Edible Flowers by Adaptations
A flowery splash of color and flavor atop your salad, soup or dessert at a local restaurant may have originated at Adaptations, Inc. of South Kona. Owners Tane and Maureen Datta began growing edible flowers in 1989 to fill the demands of a stable of island chefs who love to accent their creations with local flowers.
“[Chef] Sam [Choy] was our first champion and at that time he was involved with the founding of Hawai‘i Regional Cuisine,” recalls Maureen. The group of founding HRC chefs invited Adaptations to be their agricultural advisor, providing info from the farmer’s perspective.
Edible flowers are the company’s “longest-standing crop,” but others include micro-mix greens, herbs, salad greens, avocados and medicinal plants. The company also acts as a distributor for more than 100 growers, selling to 65 outlets on five islands.
Flowers grow inside and out of greenhouses on about a half-acre at the couple’s 7.5-acre Honaunau farm. The blooming inventory is planned to provide chefs with a variety of fresh colors and flavors. Yellow, orange and burgundy Little Gem marigolds offer a citrusy flavor. Bite into a purple/yellow Johnny Jump-Up viola for a fresh taste of wintergreen. The red, orange, and yellow nasturtiums (and their leaves) have a peppery flavor. And for cooks who want the flowers for presentation, rather than flavor, Adaptations sells petite and elegant, pink-toned Heirloom fuchsias and dianthus carnations.
Adaptations cultivates larger flowers too—pansies, calendula, miniature roses and bachelor buttons—which they mix with nasties to create Edible Petals. “We remove petals from these flowers and mix them into a confetti for this product,” says Maureen. The petal mix is also sold combined with smaller flowers in another blend: Edible Petals Plus Flowers. Adaptations also grows culinary lavender.
Tane Datta began establishing the infrastructure for his farm in 1979, and the Datta home and production areas are solar-powered and “off the grid.” Adaptations uses ecological, certified organic practices, including Integrated Pest Management to control pests with beneficial insects.
The company has nine full- and part-time employees, a third of whom are tasked with growing and packing the flowers, which are only sold fresh and by volume. The main challenge in flower production is a spell of wet and cloudy weather, as heavy rain damages the blooms and too-little sunshine hampers blooming. Production increases with longer daylight hours.
Where to Find: The tasty blooms are sold to restaurants and resorts on Hawai‘i Island, O‘ahu and Lana‘i. While they aren’t sold direct to the home cook, they can be enjoyed in food served at local restaurants and resorts. Annie’s Island Fresh Burgers, Kenichi Pacific, Four Seasons Hualalai, Fairmont Orchid Hawai‘i and Mauna Kea Beach Hotel, as well as the Mauna Lani Bay Hotel, Sheraton Keauhou Bay and Waikoloa Beach Marriott, all carry Adaptations’ natural, nutritious floral arrays. Tane and Maureen participate in numerous food-related community events, where they offer delicious product samples.
