The Sweetest Mistake, with a Recipe for Pains de Macadamia
By Brittany P. Anderson Macadamia nut tree orchards are a common and welcoming sight on Hawai‘i Island. Many a summer afternoon I find a cool respite in the shade of their branches. Greedily, I’ve filled the pockets of my overalls…
Cool for the Summer: Vanilla Lemonade Granita with Whipped Banana Cream
By Brittany P. Anderson Lemonade is the official drink of summer. When I was 11 years old, my sister and I briefly had a lemonade stand. We sold cups of lemonade during rush hour when cars were stopped in traffic on our street. She…
Local Food: The Gift of Kalo, with a Recipe for Taro Greens and Feta Phyllo Triangles
By Brittany P. Anderson Something stirs inside of me with each writing assignment, yet diving deep into kalo (taro) farming on Hawai‘i Island for this issue felt a little more profound. Waipi‘o Valley in its truest untamed form is a…
Local Food: The Bounty of ‘Ulu
By Brittany P. Anderson There is something effortlessly regal about an ‘ulu (breadfruit) tree. The dark green leaves look like oversized hands gracefully waving in the breeze and the attractive trees’ towering size, up to 60 feet, give them a…
The Cultivating Life: Agroforestry Expert Craig Elevitch
By Brittany P. Anderson A cool breeze runs through the dense forests of Hōlualoa, perched on the slope of Hualālai Volcano in North Kona. Here, the woods are brimming with avocado, ‘ulu (breadfruit), macadamia nut, coffee, and fruit trees. Once…
Diving into the World at Pacific Aquaculture and Coastal Resource Center
By Brittany P. Anderson The constant low hum of bubbling water provides a soothing soundtrack to the work taking place at the Pacific Aquaculture and Coastal Resource Center in Hiloʻs harbor area, Keaukaha, on the east side of Hawai‘i Island.…
Local Foods: Naughty and Nice–The Chocolate Ghost Pepper
By Brittany P. Anderson “I just don’t know what to do with these hot peppers,” my friend Barbara said to me, “They’re beautiful, but they are just so hot.” Barbara has a thriving chocolate ghost pepper plant in her bountiful…
The Wow Factor of Chef Sam Choy
By Fern Gavelek He cooks a mean oxtail soup and made poke a nationwide sensation. With 14 cookbooks, several TV shows, a string of celebrity clients, and involvement with numerous restaurants, Chef Sam Choy is a culinary ambassador for Hawai‘i.…
La‘au Lapa‘au: Medicinal Plants and their Healing Properties
By Marcia Timboy Hawai‘i is viewed throughout the world as a place of rest and rejuvenation, a concept that is deeply rooted in and supported by the healing environment of our islands. Ancestral wellness wisdom is the basis of the…
Mālama Mokupuni–Caring for Our Island Environment: A Walk through a Home Food Forest
By Rachel Laderman Stepping onto the narrow path of a food forest, the first thing you notice is the cool, quiet peacefulness. In the dappled shade, you see a variety of leaf forms, textures, and colors—dancing oval katuk (sweet leaf…
Local Foods: Hawai‘i Island Hō‘i‘o (Fiddlehead Fern)
By Brittany P. Anderson It’s one of those rainy days, when the sky is filled with endless layers of clouds painted with broad strokes of lilac and gray. Looking out at the ocean, I see dark indigo patches of rain…
Hala Kahiki: A Brief History of Pineapple and Pineapple Pavlova Recipe
By Brittany P. Anderson Pineapple is one of my favorite fruits grown on Hawai‘i Island, with the white pineapple being absolute perfection. One of the only edible varieties of bromeliad, the pineapple is neither pine nor apple and many a…
Local Foods: A Sandwich for the Season
By Brittany P. Anderson This time of year when it is still spring, yet starts to feel like summer, is one of my favorite seasons on Hawai‘i Island. The weather is a bit unpredictable–warm, sunny summer days are on the…
Lessons from the Garden
By Jan Wizinowich The Hawaiʽi Island School Garden Network (HISGN) was created in 2007 through The Kohala Center as a way to promote garden education and food sustainability practices. As the network grew, educators began to realize the potential for…
Local Foods: Going Bananas
By Brittany P. Anderson I used to think that all bananas were the same. Yellow skin, bland taste, mushy, and eaten on the go for breakfast. The Cavendish banana was all I had ever known. Chopping down the thick stalk…
Local Foods: For the Love of Chocolate – And a Recipe for Maunakea Truffles
By Brittany P. Anderson What better way to say ‘I love you’ than with a delightful chocolate candy? As Valentine’s Day approaches, lovers all over the country will be in pursuit of the melt-in-your-mouth confection. Victorian age etiquette books warned…
A Taste of History: The Magic of Malasadas
By Brittany P. Anderson I can still remember the first time I tasted a malasada; fresh and warm, the sugar glistening. First, there was the crunch of the fried outside as I bit into it, then the rich soft eggy…
Island Treasures: Standard Bakery Inc.
Standard Bakery is known for baked goods that are made from scratch, using the best ingredients and baked fresh daily. Lloyd Fujino, owner of Standard Bakery, believes the bakery was first started in the early 1930’s by his grandparents, Masayuki…
Recipe for Sweet Kabocha Soup: A Taste of History
By Brittany P. Anderson As I stroll around the farmer’s market, a woman in front of me turns to her travelling companion, “Look, there’s a kabocha!” She pushes her sunhat back off her forehead to feast her eyes on the…
Edible Flower Power: A Recipe for Floral Ice Cubes
By Brittany P. Anderson My puppy, Ku‘u Lei, bounds around the backyard plucking flowers from their branches, then playfully running about with flowers in his mouth like a little prince. He only drops the flowers to chew on their petals.…
The Summertime Table
Smashed Potatoes with Swiss Chard Chimichurri By Brittany P. Anderson With her hands full of fiery red, bubble gum pink, and blazing yellow Swiss chard, Maria Shirley smiles revealing deep dimples in each of her cheeks. It is no small…
Stuffed and Fried Squash Blossoms: A Recipe for Spring
By Brittany P. Anderson There is a date in everyone’s life that stands out to them—the birth of a child, their wedding anniversary, a favorite team winning the World Series. I will always remember a rainy August 4, 2011 as…
Hawai‘i Maintains Japanese Tradition of Mochi Making
By Karen Rose Hawai‘i’s culture is unique. Many of the state’s traditional practices are a fusion and adaptation of customs brought to the islands by multiple ethnic groups who migrated here to start new lives. These varying immigrant groups each…
Plainly Vanilla
By Sonia R. Martinez The term ‘vanilla’ is used commonly as a synonym meaning plain or basic. Nothing is further from the truth! Vanilla is a rich and complex ‘spice’ used in almost all parts of the world. Vanilla originated…
Pono Practices at Honoka‘a’s Green Market and Café
By Barbara Fahs Imagine a restaurant that generates virtually no waste. Also imagine, a menu chock-full of fresher-than-fresh, organic, in season, locally produced ingredients. Wait, there’s more! Under the same roof is a small natural foods store, the only one…
From Seed to Soul: North Kohala’s Eat Locally Grown Community Initiative
By Galye Kaleilehua Greco The churning sound of mixing wet cement shovel-by-shovel, two able bodies continuously mixing in rhythmic timing, are met by the words of David Fuertes, “we need ‘em, we make ‘em.” Uncle David is referring to the…
Coffee Time
By Sonia R. Martinez Hawai‘i Island has been known for coffee for many years, and in the last 10 or so, several ‘new’ areas of our island have become award-winning coffee growing regions. Our island is also growing vanilla beans…
Passionately Yours: Liliko‘i
By Sonia R. Martinez There are many varieties of Passion Fruit (Passiflora edulis), or as we know it in the islands, liliko‘i. The most commonly used in Hawai‘i is the yellow fruit (flavicarpa). A less common variety also seen in…
Bok Choy
By Sonia R. Martinez Bok choy (Chinese cabbage or pak choi as it is sometimes called) is one of those veggies we are able to find year-round in most of our island farmers markets. Brassica chinensis, the scientific name of…
Chocolate: Food of the Gods
By Sonia R. Martinez One of the perks of living in Hawai‘i is we can grow our own chocolate. Yes! Chocolate is made from cacao, and cacao trees grow very well on our island paradise. When strolling through the farmers…
