By Wendy Osher

Items from Sweet Paradise Chocolatier are currently available at Whole Foods, Kahului. Photo by Wendy Osher.

Slow Food Maui continues its Taste Education Series with session four: Chocolate tasting with Melanie Boudar of Sweet Paradise Chocolatier.

Boudar will share her knowledge and love of chocolate, beginning with the origins of chocolate, how chocolate is made from bean to bar, and what’s happening with Hawaiʻi’s Cacao Industry.

Boudar has won the Kona Chocolate Festival Judges Choice award three years in a row, and received the edible Hawaiian Islands Local hero Food Artisan award in 2010. She has her original store in Kailua, Oʻahu, a production kitchen in Lahaina and a new chocolate boutique at the Wailea Gateway Center on Maui.

The session will end with tasting chocolate from various origins including Hawai’i grown chocolate from the Dole Plantation’s Waialua Estate.

Held on the last Wednesday of each month, the chocolate session will take place on Wednesday, May 25, from 6 – 7:30 pm, at the Maui Culinary Academy.

Cost $15 per person.  Reservations are required and payment is due prior to May 25th.   Those interested can register online at slowfoodmaui.org and mail payment to Slow Food Maui at P.O. Box 1980, Wailuku, HI 96793.

Melanie Boudar of Sweet Paradise Chocolatier, courtesy photo.

Other upcoming sessions in the series include:

• Wednesday, June 29 – Where’s the beef? Learn all there is to know about organic, grass-fed beef on Maui with William Jacintho of Beef and Blooms, Hawaiʻi’s first certified organic ranch. Taste and compare Maui’s local product with other brands on the market. Get tips on how to prepare local, grass-fed beef products.
• Wednesday, July 27 – Taste Education goes on a field trip to Maui Brewing Co. Owner Garrett Marrero gives the grand tour and tasting. Maui Brewing Co. is the only brewer and canner of craft beer in Hawaiʻi.
• Wednesday, August 31 – Got fish with Don Wakamatsu of Whole Foods Market Maui. Join Don as he shares his fish knowledge – fish varieties, how to select, cut and prepare local, sustainable fish caught in Hawaiian waters.
• Wednesday, September 28 – Retired Maui Culinary Academy Chef Instructor Bobby Santos returns to the classroom to share his knowledge of raising poultry chickens. Having grown up with livestock his parents and grandparents raised and prepared fresh, he continues this food tradition.
• Wednesday, October 26 – Ralph Giles and Daniel J Southmayd, owners of Catering From Soup to Nuts, walk everyone through planning the perfect dinner party. These catering experts provide practical advice from meal planning and cooking to table settings and hosting etiquette and more.