As founder and producer of the Hawaii Chocolate Festival, now in its fourth year, Amy Hammond has her hands full organizing chocolate-makers, educators, farmers, chefs and government leaders to pull together the popular event. But the effort is a labor of love rooted in her childhood. 

“My mother made fabulous molded chocolates. She was an artist and she painted on them,” Hammond recalls. “I started making chocolate from the time I could eat it.”

As a teenager in Columbus, Ohio, Hammond made and sold boxes of custom-molded holiday chocolates. Her mother helped her develop a line of the candies. 

After attending the University of Hawaii and then settling here, Hammond was thrilled to learn that Hawaii is the only place in the U.S. where cacao is grown. (Chocolate is made from cacao beans.) “The quality of the chocolate here is so superior,” she said. 

Like others involved in the Hawaii cacao and chocolate industries, she believes there is a big future for both, not only from a culinary standpoint, but in ecotourism. Hammond helped form the Hawaii Chocolate and Cacao Association and serves as its executive director. 

Hammond has restarted her line of candies using her mother’s vintage molds, which she produces for family and friends. She’s working with a Kailua chocolatier to develop new products in preparation for possibly selling her treats. She envisions doing custom orders for private events. 

“I figure, what can go wrong? If I make a mistake, I can eat the evidence.”