Categorized | Business

New Hawaii Island chocolate tour launches

Greg Colden, co-owner of Kokoleka Lani Farms, a cacao farm in Kona, Hawaii holds a cacao pod. Guests of the chocolate tour will sample the raw cacao and chocolate created from the cacao on the farm. (Photo courtesy of Kona Natural Soap Company)

Greg Colden, co-owner of Kokoleka Lani Farms, a cacao farm in Kona, Hawaii holds a cacao pod. Guests of the chocolate tour will sample the raw cacao and chocolate created from the cacao on the farm. (Photo courtesy of Kona Natural Soap Company)

MEDIA RELEASE

Home Tours Hawaii, Hawaii Island’s only culinary home tour company, is tapping into Hawaii’s growing prominence as a producer of cacao and estate grown chocolates in 2015.

Beginning Jan. 19, the Kailua-Kona based tour operator, will offer weekly tours to well known Kona cacao farm, Kokoleka Lani Farms, which supplies one of Hawaii’s famous bean to bar makers, Madre Chocolate, with its Hawaiian grown cacao.

The visit includes an intimate tour of the estate of farm owners, Greg Colden and Marty Corrigan, where guests will sample tropical fruits grown on the farm, samplings of Madre Chocolate bars and locally sourced, hand-made cuisine.

The tour finishes at the Kona Natural Soap Company, a working soap factory located on the farm that uses the winnowings of the roasted cacao and the seeds of the tropical fruits grown on the farm as “value added” components of the natural soap.

Guests will learn the history of cacao in the creation of chocolate, the types of cacao hybrids which grow in Hawaii, see how the cacao is harvested and have a chance to taste the raw cacao directly from the pod of the trees.

“We are excited to be partnering with Home Tours Hawaii to offer this innovative cacao tour to showcase a unique commodity of Hawaii and allow guests to see a sustainable working farm where it is grown, cultivated and incorporated into both chocolate and soap,” said Greg Colden, co-owner of Kokoleka Farms and the tour guide for both the farm and the factory tour.

“With the growing trend toward enjoying food from where it is grown, we encourage guests to taste the cacao from the trees, experience a ‘bean-to-bar’ chocolate and taste locally sourced cuisine,” said Home Tours Hawaii owner, Lisa Christian. “Visitors will immerse all their senses in the taste, smells and sights of a tropical fruit farm.”

Tours of Kokoleka Lani Farm and the Kona Natural Soap Company can be booked directly through Home Tours Hawaii by contacting Christian directly at 808-325-5772.

The tours leave downtown Kailua Kona at 8:30 a.m. and return by 11:30 a.m. Cost is $75 per person.

Created in 2002, Home Tours Hawaii also offers culinary brunch tours of a variety of Kona and Hilo homes.

— Find out more:
www.hometourshawaii.com
www.konanaturalsoapcompany.com

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