"Eh YPO, you went skool fo learn all dat o wat? Or you wen learn from digging in da dirt?"
My parents didn't think much of the white man's school. Add it all up and you might get four years all told. Then I did a couple years of college- one semester when I was fifteen and then three more at U.H. Hilo when I was almost forty. Started to seem like the main reason for going to university was to get a degree so you could get a good job, and since I wasn't interested in getting a job I didn't have much incentive. Then I got distracted by Laupahoehoe Nui (the ahupua'a we bought for a cultural restoration project) and drifted off. Made some good friends among some of the professors, though!
So da ansah stay, I wen learn um from digging in da dirt. An plenny wala'au wid da oddah mahi'ai, an I like read plenny boke. An den I wen check out plenny place roun da world, always niele bout da farming. Das what we call "The School of Life".
"What exactly is a mountain apple? Is it actually an apple or what? And what are the berries or fruit that Pele is supposed to like?
Are there fruits indigenous only to Hawai`i? Did the breadfruit in Hawai`i get there by way of the Bounty?"
Mountain apple or ohia ai was brought by the Hawaiians, as was the breadfruit or ulu. Captain Cook was charged with the task of bringing breadfruit FROM Polynesia to the West Indies as a cheap food supply for the slaves. The slaves, unfortunately for them, developed an immediate predjudice against the "slave food' they were supposed to eat, so ulu never really caught on there.
Mountain apple is not an apple; many fruits were refered to as "apple" by Europeans to indicate that it was a fruit being referred to. Kind of like the way "sapote" or "zapote" (the Aztec word for fruit) is used for any fruit from Mexico- white sapote, green sapote, black sapote, etc. are no more related to each other than apples to oranges. Anyway, the mountain apple is a watery, sweet, fragrant pear shaped about 4-6 inch tall fruit that is generally deep red (but one choice variety is white). I believe it is native to southeast Asia, and grows in wet areas in dense thickets as an understory tree. The flowers look like little volcanic fountains (like a large ohia blossom) and when they fall off they carpet the ground under the groves of trees with a maroon carpet- really quite spectacular!
Pele's fruit, the ohelo berry, I believe is indigenous to Hawai'i. It is related to a blueberry or huckleberry. There is also an indigenous white strawberry that grows on the mountain. Akala, a very large rasberry that grows on a thornless vine, is another indigenous fruit. Although it can be bigger than a quarter and quite beautiful, sadly it is not very sweet and can be a bit bitter. The u'ulei, a viney plant that grows on dry slopes and is related to the rose (the little white flowers look just like little roses once you look!) makes a starchy berry that isn't bad. A now very rare tree from Maui (don't even know if there are any left there, but a few are planted on the Big Island) called the mahoe has an edible but not choice fruit and inside a thick seed nuts that rival Macadamia (but small, and I'm not actually admiting that I ate something so rare and precious...) Pukeawe makes a sweetish starchy berry (and is so full of pitch it burns like mad even when soaking wet, if you are in the jungle in the rain and need a fire).
Thinking hard here- manono berries are edible, I suppose- frankly the strawberries and ohelo are the only choice indigenous fruits I can think of.
chris, all great information... i had seen oranges in brazil, and they were green but not as lumpy as the ka`u oranges. i didn't know that about citrus. we have a tangerine tree in na`alehu with beautiful looking fruit but the taste is awful.
i had heard recently, talking with a botanist on maui, that it's probable that coconut was already on hawaii when the polynesians arrived. i think that they decided this because they found coconut shell casts in lava that had been dated pre-polynesian.
They say it is related to the cranberry, but it is much more similar to a huckleberry or blueberry. In any case they are all in the same genus- Vaccinium.
The color ranges from yellow to dark red with everything in between, including patchy mixed colors. But most common is a bright red.
I have never heard of 'Ōhelo kau lā - wonder if it is a different species or a variety.
"we have a tangerine tree in na`alehu with beautiful looking fruit but the taste is awful."
A neighbor in Waipi'o had a great tangerine tree, and to encourage it he threw a bit of chemical fertilizer on it when he was fertilizing his taro patches. After that for some reason the tree made sour, pithy fruit. Perhaps he messed up the PH balance. You might try applying some lime around the tree- and if that doesn't work, a bunch of compost. Perhaps it is just a junk seedling, but most tangerines in Hawai'i are quite good.
"i had heard recently, talking with a botanist on maui, that it's probable that coconut was already on hawaii when the polynesians arrived. i think that they decided this because they found coconut shell casts in lava that had been dated pre-polynesian."
To me this seems most unlikely, as coconut originated in South America and won't sprout after a couple weeks in salt water. But they did find what appeared to be a five million year old fossil giant coconut in New Zealand.
I know they found a lava mold of hala on Kauai, and argue that hala is native (by the way, not a bad fruit on some varieties). But to me it is self evident that hala arrived millions of years ago; where else did 'ie'ie come from? But that doesn't mean that the hala here today is native- both the spines and it's invasive growth pattern argue against that. I believe that the ancestral hala evolved into 'ie'ie, and the hala trees here now were brought by Polynesian settlers. I suspect genetic studies would prove this point.
Mom calls it "Almond Float," and it's a good accompaniment to lots of different fruits besides lychee (I've never tried it with peaches or pears, but I bet it would be ono.)
Here's Mom's recipe:
1 envelope unflavored gelatin 1 1/2 c. water, divided 1/2 c. evaporated milk 1/2 c. sugar 2 teasp. almond extract
Dissolve the package of gelatin in 1/2 c. water. Heat evaporated milk, 1 c. water and sugar to just below boiling point. Add gelatin to hot mixture and stir until completely smooth. Cool & add almond extract. Refrigerate until set. Cut into cubes and serve with desired fruit.
Hey Wanda, I am addicted to Hawaiian Fruit and Veggies. LOVE the fern shoots. Boy would they tase good with the tomatoes from my garden right about now. When we are on BI I can not get enough Farmers Market time. Best time I had last year was when we went down into Waipio Valley and I was introduced to some new fruits I had NEVER seen before. Love trying new stuff. But one of my favorites while in Hawaii is Papaya and most of the time I can not get anything worth eating here on the mainlland. BUT right now the Carribean Red Papays are in season and I have been able to get a few decent ones. notheing near as good as a Sunrise papaya or even a Solo but still if it is all you can get. I got mine at Sams club this week they had big boxes of them and I found three that had some decent color and were not bruised. If they still have any I will bring some next week to DC.
Fern shoots (ho'io) were a big money maker for me when I lived in Waipi'o- I could pick over 30 pounds an hour and sell them for $1.25 a pound. Unfortunately the number of pounds you could pick per acre were not that many, so I converted it all to luau leaf- which I can also pick 30 pounds an hour and sell for $1.25 a pound, but can pick hundreds of pounds a week from each patch. But taro takes a lot of care, and ferns grow as weeds with no effort whatsoever...
i miss da fern shoots too! us japanese call um warabi. oh so ono! my gramma get choke inside her back yard. haven't had mountain apples in years too! oh well, da price of living on da mainland now.
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Posted - 07/22/2008 : 4:11:50 PM
