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Plant Aloha (FREE Class) The Art of Cacao with Dr. Nat Bletter
September 21, 2017 @ 9:00 am - 12:30 pm
Hawaiian Sanctuary is proud to present: Plant Aloha, a FREE educational series of sustainable farming classes. Every Thursday morning, from 9:00am until 12:30pm, with special Saturday monthly offerings, led by local and visiting experts. Visit our website for more information:
http://hawaiiansanctuary.com/plantaloha
Thursday, September 21st 2017 – 9:00am-12:30pm
“The Art of Cacao Fermentation” by Dr. Nat Bletter of O’ahu’s Madre Chocolate.
Find out why fermenting is the most important step for determining flavor in tree-to-bar chocolate making, how to grow and make international award-winning seed-to-tree-to-bean-to-bar chocolate, how to manage a cacao orchard, and how to succeed with the last but hardest steps of tempering chocolate in humid Hawai’i. Includes a tasting and hands-on walk through the Sanctuary’s cacao orchard to discuss spacing, orchard management, pollination, pruning, and harvesting.
Bio: Dr. Nat Bletter has 18 years of experience in botany, documenting and growing exotic fruits and vegetables, gathering food in the wild, herbal and traditional medicine, and exploring Asia, South America, Central America, and Africa. He has a Ph.D. in Ethnobotany from the City University of New York and New York Botanical Garden, where he researched medicinal plants of Peru, Mali, and the Guatemalan Mayans, ethnobotany, taste-modifying plants, food plants of Thailand and Laos, and stimulant plants such as cacao, which has spurred him to start a traditional-ingredient, high-antioxidant, artisanal chocolate company Madre Chocolate.
At Madre Chocolate, Nat has been the “Flavormeister” since 2010 and created the multi-time International Chocolate Awards recipient, the Triple Cacao chocolate bar. His work to create fermentation programs for farmers in Hawaii, Dominican Republic, Papua New Gunea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Samoa, and Fiji has also helped propel multiple single-origin chocolates from Hawaii onto the international stage. These include the Hawi Criollo, Likao Kula and the most recent Cacao of Excellence World Finalist, Nine Fine Mynah Estates.
Location:
Hawaiian Sanctuary – Laka Lounge
13-3194 Pahoa Kalapana Rd (Highway 130). Pahoa, HI 96778
Hawaii Island (Big Island)
Only about 1 Mile South of Pahoa Town.
Turn into the driveway at Mile Marker 12!
Each class starts promptly with a lecture and Q&A before hands-on farm learning ~ Come prepared with notepad and writing utensil, closed toed shoes, sun hat, and gloves.
Plant Aloha is supported, in part, by the County of Hawaii, Research & Development. We are still looking for support to complete and enhance this amazing project. Please give what you can:
http://hawaiiansanctuary.com/donate
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