It was a big beautiful day at the first annual Hawaii Cacao Festival this past Sunday January 31st at the Haleiwa Farmers’ Market on the North Shore of Oahu. A great turn out of 5000 market goers came to share in the festivities including a cacao orchard tour, recipe contest with over 40 entries (winning entries are posted at the end of the blog) and delicious samples of chocolate inspired culinary creations by local chefs, chocolatiers and of course Waialua Estate Chocolate.
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.
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)
Tags: Diversified Agriculture, Haleiwa Cacao, Haleiwa Farmers Market, Hawaii Cacao Festival, Waialua Cacao, Waialua Chocolate