WAILUA — The International Cocoa of Excellence Award honors the best chocolate and cacao producers worldwide, and the 2017 award has a couple of Hawaii companies mixed into the batch. It’s the first time Hawaii has been represented in the
WAILUA — The International Cocoa of Excellence Award honors the best chocolate and cacao producers worldwide, and the 2017 award has a couple of Hawaii companies mixed into the batch.
It’s the first time Hawaii has been represented in the awards and two companies have their chocolate bars in the running — Steelgrass Farm on Kauai and Nine Fine Mynahs Farm on Oahu.
“I’m so stoked,” said Will Lydgate, owner of Steelgrass Farm in Wailua. “Out of all these different countries and fine chocolate farms, that our beans are a contender, I didn’t think it would happen this fast.”
Steelgrass Farm started making chocolate bars in 2010 and Lydgate said he made some changes to his techniques in 2016 that moved his chocolate to the next level.
“That improved our flavor and it’s been getting better and better from there,” he said.
Lydgate found out about the opportunity to enter the worldwide chocolate contest from coworkers and colleagues, and gave it a shot on their urging.
Now Steelgrass Farm’s chocolate is in the top 50 out of 166 worldwide entries from 40 different countries.
“The best chocolate farms in all the world submitted,” Lydgate said. “It’s historic for our new and emerging chocolate industry here in the Hawaiian Islands.”
Bioversity International and Event International spearhead the International Cocoa of Excellence program every two years and the International Cocoa of Excellence Award is bestowed at a Paris conference as a capstone to the program.
The goal of the program is to reward those cocoa and chocolate makers who have created exceptional products, but also to increase market opportunities and encourage cocoa diversity at a global scale, according to Bioversity International.
Every two years, the program culminates in a conference at the Salon Du Chocolat in Paris, France.
The conference, which starts Oct 28, is a week of guided tastings and flavor evaluation workshops, and individual consultations, and at the end the winners will be celebrated.
“I’m going out there, and then the other one from Hawaii will be there too (Nine Fine Mynahs Farm),” Lydgate said. “I’m stoked I get to go on a work trip to Paris.”
Lydgate found out about his chocolate being a contender for the award on Sept. 1, in the midst of rebranding Steelgrass Farm as Lydgate Farm in honor of John Lydgate who died May 1.
“We’re rebranding to respect Great Grandpa and his legacy on the island,” Lydgate said.
John Lydgate spent about 20 years building Lydgate Park, where many on Kauai go to spend time with family and friends. He also taught at Kauai Community College for a decade and was president of Kauai Historical Society.
Will Lydgate plans to bring chocolate from his farm with him on his trip to Paris.
“I’m looking forward to meeting all the big names in chocolate and showing them that Kauai has delicious chocolate,” Lydgate said.
