Here is a growing listing of information gathered about hundreds of fruits, vegetables, spices, and nuts currently being grown in Hawaiʻi.
The heart of this database started in our hours of standing in farmers markets and listening to all the gems of information being shared between market goers and with the farmers themselves –
“How do you cook that?” “How do you know when it’s ripe?” “Can you eat the whole thing?”
We knew we had to come up with a way to keep that spirit of sharing food knowledge and stories alive, and a way to archive it too.
Another valuable tidbit we found was more information on how to prolong the life of a fruit or a vegetable once we got it home. The thing about locally grown things is that it already has a longer refrigerator life than what gets flown in – but how much money could we all save (and how much wasting of food could we avoid) if we knew the best way to keep that cucumber?
So far we have 100 items we are excited about writing about and listing here, we are only half way done and every day the list grows – so stay tuned for more!
Would you like to add information to this growing archive of how we eat in Hawaii? We are always interested in hearing how you and your grandma use this or that, or even if you had tips you’d like to share about selecting or storing so if you are up for sharing, let us know.
A tropical fruit, ‘ulu has a long and illustrious history in the cuisine of the Pacific islands where it flourishes. This is a special fruit here in Hawaii as well.0 [ read more ]
Broccoli belongs to the cabbage family and it is its large flowering head with its multitude of florets that's most often eaten. High in vitamin C and fiber, broccoli is0 [ read more ]
Broccoli Raab is also known as rapini or broccoletti, and is a member of the Mustard family and can be used in cooking in same way as turnip greens. It0 [ read more ]
The cabbage is a vegetable grown for its densely leaved heads. It is part of the cole family of vegetables that also include broccoli and brussels sprouts. Wild ancestors0 [ read more ]
Carrot is a root vegetable that originated most likely from wild ancestors in the regions of Afghanistan and Iran. Carrots are currently enjoyed most for their taproot with is sweet0 [ read more ]
Cauliflower is a vegetable of the Brassica Oleracea family that also includes broccoli, cabbage, brussels sprouts, kale and collard greens. There are hundreds of varieties of cauliflower ranging in size,0 [ read more ]
Celery is part of the Apiaceae family of aromatic and hollow stemmed plants that also includes parsley, carrots, dill, cilantro, parsip and anise. In most recipes only the long, ribbed,0 [ read more ]
Chard is a tall leafy green vegetable native to the Mediterranean region. Like the beet, chard is a descendent of the sea beet. However, chard was selected over the years0 [ read more ]
Choy Sum is related to the Pak Choy cabbage family. It's very similar to Bok Choy, with long white or light green stems and large flat leaves, though Choy Sum0 [ read more ]
Cilantro is an herb native to regions in Southwestern Asia, East Mediterranean, and North Africa. Its leaves, stems and seeds (known as coriander) are mainly eaten. Cilantro roots (known as0 [ read more ]