HouLau Farm Chocolate

HouLau performs every stage of chocolate production on-site: harvest, fermentation, drying, roasting, winnowing, grinding, tempering, and pouring. Cacao pods are harvested twice a year and inspected at the pod level; any over- or under-ripe beans are composted rather than used. Fermentation uses banana leaves as a natural yeast source and draws on preserved liquid drainage from prior harvests as a starter culture. Beans are dried using a combination of sun exposure and the farm's air-conditioned, dehumidified kitchen. The chocolate is made to a 70% formula: 60% HouLau-grown cacao beans, 10% commercially available organic cocoa butter, and 30% commercially available pure organic granulated cane sugar, with vanilla from beans grown on the farm. The farm's kitchen and processing facility is solar-powered and certified.