Manoa 70% DARK MAI’A BANANA

Made by Manoa Chocolate in Kailua, Hawaii USA

INGREDIENTS

THIS BAR

The Polynesian settlers brought with them mai’a (banana) on their long voyage to Hawaii.  It is known as a canoe plant- a crop essential for island living.  Not only was mai’a used as sustenance, but as an offering to ali’i (ruling cheif), a highly regarded gift, and as medicine for various ailments.  Fruit was scarce in ancient Hawaii and banana was one of the only of a handful available.

CACAO SOURCING

From Manoa:

“What is "Bean-To-Bar" Craft Chocolate?

Bean-to-bar is a movement in chocolate, much like the growing craft beer industry, in the sense that we are moving away from mass production. With this quality over quantity model we craft only the finest dried beans into chocolate all under one roof.

Bean-to-bar makers are also defined by the fact that we direct trade with cacao farms around the world, paying socially responsible prices for quality. In contrast, the vast majority of cacao for the world's billion dollar chocolate industry is sourced from West Africa. Most commodity beans sourced from this region are priced so low that farmers cannot afford even basic living necessities. This creates human rights issues on a massive scale that include human trafficking and child slavery that are directly tied to the sale of cacao.

Craft chocolate is the opposite, rather than sourcing cheap to blend from a variety of regions, we source cacao at high prices and tell the story of where the chocolate is grown.

SOURCING: This is the most important step. You cannot make quality chocolate without quality cacao. We frethically source the finest cacao beans from Hawaii
and around the world.”