me ka

Hau’oli Makahiki Hou!
(Merry Christmas and Happy New Year)

Seasons Greetings from Waialua Estate 2011

Mahalo for your Business and Support this year and in the years to come!

Mahalo to Pamela Boyar and Annie Suite for organizing another wonderful event.

Read the story and see Annie’s photos in Haleiwa Farmers Market Newsletter

Come visit the market on any Sunday for a delightful, healthy way to spend your day.

http://www.haleiwafarmersmarket.com/

A Wild and Delicious Success!

Farmers’ Market News February 3, 2011 - Vol. 3 Issue 5

Aloha Market Friend! CACAO FEST BRINGS 4000 all CELEBRATING HAWAII GROWN CHOCOLATE! Sunday was a beautiful day, and for 4000+ people it was a day of chocolate eating, learning, & celebrating! Hawaii is in a unique position, being the only US state with the climate to grow Cacao. This festival was created to celebrate this growing industry with the hope that enough support can be garnered that a chocolate processing facility can soon come into fruition on the islands. Please plan to attend chocolate events throughout February - HAWAII CACAO MONTH - and taste the local goodness! c TOURS to Waialua Estate Cacao! 30-Seat buses leave at 9:15, 10:15, 11:15, 12:15 Sign up early to get your seat on the E Noa coach that will bring you into the Waialua Estate Cacao Orchard where you will learn all about cacao-  from pod to tasty treat - from Mgr. Mike Conway, of Dole Diversified Agriculture. RECIPE CONTEST click here for recipe submission form! Three ways to win: Baked Sweet, Confection and Professional. THE WINNER IN EACH CATEGORY RECEIVES $100 GIFT CERTIFICATE to enjoy at TURTLE BAY’s newest sensation: LEONARDO’S… Chef Hector Morales’ amazingly delicious Italian Restaurant! Drop-off: 9-10: Judging 10:15, Awards: 11:30, Public Tasting: 11:45 CHEF DEMO Executive Pastry Chef, Ben Tabious from Turtle Bay Resort will be sampling out something chocolate and delicious! Trust me, you won’t want to miss this one! EDUCATION H.C. “Skip” Bittenbender, Ph.D.Extension Specialist for Coffee, Kava and CacaoTropical Plant and Soil Sciences from CTAHR- College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources University of Hawaii at Manoa will be sharing how to make chocolate from scratch. They will teach the small-scale cacao grower or hobbyist a method to transform raw cacao seedsinto chocolate using as few as half a dozen pods. The procedure can be used to produce nibs or to make chocolate from dried seeds. BOOKSIGNING Author Carol Devenot, a former food columnist, for the Honolulu Advertiser will sign copies of Global Light Cuisine.  Her new cookbook is a compilation of light & healthy recipes from her bimonthly columns.  Both local and global recipes have been tested and nutritionally analyzed.  All of the art work was also created by the author. CHOCOLATIERS Sweet Paradise Chocolates, by Melanie Boudar Waialua Estate Chocolate, with Derek Lanter Malie Kai Chocolates, by Nathan Sato Ko’Ka Chocolate, by Seneca Klassen Madre Chocolate, by Nat Bletter Chocolate Gecko Espresso CHOCOLATE CREATIONS by HFM Vendors Some of the delectibles offered by our vendors are Chocolate Salad Dressing at Happy’s Hawaii, Banana Chocolate Pastele at Brazilian Corner, Chocolate pastries and smoothies at Universe Juice, Raw Chocolate Pudding Pie with bananas and Mulberries at Divine Delights, Chocolate Croissants from Baker Dude, Chocolate Pasta from Hawaiian Chef, Chocolate Cream Cheese at Naked Cow Dairy, Chocolate Pastries from BaLe Bakery, Cacao Dusted Kettlecorn at Da Kine Kettlecorn, Chocolate and Fresh Fruit Crepes at Le Crepe Cafe, Five Spice and Mexican Chocolate Pops from OnoPops, Chocolate Rub from Bon Vivant, Chocolate Soap from it’s Soap and more! LAST WEEKEND AT THE MARKETS! The day began with an Oli and Pu by Moke, and continued with Farm Tours to Waialua Estate Cacao Orchards, a recipe contest with our fabulous judges- Choclatier Melanie Boudar, Rep. Corinne Ching, Rep. Gil Riviere, and Councilman Ernie Martin, and had booths filled amazing growers and chocolate makers, and even had CTHAR on hand to show how to process chocolate in your own home! Big Mahalos to everyone who entered the Chocolate Recipe Contest! Our judges were in choco-heaven as they went from entry to entry reveling in the many taste sensations. Though it was a very, very difficult to decide the winners, they managed to somehow do it. Several times I heard “They should all win! How can i choose?”

The Hawaii Chocolate Festival is coming to Honolulu February 26th.  Waialua Estate Chocolate and many other cacao growers and chocolate makers will be there to promote this emerging specialty industry in Hawaii.  For more information visit the website:    http://hawaiichocolatefestival.com/index.htm

Cacao Industry

Waialua Estate is participating in several events this month including the Hawaii Cacao Festival at the Haleiwa Farmers Market January 3oth and the Hawaii Chocolate Festival in Honolulu on February 26th.

We are also conducting limited tours of our orchard and mill areas on the the first, second and third Saturdays in February.  The tours will be limited to 25 people and will include a small box of our dark chocolate and a tasting bar.  The fee is $10 per person.

To sign up please go to the following link:

http://waialuacacaotour.eventbrite.com/

Pulehu Italian Restaurant, Westin Ocean Villas Resort

October 27, 2010 Kaanapali Maui, Celebrating the one year anniversary of the Pulehu Italian grill restaurant, the Westin Ocean Villas Resort hosted a Chocolate and Truffle Extravaganza for hotel guests and local residents in the Maui food scene.

Chef Francois Milliet

Executive Chef Francois Milliet prepared a menu of 7 special dishes using Hawaiian chocolate and French Truffles to create exquisite dishes both savory and sweet.  The grounds were set up with 5 tents around the beautiful Koi pond and each menu item was accompanied with a wine paring.

Waialua Estate Chocolate was featured as an ingredient in several savory dishes and in several deserts and chocolate dipped fruits. Starwood Resorts, Sheraton and Westin hotels are demonstrating their commitment to buy and serve locally grown produce

Westin Display, Cacao Pods and Chocolates

on their restaurant menus featuring local fish, beef, vegetables and our very own Waialua Chocolate.

We are delighted to part of this program and were made aware of the important place this program has in Starwood Resort’s commitment to the local community and to providing their guests with a genuine Hawaiian experience with a taste of the islands.

Additionally, proceeds from this event were donated to the Maui Farm Bureau to support programs promoting awareness of local agriculture.  We are also grateful to the Westin for providing us with comfortable accommodations during our stay and look forward to more events in the near future.

Farsheed, Rebecca and Melanie @ Westin Event

Westin Koi

Windswept West Maui

A four day visit to the Valley Isle, Maui no ka oi, provided the chance to blend

Upcountry Vista

work and play in one of Hawaii’s finest settings. With Rebecca along to assist and keep me company, we explored many varied places around the island, attended several food events with friends and associates and were refreshed by Maui’s windy,  beautiful array of places, faces, island charm and hospitality.

Rebecca, Derek, Melanie

Our first day was busy with preparations for the Westin Kaanapali Ocean Villa Resort event featuring Waialua Estate Chocolate.  This was a joint presentation of Waialua Hawaiian Chocolate by our friends and business associates Melanie Boudar, chocolatier extraordinare with  Sweet Paradise Chocolates (now opening two new locations on Maui at the Lahaina Design Center and at Wailea Gateway Center)

Farsheed the Chocolate Guy from Cocoa Outlet

and Farsheed Bonakadar, the Chocolate Guy from Cocoa Outlet, our neighbor island distributor from Kealakekua on the Big Island.

Maui has been a strong supporter of locally grown produce with a big appetite for Waialua Estate Chocolate and Coffee.  With our visit to Maui we wanted to say Mahalo to the people who support our products  at Whole Foods Market in Kahalui.

Together with Melanie we set up a tasting on Friday 10/29 and sampled several pounds of Waialua Estate dark 70% and Milk Chocolate washed down with a couple gallons of fresh brewed Waialua Coffee.  Melanie previewed her special  Hawaiian truffles made with Waialua Chocolate and Coffee with the shape of coffee bean on top.  Being it was just before Halloween, people were certainly in the spirit to sample the chocolates and were very excited by the prospect of Melanie’s truffles coming to Whole Foods.

Thank you Maui for refreshing our minds, bodies and spirits and for your continued support inspiring us to grow the best coffee and cacao on the island of Oahu!

Sampling Chocolates with Melanie Boudar at Whole Foods

Whole Foods Market

Special thank yous to Pamela Boyar and Annie Suite of Haleiwa Farmers’ Market for their patience, support and get it done abilities.  To Melanie Boudar, the chocolatier of Sweet Paradise Chocolate for her guidance, use of the chocolate fountains, and much assistance in getting it together.  Many thank yous to 21 degrees restaurant and Palm Terrace at Turtle Bay Resort, Alan Wong’s Restaurant and Town Restaurant for providing plentiful samples of sweet and savory delicacies for everyones tasting pleasure.

Thank you esteemed panel of judges, and Skip Bittenbender of CTAHR for demonstration of making chocolate and information on how to grow cacao.

And of course a BIG MAHALO to the Waialua Estate volunteer crew including Mike Conway and Marian Chun, as well as my own home team Rebecca, Kaoru and Akari Powell,  Emily and Cassidy Lanter.  I couldn’t have done it without all the help and support you all gave to pull this off.   Let’s do it again next year!

Below is an excerpt for the Haleiwa Farmers Market Newsletter with photos and more on the the event.  Thanks Annie Suite for fantastic photos of fabulous food creations and happy faces.

Big Mahalos to all 5000 of you who joined us for the fun and delicious treats this past Sunday at the 1st Annual Cacao Festival! And big Mahalos to Alan Wong’s Restaurant, Ed Kenney & Town Restaurant, John Armstong, Ben Tabious & 21° N at Turtle Bay, Melanie Boudar from Sweet Paradise Chocolates, Ola Loa Wellness, Skip Bittenbender from CTHAR and especially Derek Lanter & Mike Conway from Dole Diversified Agriculture Waialua Estate Cacao!

Our beautiful day started with a traditional blessing, before our guests wandered through the many booths filled with our usual farmers market offerings of the freshest locally grown fruits and vegetables and our special Cacao offerings… including Chocolate Fountains showering Waialua Estate Dark & Milk Chocolates, samples from our guest chefs, and a tent full of submissions to the Chocolate Recipe contest, where Vice Speaker Michael Magaoay, Howard Dicus (radio & TV personality… and his lovely wife!), Melanie Boudar (Sweet Paradise Chocolateir), Martha Cheng (Freelance Food Writer) and David Calciero (Chef de Cuisine for Town Restaurant) tasted their way through the entries and selected our prize winners.

Grand Prize Winner Ben Tabious and his
Chocolate Cake with Ginger Ganache and Caramelized Bananas! Wow!

Winners in the Confections Category: 1st Place Noella Montiero (Chocolate Orange Panna Cotta & Waialua Estate Iced Hot Chocolate); 2nd Place Richard Samiley (Madras Curry Truffle); 3rd Place Patti Gallagher Jones (Malie Kai Cherry Bark). Winners in the Savory Category: 1st Place Lan Thai (Crab Cake Citrus Salad with Waialua Dark Chocolate); 2nd Place: Christine Watanabe (Waialua Estate Chocolate with Cacao Nibs Panko Seared Beef with Waialua Chocolate/pozu jus); 3rd Place Arlene Boyd (Auntie Arleen’s Oahu Chicken Cacao) Winners in the Baked Sweet Category: 1st Place Sabrina St. Martin Chocolate Banana Nut Bread with Homemade Chocolate Butter. 2nd Place: William W. Kanour, Jr. (Lucky You Live in Hawaii Chocolate Cake); 3rd Place Monique Vander Stroom (Chocolate Cream Cheese Shortbread Mini’s with Waialua Chocolate dipped Sea Asparagus)

Hale‘iwa Farmers’ Market

is celebrating the transformative power of Cacao- from colorful pod to delectable taste sensation- with its Hawaii Cacao Festival on Sunday January 31st!

Enter your favorite original chocolate recipe in the Cacao & Chocolate Recipe Contest.

A chance to win an Escape Club Membership from Turtle Bay Resort for the grown-ups and a private surf lesson from North Shore Surf Girls for the keiki.

Judges will include Vice Speaker Michael Magaoay, radio & tv personality Howard Dicus, freelance food writer Martha Cheng, Cookie-man Wally Amos, and Hawaii chocolatier Melanie Boudar.

Prizes for five categories: Baked Goods, Confections, Savory, Keiki Creation, plus the Hawaiian-Chocolate Grand Prize awarded to the most outstanding recipe in all categories using local Hawaii chocolate.

Sample the delicious creations from Town Restaurant Chef Ed Kenney and 21 Degrees North Chef John Armstrong.

Discover a whole new world as you hop the E Noa shuttle to visit the Waialua Estate Cacao orchard.

Learn about cacao’s nutritional benefits from Ola Loa Wellness. Visit with Wanda Adams, author of The Island Plate I & II, and Entertaining Island Style, and have her sign your personal copy of her books.

Learn how to make your own chocolate liquor from Skip Bittenbender of CTHAR. ( UH College of Tropical Agriculture) Buy a cacao tree for your yard- sales to benefit the Urban Garden Center.

Fun activities for kids include: decorating Mr. Cacao Heads, face-painting, and crowning yourself king or queen of the festival in your own artistic crown-creation! Everyone can enjoy the live music while relaxing in the 75- seat café.

Hawaii Cacao festival At the Haleiwa Farmers MarketRecipe Contest: Drop off: 8-9 a.m.; Awards: 11:30

Recipe Tastings: 11:45 a.m.

Chef Demos: 9a.m.-1 p.m.

Kids Activities: 9 a.m. - 1p.m.

Shuttle to Cacao Orchard leaving throughout the event.

Call Pam Boyer for additional info 388-9696

or visit the Haleiwa Farmers market

3 stages of coffee ripeness: under ripe, ripe and raisin

At the end of October,  the coffee trees heavy with fruit, the equipment prepared and the crew ready to go, we launched into our 2009 -2010 harvest season and brought the first coffee cherry to the mill for processing.

So,  how do we harvest over 150 acres with a lean crew of nine workers?  We send two to the field to pick cherry and have seven at the mill to process and dry.

Chris and Eddie run the harvester

Oh, did I mention the Korvan Harvester?  This peppy little mule is operated by our two harvesters Eddie and Chris.

Korvan Harvesters were designed to be used in the fruit and berry  industry for harvesting blueberry, raspberries, and grapes.  The machines were custom modified to be used in the coffee industries from Brazil, to Australia to Hawaii.  They have been operated in this industry  for over 20 years now and are especially useful where coffee production has large tracts of hedge row tress and terrain that is open and rolling.  Thus the equipment is adaptable to those coffee operations that were planted on former sugar cane lands, but would not be useful in steep, rocky terrain areas.

Korvan Coffee Harvester

The harvester uses a large wide picking tunnel that allows the machine to straddle the coffee hedge rows and the fiberglass fingers comb through the tree and cause the loose cherry to drop down to collection plates and onto a unique bucket conveyance system that gently carries the fruit to a holding box.

In this way we are processing between 10,000 to 15,000 lbs of coffee cherry on a harvest day and harvesting around 4 days per week and will harvest around

Harvest of under ripe, ripe cherry and raisin

500,000 lbs of coffee cherry between November and January.

Next time, we’ll take a look at how the under ripe, ripe and raisin coffee is separated, pulped and dried at the coffee mill.

Aloha,  Derek

The first load of the 09-10 harvest season

Melanie stirs it up

A couple weeks ago, local chocolate expert Melanie Boudar, of  Sweet Paradise Chocolatier, held a Truffle class at her store in Kailua, Oahu.   Feeling the need to get creative with chocolate,  I signed up with my daughter Cassidy, to spend a couple hours on Sunday learning something new and making elegant treats for our friends and family.

Chocolate is often consumed in its bar form, or eaten as a confection or pastry produced by an experienced chef or chocolatier.   It is something of a personal jump to go from simply eating a chocolate bar to actually working with chocolate.

Ganache

To measure out the right proportions of chocolate and other ingredients, melt and stir them and then hand work with the thick,  viscous mass is an altogether different experience.

There are guidelines to follow when mixing chocolate with other ingredients, particularly liquids that will interact with the fats in chocolate and will affect consistency and texture.  There are temperatures to be be aware of,  ratios, timing, combination of ingredients, etc.

Cassidy Concentrates on Chocolate

At first it can seem a intimidating;  what if I make a mistake, ruin a batch, gum it up, make a mess… Well, yes,  that will probably happen at some point.  That’s part of the process.  Chocolate is an adventure; take chances, make mistakes, don’t take it too seriously.  In time, understanding and technique will improve.

Truffles setting up

But with Melanie’s guidance, we worked our way through 3 different receipes without incident.  By the end of the class, we had produced a raspberry infused truffle, a ginger, cinnamon infusion and a coffee truffle with a dark chocolate / milk chocolate ganache.

Chocolate treasures

Some of these were simply rolled in cocoa powder in the traditional soft truffle form, and others were dipped into a liquid chocolate to make a crisp shell couverture enrobing the soft ganache.  Our creations, though not quite professional, proved very attractive and flavorful and were well appreciated by our friends and family.

Sweet Paradise has tasting, pairings and trainings from time to time and also has a store at the Kings Shops at Waikoloa on the Big Island.  To learn more see the website www.sweetparadisechocolate.com