Word to this. You simply cannot beat chocolate for inducing an amorous quasi Pavlovian response (hopefully with the proper intention). Hawaii actually has more than its fair share of fab choc options. For starters, its the only place in the U.S. where cacao (the raw material used to make chocolate) is grown and so Hawaiian chocolate truly is. Chefs here have also turned some of the flavors of paradise into truly luscious yummy-kine things. Lilikoi, Kona coffee, mac nuts, Kau orange and all other manner of amazing edibles, all coated with just the right medicine to make your sweety say "I Do" all over again. To the chase:

• For a chemical free V-Day, wrap up a package of Hawaii's first organic chocolate-covered macadamia nuts. The chocolate is not from Hawaii but Hawaiian Host makes quality stuff.


• For a pure Hawaiian V-Day, you now have two options. Waialua Extra Dark, made with cacao grown on Oahu's North Shore, is a super-premium dark chocolate grown on the slopes of a former sugar plantation. The Original Hawaiian Chocolate Company makes its bars from cacao beans grown on the Kona Coast of the Big Island


• Phillipe Padovani has hung up his tocque and tuned up the candy thermometer at his eponymous sweets shop in Downtown Honolulu. The results are quite astonishing -- truffles filled Lilikoi Milk Chocolate, Kiawe Honey, Kona Coffee cream melt on the tongue.


• Kula Ali'i, the lavendar farm in Upcountry Maui, recently started making an exotic lavendar-flavord chocolate fudge sauce that I tasted a few months ago. Very ono! Super rich and creamy, perfect atop vanilla ice cream.


• Big Island Candies makes awesome shortbread, soft yet crunchy, buttery but not too heavy. Dip them in chocolate and the effect is trebled. I personally have eaten a whole box over the course of a day. Sigh.

—Alex, 02/08/07