With each journey to cacao outposts, Melanie found herself drawn deeper into the heady and complex world of chocolate.
“I went to taste the best chocolate, and then to learn about making chocolate from the bean. I stayed in an eco-resort on the border of Belize and Guatemala, where they grow and process cacao. During a Chocolate Week summit with Green and Blacks Organics, who pretty much own the farms down there, I worked with Mayan women in their homes and learned how to process chocolate on wood-fired ovens and stoves.”
Today, at Boudar’s new production facility in Lahaina, the unmistakable aroma of molten chocolate fills the air, as fifty pounds of warm, glossy chocolate stream through imported Italian machinery. Boudar and an assistant temper, mold, scrape, agitate, enrobe and hand-embellish the chocolate, transforming it into miniature works of art.
One taste, and it’s obvious why Melanie insists on using costly Criollo beans, Cru Sauvage (from a wild cacao grove in Bolivia), or the newest entry into the world-class cacao market, Waialua Hawaiian milk chocolate, grown on O‘ahu by Dole Foods. Incorporating first-rate cacao with island-sourced fruits, spices and nuts, Sweet Paradise produces forty varieties of visually stunning tantalizers.
Unique flavor combinations are inspired by chef menus and creative cocktail concoctions such as Mojito and raspberry Champagne truffles. Island Spice, a favorite of Boudar’s B&B guests, is deftly scented with fresh young ginger, Kona vanilla, cinnamon, and Puna cloves grown on the Big Island. “Creating a recipe for a chocolate is a lot of experimentation and work. You have to taste all the elements and pair them right in your mouth until you get it right. It’s really quite shocking, sometimes, what pairs and what doesn’t.”
Madame Chocolatier has clearly done her homework. Her Firecracker Chocolate (dark chocolate coating a raspberry ganache laden with pop rocks) took top prize at the Kona Chocolate Festival three years in a row. In 2008, Sweet Paradise Chocolatier opened in Kailua, O‘ahu, and promptly won the Chamber of Commerce’s Best New Business award in 2009, along with the Talk of the Town Customer Service Award. Edible Hawaiian Islands Magazine named Melanie and Sweet Paradise Chocolatier the Local Hero Food Artisan in 2010.
A replica of a cacao tree, crafted by artist Elizabeth Miller, graces Sweet Paradise Chocolatier’s newest retail store in Wailea. It stands in silent testimony to Melanie Boudar’s deep respect for the earthy origins of her heavenly sweets.
Sweet Paradise Chocolatier
Boutique: 35 Wailea Gateway Center Dr., Wailea
Production Showroom: Lahaina Design Center, 75 Kupuohi St. #107, Lahaina
(808) 661-4764
www.sweetparadisechocolate.com
