Culinary students kick off the Big Island Chocolate Festival with competition

  • Palamanui culinary student Larrianne Diane Lagpacan mixes her creation for the Big Island Chocolate Festival College Student Competition Friday at the Westin Hapuna Beach Hotel. (Laura Ruminski/West Hawaii Today)

  • Palamanui Culinary students Thomas Elarco and Lily Frazier layer their creation at the Big Island Chocolate Festival College Student Competition Friday at the Westin Hapuna Beach Hotel. (Laura Ruminski/West Hawaii Today)
  • Palamanui Culinary students Ayden Belanio and Alma Gorali prepare their Chocolate Temptation at the Big Island Chocolate Festival College Student Competition Friday at the Westin Hapuna Beach Hotel. (Laura Ruminski/West Hawaii Today)

  • Palamanui culinary students Larrianne Diane Lagpacan, left, and Alice Petriyenko prepare lilikoi dragonfruit jam. (

  • Palamanui culinary student Thomas Elarco prepares Dark Chocolate Joconde at the Big Island Chocolate Festival College Student Competition Friday at the Westin Hapuna Beach Hotel. (Photos by Laura Ruminski/West Hawaii Today)

  • Palamanui Culinary students, clockwise from lower left — Larrianne Diane Lagpacan, Thomas Elarco, Lily Frazier, Alma Gorali and Ayden Belanio — create their entries in the Big Island Chocolate Festival College Student Competition Friday at the Westin Hapuna Beach Hotel. (Photos by Laura Ruminski/West Hawaii Today)

KOHALA COAST — Thomas Elarco and Lily Frazier have spent the past few months at Hawaii Community College — Palamanui creating a decadent slate of food that’s perfect for a chocolate festival.