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Kailua Candy Company

Kailua Candy Company is a great shop for chocolate lovers. They have been hand crafting the finest, freshest chocolates in Hawaii for over thirty years now. As such, they are now seen as Hawaii’s Premier Chocolate Company. This is because they have won numerous awards, such as being selected by Bon Appetit as “One of the top ten chocolate shops in the USA” in 1993.

Today the Kailua Candy Company is operating as a second generation family business. It was originally started by Jack and Ginney Smoot but it is now operated by Cathy and Robin Smoot, along with a great staff of folks from Kona. This staff makes all of the items in small batches so as to ensure the high quality that has come to be expected from this company.

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More About Macadamia Nuts

Macadamia nuts grow on white, pink or purple flowering evergreen trees that are between six to forty feet tall. This tree has elliptical shaped, broad leaves with a spiny-serrated margin in the middle of them. The macadamia nut grows on this tree as a type of fruit. It is pointed in shape and has a very hard woody covering. Inside of the nut you will find one or two seeds.

According to a study that was conducted at the University of Hawaii’s School of Medicine by John A. Burns in 2000 there are numerous health benefits to eating macadamia nuts. This report was published in the prestigious ìArchives of Internal Medicine.î The report indicates that if you are eating a diet that is relatively high in fat, you should definitely be eating macadamia nuts as a part of this diet. According to this research, macadamia nuts actually are more beneficial to your health than any other type of nut. More About Hawaiian Chocolates From More About Macadamia Nuts >>>

Menehune Mac - Hawaiian Chocolates

Menehune Mac was founded in 1939. As such, they are the oldest existing manufacturer of macadamia nut candies in Hawaii. Their mission is to produce the finest quality confections while also providing high quality customer service to their clients who are located around the world.

This Hawaii Chocolate company has been hand-dipping their chocolates for over 60 years now. They are actually one of the largest handmade confectioners in the United States today. Their exclusive blend of chocolate is known as Menehune Milk Chocolate. This chocolate is produced by the Guittard Chocolate Company, which is located in San Francisco.

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Mulvadi Corporation

Mulvadi is a family owned company that is located in Wailuku, Maui. This is directly in the middle of Maui’s tropical fruit belt. A lot of people are now familiar with this company because of the fact that it was featured on the Food Network recently. However, what many people do not know is that this company is truly dedicated to providing their customers with more than just world-class candies. They also make the finest in tropical fruit products, exotic condiments and relishes. The reason why these products are so good is because only the finest ingredients are used with highly defined procedures in order to ensure that every item is of the highest quality and freshness. These products come with a guarantee that you will be 100% satisfied with your purchase or you will receive your money back.

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Original Hawaiian Chocolate Factory

Cocoa is grown, handpicked, sun dried and processed by cacao growers on the Kona Coast. These manufacturers adhere to the highest standards of excellence before sending the cocoa to The Original Hawaiian Chocolate Factory where it is made into pure Hawaiian chocolate.

Traditionally, chocolate is made by blending together cocoa beans from various geographical regions around the world. For this reason, Hawaii was faced with a great challenge: They had to figure out how to produce a chocolate that had excellent flavor, texture and taste while only utilizing cocoa beans that were grown in Hawaii itself. As such, Hawaii was the first place in the world to ever create this type of a chocolate. This is part of what makes Hawaiian chocolate so unique.

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Chocolate Trivia

There really is a lot that you should know about chocolate.  Here are some of the lesser-known fact:

1. Dark chocolate contains flavonoids, which medical studies have proven are beneficial to your health because they contain antioxidants.  (Antioxidants are a substance that is capable of counteracting the damaging effects that occur whenever your body’s blood combines with oxygen.)

2. The United States is the world’s largest chocolate manufacturer.  Many people will tell you that the best chocolate in the United States is that which is made in Hawaii.

3. Chocolate melts whenever it reaches a temperature of 97 degrees Fahrenheit.  This is interesting to take note of because a person’s normal body temperature is also 97 degrees Fahrenheit, so it is no wonder that chocolate actually melts in your mouth.

4. Not all types of chocolate contain flavanoids because during the various processes of making chocolate the flavanoids inadvertently get destroyed.  This even happens with dark chocolate.  However, you should know that dark chocolate does retain more flavanoids than other types of chocolate, such as milk chocolate.

5. The movie Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory will forevermore be associated with chocolate.  This classic movie was created in 1971.  It is based upon the book that was written in 1964.  The name of this book was Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

6. People in Switzerland consume around 22 pounds of chocolate per year.  This makes them the world leader whenever it comes to chocolate consumption per capita.  America is not too far behind though as they eat approximately 10 pounds of chocolate per person, per year.  While this is far less than what is eaten in some European countries, the large population in the United States makes America one of the leaders whenever it comes to world chocolate consumption.

7. Criollo is the oldest strain of cultivated cacao and it is also the bean with the lowest astringency.

Different Types Of Chocolates

There are numerous processes used to make chocolate. For this reason, there are a variety of different types of chocolate available. In fact, you will quite commonly see baking chocolate, cocoa power, milk chocolate, semisweet chocolate and white chocolate available in stores near you. So, what exactly is the differences between these various types of chocolate?

Baking chocolate (also known as unsweetened or bitter chocolate) is a pure form of cocoa liquor, which is the ground or melted state of the cocoa bean’s nib (pointed part). It is either allowed to solidify or it can also be purchased in a liquid form. This type of chocolate has a bitter taste, which is why it is not intended to be eaten by itself.

Cocoa powder is produced whenever the cocoa bean’s ìmeatî is pressed so that the cocoa butter (the fat part of chocolate) can be removed. As such, cocoa powder is actually the nonfat part of the cacao bean which is then ground into a powder

Milk chocolate is produced by a combining together extra cocoa butter, sugar, condensed milk and at least 10% cocoa liquor. Nestle chocolate is a great example of this type of chocolate.

Semisweet chocolate is produced whenever cocoa liquor, extra cocoa butter and a small amount of sugar is combined together. It is most commonly used for cooking.

White chocolate is produced by combining together cocoa butter, milk and sugar. The reason why white chocolate is white is because there are no cocoa bean solids added to this mixture. It is the cocoa bean solids that make this type of chocolate the color brown.

Is Dark Chocolate Good For You?

Many scientific journals have been singing the praises of dark chocolate over the past couple of years.  The reason for these health benefits is because of the flavonoids that are found in cocoa, which act as antioxidants whenever they are ingested.  So, what exactly are the benefits of eating dark chocolate?  The benefits that you can derive from the flavanoids that are found within dark chocolate include:

1. Blood vessels are protected from undergoing oxidative changes that result in certain diseases.

2. Capillaries and other connective tissues are strengthened.

3. The risk of certain cancers, such as ovarian cancer, is significantly reduced.

4. Your blood pressure will be lowered.

5. If you suffer from hypertension, then you should know that dark chocolate is able to lower your blood pressure.

6. If you are resistant to insulin, then eating dark chocolate will improve your insulin resistance.

7. For those who have a genetic risk of suffering from a stroke or a heart attack, you will be glad to know that flavanoids will reduce your likelihood of having either a stroke or a heart attack.

8. Atherosclerosis is a disease wherein fatty substances form a deposit of plaque on the inner lining of your arterial walls.  Thankfully, flavanoids have been known to fight off atherosclerosis.

9. If you have family members who suffer from chronic respiratory problems, you can reduce your risk of developing this disorder thanks to flavanoids.

10. Flavanoids are known to protect skin from UV light and thus possibly help to reduce the risk of skin cancer.

11. The inflammation and pain that associated with arthritis will be decreased.

12. Theta brain waves, which result in relaxation, increase whenever there is the aroma of chocolate in the air.

Scientists plan to continue to heavily research the role that flavonoid rich foods play whenever it comes to preventing diseases and maintaining optimum health within a person.  You will definitely be hearing more about these developments in the upcoming months and years.

Why Hawaiian Chocolate Is So Good

You will find a lot of people who are die-hard chocolate lovers will tell you that there is no better chocolate than that which is grown within the state of Hawaii. However, have you ever stopped to wonder why this would be true? After all, there are numerous, small chocolate makers within the United States who make superior chocolate products.

The difference between these Hawaii’s chocolate makers and those that are made within other parts of the United States is that most of these other companies use cocoa that has been imported from overseas. However, this is not true of all the chocolate that is made in Hawaii.

In Hawaii you will actually find that some of the manufacturers who make fine chocolate products actually use cocoa that is grown locally in Hawaii. A lot of these same companies also use numerous other products that are also grown within the state of Hawaii. These other products include macadamia nuts, vanilla and a wide variety of fruits.

It is actually rather beneficial to Hawaii that people are falling head over heels in love with their chocolate. This is because the cocoa industry in Hawaii is yet another example of the increasing diversification of the Hawaiian agricultural industry. For many years this agricultural industry depended solely upon the production of pineapple and sugar cane. While these products are still used in the chocolate candy that is made in Hawaii, cocoa is also being grown now. This means that the approximately 68,000 acres of former sugarcane lands is now able to be used to grow cocoa.

So, if you want to taste the best chocolate anywhere in the world, you must try Hawaii’s chocolate. In doing so, you will be doing something more by also be supporting Hawaii’s agricultural workers as well.