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, sample our bars free and generously in the store, and proudly walk through the entire process with anyone who is curious.
HOW WE MAKE CHOCOLATE
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-focused on capturing a great balance so that the natural acidity is 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, packed in antioxidants, and enjoyed by many as a supplemental ingredient in baking, smoothies, cereal, or on their own. In addition to using them for our chocolate, we sell nibs, BBQ rubs featuring nibs, and include them in several of our bars as a delicious crunchy flavor component.
REFINING & milling
We use a 5-ton vintage 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 liberated and heated by the friction of stone grinding.
The next stage is milling, where we add all the remaining ingredients for the finished chocolate. During this process the particles in the chocolate are resized to under 20 micron, ensuring that the finished products will be smooth, balanced and utterly delicious to taste.
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 began its life in Italy and now lives happily here with us in Honolulu. Over a period of anywhere between 8-36 hours, the fluid chocolate is gently rocked back and forth, distributing the solids in the chocolate as evenly as possible. Much of the magic happens in this step, the last before we age the finished chocolate.
Tempering
Once we have finished chocolate made we typically let it age in bulk for several weeks to a couple months. This allows all the flavors to really meld together. Then it is time to make some bars!
Unlike most of the process so far where we used mostly older vintage machines, tempering requires very precise temperature controls to transform the bulk choclate into shiny bars with a nice snap. Needless to say, doing this in a tropical environment means we have to use much more modern machines in our cold clean room.
