Mauka...Mauka... my hawai'ian is extremely weak at best. The Hawai'ian dictionnary tells me it may mean "inland". When I re-read the sentence, it makes sense. I have learned something new today. Thank you for the enlightenment. Now, if it doesn't mean inland, someone PLEASE correct me.
Have a great day, all.
Pu'ole, a.k.a. Sylvain.
Tropical Herbs and Spice!
Sorry for being so dense, but is it the fungus that makes the pods richer?
You got it Pu'ole, commonly used expression round here to describe direction, even on the local weather forcast. The direction toward the sea is makai,( kai is the Hawaiian word for the sea).
Internet problems this morning here...
The climate where the trees are grown, and good cultivation practices, make the beans rich with butter-fat.
Fermentation is what gives the beans their classic chocolate flavor.
An interesting site that goes through the process of making commercial chocolate can be found at:
www.fieldmuseum.org/CHOCOLATE/making.html
Very interesting site, Metrosideros. Isn't chocolate unbelievably interesting in all its aspects?
Oh, what a delicious addiction. I could just see myself in a Chocolate Anonymous meeting standing before everyone and proclaiming:
"Hi, my name is Sylvain and I am hopelessly addicted to chocolate. As a matter of fact, Here... I brought some samples for everyone".
They would kick my sorry behind out of that meeting before I had finished opening the samples of homemade chocolate truffles, almond bark, mayonnaise chocolate cake and fudge I have brought just for that occasion.
I am trying to learn a few words of hawai'ian here and there because some day, I shall return to the islands. It's a promise I make to myself, not a threat to the islands.
Keep well, everyone.
Aloha.
Pu'ole, a.k.a. Sylvain.
A good word for that is... li'i li'i....little by little (a hicup sound where the single quotes are)
Sylvain, you are not the only one yearning for the islands. Once was definitely not enough.
Carol, I am so envious of your visit this week. If only, if only, if only....
Princess Kilikina
AH...I am looking forward to it too, Christi. I have never been in Kula where I will be staying. I have packed a box with some pressies.....
Don't let anyone drag you down in the water and break your foot.
Dave, a very interesting site on the growing and making the chocolate, thank you. I had no idea that most of our chocolate beans are grown in Western Africa or what a labor intensive ordeal it must be to be a farmer. Interesting that the pods ripen year round instead of one or two large crops a year. Very enjoyable, and educational.
Pouring with rain here on Maui this morning - I hope it's going to clear up for Wednesday when Carol comes down the mountain from Kula! I am so looking forward to seeing her, and hope we can get that snorkle trip in. We will be careful of Carols' feet Christi!
Aloha!
Ice here today.
Some ice and snoe here too.
BHM, Carol, have a great time together. I will be with you in spirit.
In sub-tropical Delray Beach this morning, It is currently 75 degrees with a delightful softbreeze. I live in the mauka part of Delray.
Spring fever has hit this polar bear. As the eskimos say in such dire times: we'll live longer if we take cover and wait.
Yesterday, I have restocked my little above-ground pond with 24 golfish, the filter has been cleaned and everyone seems happy in there.
Also, I have decided that this is the time to put this collection of potted plants hanging around my carport in the ground or the rubbish. Just so I am not off-topic, I have purchased a rosemary plant yesterday. It should go into the ground with the rest today.
Aloha,
Pu'ole, a.k.a. Sylvain
What a day. Dallas and most of the states are paralyzed with ice this morning. More time to look at the gardening magazines.
Don't go out if you don't have to LouC. I got lucky and only got a little bit of ice and a dusting of snow. It went north, east and south of us.
Sylvain, you have great weather going on there!!
You won't believe it. 19 this morning covered with ice. Right now at almost 3pm no ice and it is 45 degrees no wind so it feels warm.
We reached above freezing today, barely. Most of the ice and snow is gone. Will be all gone tomorrow. When I went outside this morning it was 26* and it felt good. LOL
Doesn't sound like anyone would be thrilled with knowing about Hawaii weather? 250 miles to the north (rough guess) it is socked in with clouds, about 60 degs with a cold wind driving the pouring rain at a 90deg. angle....here in Hilo it was beautiful in the lower 70s with a nice breeze. It's called weather in the middle of the ocean around three of the tallest mountains in the world which can stop and deflect weather. Always exciting, never boring.
Hi Dave, Reading your expose on Cacao was very interesting. As I live in Mesoamerica within a stones throw of the great Maya cities of Tikal and El Mirador I should know all about Cacao. I am totally ignorant and have never seen a tree here, only in the West Indies.
The locals and my Maya gardener know nothing about Cacao. In theory I should be able to throw some seeds into my garden and in about 3 years start producing pods.
I discovered that, as in Hawaii, Hershey made expeditions here but the projects came to nothing. Why don't we grow Cocao here? The reason is economic. Although Chocolate is very expensive the price that a farmer receives for the finished bean is very low and a profit is not possible. It is more profitable to grow Corn and Beans.
We have a similar situation with Coffee. Many of the large private Coffee Fincas have gone out of business. Local co-operatives now produce coffee but only receive a few dollars for 100 lb bags of dried beans (about 10c a pound). The members still live in hovels and are barely existing.
I was in Roatan (Honduras) 3 weeks ago and I was delighted to find some "equitable" ground coffee from a cooperative of small growers in the mountains. I bought about 10 lbs of the stuff and it is delicious: tasty, full-bodied almost robust without being acrid.
There should be more such cooperatives.
Sylvain.
I buy excellent coffee grown, roasted and ground here. It still costs me about $3 a pound.
Roatan is renowned for it's diving. Do you scuba?
John
Hey John, in Hawai'i a farmer could never do well by growing and selling cacao beans.
The only sensible way to make their production worthwhile is for the farmer to grow the beans and make the finished product as well.
The cost of making a high quality chocolate is too expensive for any common person. The machinery alone is not within most people's budgets. The time is consuming too; who has the time to conch (heat and stir) their chocolate for two to seven days?
I like the idea of a cooperative (thanks Sylvain!) and have been encouraging my family and friends to plant cacao, as well as Vanilla to flavor the stuff with.
Now I need to figure out how to make sweetener out of Agave!
Vanilla!
Is that your property? It is beautiful.
Christi
Hi Christi, the photo is part of my Agave & Aloe garden. The gazebo is mine; the structure to the left of that is my neighbors.
Here is another view of the Agave garden.
Here are Vanilla beans!
Freshly harvested beans (green); cured and dried; and Vanilla beans being made into extract with dark rum!
luscious.
OK! What we have here is a definite case of Hawai'i envy.
I love your agave garden. Let's get our heads together and make tequilla cooperative. The world has enough sweeteners as it is and one can always use a bit more tequilla.
As far as the vanilla beans are concerned, it only reinforces my Hawai'i envy. I have 3 vanilla orchid plants at home but they don't even produce as much as a new leaf a year. They just want to go back to Madgascar or Hawai'i.
A fru-fru food store was closing when I lived in Canada. I took advantage of a liquidation sale and acquired a dozen vanilla beans, which I steeped in a 26-oz bottle of 94%alcohol for a couple months. Quebec is the only province in Canada where alcohol is legally sold. It produced glorious vanilla. Those were the days, my friend.
Take care.
Pu'ole, a.k.a. Sylvain.
Hey, Sylvain. I'm with you. Maybe Carol would sell a couple of acres of her plantation and we could each have one and grow all kinds of beautiful things. Mitch left a blue agave with me when he moved to Oklahoma. I think that is the one that "Patron" uses.
Most of the Blue Agave in cultivation is Agave americana.
The best tequila is made from Agave tequilana and its close relative Agave angustifolia.
Agave americana is a good plant for making "pulque", which is basically Agave beer!
Here is a variegated form of Agave angustifolia.
Dave, between you, Carol and RJ there is little in the plant world that you don't cover. I am always amazed and thrilled when you offer education. I'm still at the point where : I have a blue flower, a red flower, a white flower....a....ad infinitum....
Thanks for the compliments! The plants are easy; once you get here it just seems like the right thing to do to start making gardens.
Here's some more Agave and Yucca.
Hetty, I knew I would get myself in trouble naming names. "Dutchlady" is another with uncommon knowledge. Actually, there's no place to stop when I think of all the wonderful people on DG.
Absolutely fascinating thread! Thanks Dave! Carol, you should post some of your spice trees...then the title of the thread and the contents would make us all want to experiment! Hmmm let's see...mocha/cinnamon for breakfast...add a touch more vanilla for lunch, hmmm allspice for dinner...
The economics of the production of both chocolate and coffee in all these varied places is also fascinating. Alas the need for the "marketable" product has caused many more interesting items to be pushed to the wayside all too often. I love the idea of the co-op Dave. Good luck with that!
Yokwe all,
Shari
Hi, Shari. Glad to see you. If these could be raised in a container you would be the one to do it.
PK
Christi you give me waaay too much credit! My environment is much too harsh for most herbs and spices...too much salt in lots of hot wind. But I can dream along with others when reading these marvelous posts. How you doing Sweetie?
Yokwe,
Shari
Eating waaaay too much. Mike just cooked shrimp and okra....too full. He cooks, I eat!
Dave...just read the new posts...I was on Maui. John up in Nino'ole often sells his Cacao seeds to some hippy farmers who pay BIG BUCKS for them...like nearly $20 a pound!
Couldn't you sell to the Chocolate FruFrus...you know who I mean...they do alot of tastings in Volcano and in Kona...