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“Our northern latitude can be an advantage—both agronomically and in a marketing sense,” said Skip Bittenbender, former agronomist and cacao advocate at the University of Hawaii’s College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources.

For connoisseurs who may unaccountably grow bored with plain dark Hawaiian chocolate, its brighter flavor makes it perfect for amendment with passion fruit, coffee, and other iconic island foodstuffs. Island chocolatiers may add estate-grown vanilla, local honey, lavender, coconut, macadamia, sea salt, and more. Any such flavoring simply magnifies the splendor of the base chocolate.

“We’ll just work at opening eyes one tastetest at a time,” vowed Lydgate. •

LEFT The fermented seeds are then sun-dried (pictured here), roasted, and winnowed, a process that removes the husks and crushes the beans into nibs.

LEFT The cacao nibs are ground into a thick, liquid paste called cocoa mass or cocoa liquor— what is then made into the chocolate we know and love.