HOW WE mAKE CHOCOLATE
A core principal for us is to share with all and to be completely transparent in not just our farming, but also in our chocolate making. Education is a huge part of this. That is why we offer factory tours in Honolulu, it is why we sample our bars FREE and generously in the store and proudly walk through the entire process with anyone who is curious. We especially enjoy sharing our craft with the youngest generation as too many of them think chocolate comes from a shelf. Here below is a step-by-step guide behind the bars.
ROASTING
Steady and controlled temperatures are essential in getting an even roast. Throughout the roasting process, which can last 25-40 minutes depending on the temperature, mass and desired effect, we constantly taste the raw beans.
This is where a chocolate maker’s palate comes into play. It can’t be taught, only learned over time, and you will always have personal preferences in what amount of roast will be delivered.
It is not too dissimilar to roasting coffee beans, where there is usually a ‘house style.’ Some prefer a darker roast, others prefer a gentler touch. At Lonohana we are hyper focussed on capturing a great balance so that the natural acidity of our beans is always maintained as well as the citrus, fruity notes that are present in our Hawaii-grown beans.
WINNOWING
This is the process of splitting off the hard thin outer shell from the roasted bean, leaving only pure 100% cacao, referred to as nibs when broken/split, which occurs while running through our winnower.
Our winnower is over 100 years old, originally from Spain, and stands over 10 feet tall. Vigorous shaking of multiple metal screens in increasingly smaller fine mesh sifts out any remnants of shell. We compost the cacao shells back into the orchard. You often see this for sale at nurseries called “cocoa mulch.”
The nibs are smooth, dark and slightly oily, with an infectious smell of pure chocolate. These are 100% cacao, and definitely on the bitter side of the flavor spectrum, but they are packed high in antioxidants, enjoyed by many as a supplemental ingredient in baking, smoothies, cereal, or on their own. In addition to using in our chocolate, we sell raw nibs, BBQ rubs featuring nibs and include them in several of our bars as a delicious crunchy flavor component.
REFINING
We use a 5-ton vintage dual-stone melangeur to pre-refine the roasted nibs into a thick liquid over a period of several hours. Nothing is added to the nibs to get to this liquid state, it is simply the natural fats within cacao that become heated by the granite friction.
The next stage is one of our most modern machines, a ball mill, where we add organic cane sugar, and depending on the recipe cocoa butter, powdered dairy milk and other ingredients. During this process the chocolate and sugar solids are crushed and rounded, until identical in microscopic size, ensuring our texture and flavors are seamless and integrated.
CONCHING
The final step of our chocolate making process is, in our case, the most technologically simple, but essential to our crafting amazingly delicious, smooth chocolate. Our refurbished 75 year old longitudinal conch originated in Switzerland, and over a period of anywhere between 6-30 hours the liquid chocolate is gently rocked back and forth in a granite-based drum by a granite cylinder. Much of the magic happens in this step, the last before we age the finished chocolate for several months.
