Big Island Chocolate Festival names culinary winners

Big Island Chocolate Festival names culinary winners

Big Island Chocolate Festival names culinary winners

Six culinary stations took top honors at the recent Big Island Chocolate Festival at Four Seasons Resort Hualalai. Renowned New York City chocolatier Jacques “Mr. Chocolate” Torres oversaw a team of judges who critiqued the savory and sweet creations by chefs and confectioners. Winners and their entries included:

Best Savory: The Fairmont Orchid, Hawaii. Big Isle chocolate pork mole with tomatillo salsa over kabocha pumpkin maki.

Best Dessert: Hilton Waikoloa Village. Orange ginger chocolate mac nut crunch torte.

Best Bonbons: Sweet Paradise Chocolatier. Island bounty assortment: lilikoi silk, Ka’u cappuccino, Kula lavender ‘n Maui honeycomb, coconut creme brulee and mango eruption.

Best Bean to Bar: Madre Chocolate.

People’s Choice — First Place: Four Seasons Resort Hualalai. Twenty-four-hour braised wild boar grilled cheese with chocolate and barbecue bourbon sauce and Hawaiian chili pepper; Mac nut crusted chocolate pop with lilikoi foam and alae salted caramel.

People’s Choice — Second Place: Kailua Candy Company. Cathy’s retro mai tai.

Three hundred attendees enjoyed the festival’s offerings, which included live and silent auctions to benefit the building of a new amphitheatre at Kona Pacific Public Charter School and the “Equip the Kitchen” Campaign for the future Hawaii Community College campus at Palamanui.