Nearly two centuries after O‘ahu’s Governor Boki Kamā‘ule‘ule introduced the first fragrant beans to Hawai‘i, coffee has taken root on all the major islands. But from a traditional 20-acre farm to a 3,100-acre agribusiness—the largest coffee farm in the country—no two have the same story to tell. WAIALUA ESTATE COFFEE & CACAO Watching the coffee […]
On the slopes of HaleakalĀ, on Pūlehuiki Road in Kula, Clark Hashimoto is girding for the persimmon harvest. Nearly 500 trees on Hashimoto Persimmon Farm’s five loamy acres are loaded with fruit, their branches supported by neat rows of wooden scaffolding. Fuyu, maru, hachiya—most of the trees are just about 100 years old now, planted
I’ve never understood ‘support local business’ until now that I have my own.” Big Island chef Bonita Lao is thinking out loud. “Support people’s work, their visions. It’s hard because of the cost of living and so many factors, but it’s important to get people on board because that’s what’s really going to make a
Coming from New York City, where the bounty of farms, orchards, dairies and vineyards is within easy reach, Hawaii’s food scene was an eye-opener for Lee Anne Wong. While national press was picking up on an emerging new Hawaii cuisine showcasing local ingredients, the state was importing upwards of 80 percent of its food and
Most people looking for fresh milk end up at a dairy. Not Jean-Marie Josselin, whose search for fresh milk to make cheese for his restaurant led him to the Hindu monastery in Kapaa, Kauai.
Maui’s Sheldon Simeon grew up cooking local—though back then, in the Hilo of the ‘90s, nobody called it that. It was just cooking. Fern shoots, opae (small Hawaiian shrimp), tripe from a friend’s freshly slaughtered cow—everything that came from backyards, streams and ocean went into the pots Simeon and his brother set on the stove,
Of the gloriously hued tomatoes ripening on the vines at Wow Farm, it is the flame-striped Old German and Cherokee Purple heirlooms and the plain-looking romas that make their way to Pueo’s Osteria in Waikoloa in Big Island each week. There’s good reason: The chef there, James Babian, helped develop their flavor. Babian was executive
