Almost everyone likes chocolate. Some might even love it enough to qualify as ‘chocoholics. For those chocolate lovers who have the space and inclination to grow their own chocolate, they are lucky to live in 91直播. Cacao trees grow well here and lots of basic recipes for taking cacao pods to edible chocolate abound on the internet. Maybe it’s time to grow your own.
The cacao tree, known botanically as Theobroma cacao, was originally cultivated more than 5,000 years ago in what is currently south east Ecuador. Of the more than 20 species of cacao, three are grown here in West 91直播.
One is known as Criollo. It produces a soft thin-skinned pod, with light colored seeds and a unique, pleasant aroma. Forastero is a more plentiful producer with a thick-walled pod and seeds with a pungent aroma. Trinitario, a natural cross of the other two, is easy to cultivate and produces seeds with good, aromatic flavor.
Several Big Island chocolate farmers and nurseries carry cacao seedlings as well as pods and seeds. Call around to nurseries for plants or try Puna Chocolate for plants as well as seeds.
To start a cacao tree from seed, get moist beans from a fresh cacao pod. Remove the sweet white mucilaginous covering and put them between damp paper towels. They should send out roots in a few days. Place rooted beans in a small pot of damp potting soil and keep them out of direct sun.
In about a week, the seeds should send up a sprout. At this point, place the pot in partial shade until it is a bit larger and ready for more sun exposure. Transplant into successively larger pots as it grows and begin to add small amounts of fertilizer.
Once the plants are about two feet tall, you can install them in a partial shade location with soil that drains well. In a suitable location, they should do well either in the ground or in a large pot. Planting glircidia or “madre-de-cacao” in the ground nearby as a nitrogen fixing overstory plant will protect your tree from hot sun and strong winds.
Within three years, when they are about five feet tall, the trees should start to flower and produce pods. Both will appear directly on the trunk. The pods can take five months to mature and ripen.
Though you can learn a lot about growing cacao and making your own chocolate online, this year’s annual Chocolate Festival will offer several in person opportunities to learn more.
The 13th Annual Big Island Chocolate Festival “Chocolate in Paradise” starts on Thursday, April 23, with a guided farm tour of The Original 91直播an Chocolate Factory. Bob Cooper will walk visitors through his cacao orchard and past the outdoor processing facilities before taking you inside their factory, where they turn cacao into chocolate. The tour ends with a tasting of their milk, dark and rare criollo chocolates.
When Bob and Pam bought their farm almost thirty years ago, they did some research about the plants they found on their new land. Finding that cacao only grows well at 15 to 20 degrees north or south of the equator, they realized that 91直播 was the perfect place to grow chocolate in the U.S.
At that point, Bob says,” We made the decision to both grow and process chocolate right here and keep it locally made in the 50th state.”
By 1997, they were ready to cultivate the first cacao orchard and chocolate micro processing facility in the US on their Kona farm. They produced the first batch of locally grown and made-in-the-USA chocolate in September 2000. Twenty-six years later, they have lots of experience and valuable information to share.
Reservations and tickets for this tour are available at the festival website: bigislandchocolatefestival.com for $30. Do reserve soon as this event often sells out.
The Chocolate Festival continues on Friday, April 24, at the Waikoloa Beach Marriott Resort with a free chocolate farmers market and student chocolate competition plus a series of ticketed informative seminars from 11 a.m. to 4:15 p.m.
Learn about small scale cacao processing from Dr. Raven Hanna. Dr. Nat Bletter, Madre Chocolate’s “flavormeister,” will share information about post-harvest processing. Ema Stierhoff will talk pest control in cacao and chef Stephanie Treand will demonstrate the art of chocolate tempering. A ticket for all four seminars is $45.
Saturday at the Resort includes some interesting culinary demos and tastings between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. All for a $44 ticket. Pastry chef Helen Hong returns this year to show how to make the best chocolate bon bons while Treand will demonstrate her skill at creating sculptural masterpieces from chocolate.
From 5:30 to 9 p.m. the festival will hold its annual gala. This includes sweet and savory tastings from more than 15 chefs as well as curated wines, local beers and spirits. Be sure to get a taste from the chocolate fountain and place a bid at the silent auction while a DJ offers music for you to dance under the stars. For a special evening, check out the VIP prices. This gala is definitely a fitting finale to a chocoholic’s dream.
The complete schedule of events is available at bigislandchocolatefestival.com. Tickets for all of the activities and prices including VIP experiences are listed there.
Gardening events
2026 Coffee and Orchard Crops Webinars with live Q&A. If you missed his or any previous presentations you can find them on the Kona Extension YouTube channel.
Information on flooding and farm food safety: View on UH CTAHR Google Drive at tinyurl.com/3m6upwdm.
Current: “Kona typica” grafted trees available for purchase. First come, first served basis. 20 “Kona typica” grafted (on C. liberica rootstock) trees are available for $15 each.
Tissue cultured “Ito” trees available at $15 each. Contact Andrea at andreak@hawaii.edu if you are interested.
Still available: CLR Resistant Coffee Trees. Go to youtu.be/11-vtPT2jRU or call (808) 322-4892.
Continuing: Ka‘u Coffee Farm Field Day Events, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. In-person events:
• April 23: Nutrition and fertilizing field day.
• May 21: Sanitation and desuckering field day.
• June 2: Midseason sanitation and desuckering field day.
All are free events. Lunch included for registrants. Spanish translator on site. Register at www.91直播CoffeeEd.com/kau. Contact Matt at (808) 322-0164 with questions.
Monday, April 20: “Planning for the future: Farm succession and land transition.”
Zoom from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Free but registration is required at tinyurl.com/ycx2juve or email us at info@gofarmhawaii.org.
Book a booth now for Saturday, May 2, event “Big Island International Fruits Festival” from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in downtown Kona at Hale Halawai Beach Park on Ali‘i Drive. Local arts and crafts and food vendors are invited to this free family event for the community
Contact Randyl Rupar at randyldna@earthlink.net or at (808) 936-5233 for forms or go to https://hawaiianwellness.com/events to download forms.
Farmer direct markets
Wednesday: Ho‘oulu Farmers Market at Sheraton Kona Resort and Spa at Keauhou Bay.
Saturday: Keauhou Farmers Market, 8 a.m. to noon at Keauhou Shopping Center. Information on their online market at keauhoufarmersmarket.com/onlinemarket.
Kamuela Farmer’s Market, 7:30 a.m. to noon at Pukalani Stables.
Waimea Town Market, 7:30 a.m. to noon at the Parker School in central Waimea.
Waimea 91直播stead Farmers Market, 7:30 a.m. to noon at the Waimea Middle and Elementary School playground.
Sunday: Pure Kona Green Market, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Amy Greenwell Garden in Captain Cook.
Hamakua Harvest, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Hwy 19 and Mamane Street in Honoka‘a.
Plant advice lines
Anytime: konamg@hawaii.edu
Tuesdays and Thursdays: 9 a.m. to noon at UH-CES in Kainaliu, (808) 322-4893. Or walk in Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays 9 a.m. to noon at UH CES at Konohana in Hilo, (808) 981-5199.
Diana Duff is a plant adviser, educator and consultant living on Oahu and working part time in Kona.
