As we go around the island delivering our “Hawaii Healthy Me” books to every fourth-grader in our public schools, we are able to go to different places to see what a tourist coming here sees.
In last week’s column, I wrote briefly about using Original Hawaiian Chocolate to make my flourless chocolate cake. The factory is located at 78-6772 Makenawai St. in Kailua-Kona. If you visit its website, you can hit the directions link to find the factory. Tours are available Wednesday and Friday by reservation. Unfortunately, we were there on Tuesday.
Cacao grows at 15 to 20 degrees north or south of the equator and the Big Island is at 18 degrees, making it an ideal place to cultivate cacao. According to an Original Hawaiian Chocolate brochure, there are three major varieties of cacao trees — the Forastero, Criollo and Trinitario.
Cacao is known to be one of the world’s richest sources of antioxidants (flavonoids), which are considered very beneficial to health. It also is a source of theobromine, a stimulating alkaloid responsible for chocolate’s reputation as an aphrodisiac. It is no wonder that cacao and chocolate are considered by many aficionados as the “food of the gods.”
Ka‘u Coffee Mill Hawaii Visitor Center Gift Shop and Coffee Mill is located at 96-2694 Wood Valley Road in Pahala. We sampled some of its coffee with interest as they were labeled “Washed Medium, Semi-Washed Medium and Natural Dark.”
The Washed Medium means after picking, the ripe coffee berries are completely washed of all skin, pulp and mucilage before drying. The finished product has a bright aroma, delicate but authoritative with rich and sweet acidity. Its flavors are complex and balanced, with notes of plum and citrus.
Semi-Washed means the partially washed cherries have some skin, pulp and mucilage left on the bean when left out to dry. The result is a soft, delicate, apricot bouquet with tangerine and milk chocolate in the aroma and cup. The acidity is gently round; it is smooth and buttery.
What was interesting to me was the Natural Dark. The coffee cherries are dried with the seeds still inside until the drying time is complete, when the internal moisture content of the beans is from 9-12 percent by weight. This moisture level is the global standard for all types of coffee.
The coffee has a winey taste, with notes of cherry, strawberry, passion fruit and hibiscus, with a spiciness of cinnamon, cloves. and cedar finished with a heavy body and tones of cocoa and molasses.
Punaluu Bake Shop in Naalehu is a bustling place for tourists. As we sat there to have lunch, we watched tourists enjoying the malasadas with their coffee. Some came by rented cars, others were in buses. Local visitors were buying loaves of their famous sweet bread for either taking home or to the office.
A Punaluu Bake Shop brochure states it is at latitude 19 degrees, four minutes north of the equator, on a 4 acre tropical estate and renowned for producing the finest sweetbread in all Hawaii. More than 200,000 visitors from around the globe come to Punaluu Bake Shop to treat their sweet tooth.
We watched with much amazement as two ladies each wolfed down two chocolate eclairs in less than three minutes.
Tropical Dreams is located in the Lalamilo Agricultural Park in Waimea. It’s known for manufacturing “super-premium” ice cream, gelato, sorbet, sherbert and Hilo Homemade premium ice cream. Flavors such as salted caramel, toasted coconut and passion fruit cream are just some of the wonderful flavors available. There is a retail store in front of the factory. Tropical Dreams also has individual cups of ice cream if you are not able to take home a half-gallon.
Call Tropical Dreams at 888-888-8031 to check out what’s in stock if you are picking up some ice cream or sorbet. I went to pick up some freshly churned Hula Cow Big Island butter, which is available as unsalted and salted.
Tropical Dreams has manufactured gourmet ice cream for more than 25 years and prides itself with making handmade ice cream containing 18 percent butterfat and a low overrun. This means less air is mixed in during the freezing process. The result is a true gourmet ice cream that is dense and very rich tasting. Once you have Tropical Dreams and Hilo Homemade Ice Cream, it is difficult to eat ice cream of lesser quality.
Although not open to the public and selling wholesale, I also visited Kawamata Tomato Farms in the Lalamilo Agricultural Park. A hydroponically grown, vine-ripened variety of beefsteak tomato hangs from vines between rails where the picker can sit in a cart on the tracks and pick the tomatoes daily.
Foodie bites
• Hawaii Community College’s second year students are serving foods of New Orleans this week. Call 934-2591 for reservations. Open 11 a.m.-1 p.m. today through Friday. Please support the second-year students as they practice their front-of-the-house skills as well as prepare and deliver the food.
Email Audrey Wilson at audreywilson808 @gmail.com.
