Fantabulous Friday advancing to a Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious Saturday,

Candy is great and chocolate is king. We seem to find candy factories. In Hilo, Hawaii, we found Big Island Candies, whose specialty is chocolate dipped macadamia nut shortbread cookies. Macadamia trees seem to grow wild on the island. I like to think of the shortbreads, which are quite tasty in themselves, as a holdover from the seafaring days of Hilo, which is the major port on The Big Island, because the tasty little cookies could travel the world in tin containers for the ship captains to offer to their guests. In addition to the chocolate shortbreads, we sampled chocolate dipped iso peanuts and the Hawaiian macadamia nut crunch. We also watched through the window as the confectioners made hand-dipped cuttlefish, called Ika, a Hawaiian local snack, which looked like chocolate tipped noodles. We were not brave enough to try these.

On the other side of the island, we found the Kailua Candy Company, whose specialties are Macadamia Nut Honus and Kona Coffee Swirls. “Honus” means turtle in Hawaiian and these chocolate versions are delectable morsels that disappear quickly when spotted by humans. The store owners also grow their own coffee beans just up the hill and blend the finely ground 100% Kona coffee with white and dark chocolate to make the swirls. These two chocolate concoctions melt in your mouth, because you and your mouth are at 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit (37 Celsius) and chocolate’s melting point is right at your body temperature. The owner reported that the highest reported temperature on the island was 96 F (36 C), so Hawaii is a perfect place to eat chocolate — it never gets too hot to melt that chocolate until it reaches your mouth. There is no need to put it in the fridge. If for some reason you do, that white dusty specking on the surface is from cold “shock” which causes the cocoa butter to rise to the surface of the chocolate and dry as a white powder. Shocking does not effect taste so close your eyes and enjoy your chocolate.

Keep your chocloate at Hawaiian temperatures, your eyes open and watching, and your taste buds primed and waiting,

Grandpa Jim