventually sent to chocolate makers.

“It could be two weeks or up to a month for you to get your chocolate back, depending on the chocolate maker’s schedule,” Rogers says.

The saying “chocolate is good for you” does have some merit, since cacao is a superfood.

“Cacao has about three times as many antioxidants as does green tea,” Carl-Rogers says. “It’s high in antioxidants, magnesium, potassium and iron. Cacao also has an active ingredient — an alkaloid called theobromine — which is related to caffeine. Caffeine and theobromine both give us energy, but the difference is that caffeine gives a jolt of energy, whereas the energy from theobromine is sustained.”

Carl-Rogers says she’s often asked if milk chocolate is less healthy than dark chocolate — and it’s true.

“When you add something to a chocolate bar, you’re taking away the cacao content,” she explains. “In this case, the lactic acid in the dairy negates some of the nutritional enzymes in cacao.”

There are many local stores where you can find milk and dark chocolate bars, as well as inclusion chocolates, which contain fruits, nuts and more (see sidebar).

One of Oahu’s most well-known chocolate shops is Choco le`a, known for its artisan dark chocolate truffles.

“We specialize in dark chocolate because I like semisweet chocolate,” says business owner Erin Kanno Uehara. “With Hawaii’s humidity, it’s tricky to get chocolate to stay at the right temperature. After the chocolate is tempered, it’s handpoured into European-imported molds, and we fill it with a bunch of different things.”

If you’re looking for a way to satisfy your chocolate craving, check out Omiyage Market & Gifts’ Chocolate Fair on Oct. 30 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Waimalu Shopping Center (98-020 Kamehameha Hwy.). Choco le`a and other local vendors will be serving up sweet treats to commemorate National Chocolate Day and Halloween.

“Chocolate always connects people,” Uehara says. “As an icebreaker, it helps bridge the gap, and it sweetens the relationship if you already have a connection with someone.”

Check out the chocolate farms located on every island — and you’ll most likely find a unique assortment of confections there, too.