The Hawaii Cacao Farm Origin Tour

Over winter break, my family took a trip to Hawaii, and while we were there an old friend of mine, Anne, invited us to her farm for a tour. This was my first origin tour, and we were all excited.

Pa'ani Farms was a long drive, so I had plenty of time to watch a video on cacao fermenting that we thought would be very enlightening.

When we got there, the first thing I noticed was a wire fence. I would learn later that this was the divider for two separate farms.

at the end of the road, there was a large wood house, where, on the balcony, Anne and her mother June were waving to us. we went up, we all introduced ourselves, and the tour began.

June gave us the layout of the farm from the balcony, pointing out the several different crops that thrived there, including avocados, coffee, and of course, cacao pods. Then Anne led us down from the balcony, and onto the farm.

Just along the path was a bush-tree thing bearing dark red berries. Anne explained that coffee beans, when they are ready to be picked, turn a dark red. you crack the berry-looking thing in half, and presto! A coffee bean has been revealed. The same mucilage that covers cacao beans also covers coffee beans.

The next stop was at a lone macadamia nut tree. Anne told us that when the nuts are ripe, they fall to the ground. We instinctively bent down to inspect the ground. Indeed, it was peppered with large nuts, half in-half out of a thick shell. We all took some, and Anne told us that if we find any small, round, black holes, it means that the nut has been burrowed into by a bug. The bug has saliva so acidic, it can go right through the shell of the nut.

Finally, we arrived at the stand of cacao trees. I eagerly jumped at the chance to pick a pod, so Anne told me that if, at the top, the pod goes up and then comes down, even the tiniest but down, then the pod was ripe. I picked one, then my brother picked one, then my dad, and then Anne herself.

We headed back and ate some of Anne's delicious cooking, then went out back to a small table. June supervised this stage. She handed me and my brother mallets and told us to smash open the pod. I went first with not much force, and then learned that a cacao pod was a very sturdy thing. I then brought the mallet back and smashed the pod with two swings. the top cracked off, and I could see close to forty beans all tucked inside. We went on like this for some time, until all the pods were gone.

At this point, June said to taste one of the beans, and we both happily popped a bean into our mouths. My brother was very surprised that the mucilage was so fruity and sweet, but I had done this before at the UnConference and Dandelion, so I was not surprised. However, this pod was totally fresh, so it was fruitier than I remembered.

We then put on gloves, for June had warned us that this part was messy, so gloves were advised. We scooped the beans out of the pod and disconnected the strings and placenta. The placenta is the center stalk where all the beans were attached.

Lastly, we went back to the balcony, enjoyed some sorbets while recounting the smashing and scooping, and another successful Chocolate, or I guess in this case cacao, visit ended.

Here I am holding up a freshly picked cacao pod. As you can see, if those ridges go above the little bump at the end, the pod is ripe.

I am currently in the process of smashing the pod. The mallet is like any other mallet, except the end was smeared in cacao shell pulp.

Here is me holding an open pod. There are a lot of beans in a pod, way more than I expected, so that was a surprise. Also, note the mucilage and how some of the beans have more than others, indicating the tightly packed pod.

After we had finished scooping, this was the end result. This bucket was a lot deeper than you can see, and there were probably around 300 beans in that bucket. June informed me that a typical harvest is around 300 pods, so multiply that many beans by 50, and you have your typical harvest right there.