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The project's goal is to have
everyone eating right
Think of them as matchmakers.
Their clients are growers and eaters and cookers; think of them as a menage a trois.
The goal here is healthy relationships -- dare we say even loving ones -- that have everyone eating right.
By and large the matchmakers are government folk, working in different offices on different islands, and while they have lots of governmental things to do, they share a soft spot for edible things that grow in the dirt, and the people who grow them.
They probably don't think of themselves as a dating service, but look at their tools -- data bases that match up chefs with farmers; marketing campaigns that encourage consumers to pick up produce that grows close to home.
The latest ideas:
» A slick, shiny poster that tells you when various local fruits and vegetables are in peak season, made to fit on the refrigerator door so it's a constant reminder.» Recipe cards bearing cooking ideas from Big Island chefs for using Big Island produce.
The poster is a project of the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources at the University of Hawaii, with help from the state Department of Agriculture and the Hawaii Farm Bureau Federation.
It tells you, for example, that this month is prime time for local avocado, limes and mango, and on the low end of seasonality for cantaloupe and watermelon. And while zucchini is available pretty much year-round, peak season runs through the end of the year.
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Handy, especially for people who need a yearly reminder of when it's time to go hunting for lychee (May) or persimmons (now, in fact).
Miles Hakoda, who works in graphic design and public relations for the college, says the poster's point is in its bright green headline: "Buy Fresh Buy Local."
"We're trying to attach this concept to things being developed or that may already exist," Hakoda says.
He can tick off a list of projects going on throughout the ag community that promote the idea of seeking out locally grown produce as better for the consumer (fresher food), better for the economy (your cash stays here) and better for the environment (farms preserve open space).
The projects run from marketing and awareness to recipe development and meal-planning assistance. "Within the college there are other projects going on that have to do with nutrition and food," Hakoda says.
The first printing of the posters was 10,000 copies. They made their debut at the Made in Hawaii Festival last month.
Hakoda hopes that a retailer or perhaps a health plan will eventually adopt the poster and take over its printing to make it more widely available. Until then it can be found free at the Hawaii Farm Bureau's farmers' markets at Kapiolani Community College, Mililani High School and Kailua Town Center.
The Big Island recipe cards come from the Hawaii Tropical Fruit Growers and are just the latest of a number of post cards, posters and other colorful tools used to promote local produce.
Ken Love, research project manager, says chefs came up with the 15 recipes that were printed on cards and will be distributed free in Big Island grocery stores.
"Part of the idea is to get people to use fruit for culinary purposes, instead of just throwing it on the table," Love says. "Just using the fruit differently."
Certainly, Hawaii has the raw product. Love says 200 types of avocados grow in Hawaii; 100 types of bananas. You probably didn't know that.
Even if you can't get to the Big Island for a recipe card, the fruits, so to speak, of Love's efforts are available in other ways through the Web site, www.hawaiifruit.net. There you can order the 120-fruit poster that shows all the variety of the islands or oversized post cards with photographs of all the different mango and avocado varieties.
The closest thing to an umbrella concept organizing for these efforts would be the Department of Agriculture's Island Fresh campaign, which is coming up on its 20th birthday.
If you shop in supermarkets, you've come across the Island Fresh logo -- a cheerful, grinning flower affixed to local produce. You'll see it on island-grown pork and eggs, but less so on other items, as the campaign has faded slightly with age.
"This is really meant to help revitalize the Island Fresh campaign," Hakoda says of his seasonality poster.
Larry Yamamoto, economic development specialist for the Department of Ag, says Island Fresh was never generously funded -- he studied other such programs on the mainland, and "their budgets were in the millions and they had staff."
Island Fresh started with the logo that was given to growers to distinguish their products. "The intent really is to identify locally grown things. We didn't have the funds to have a regulatory arm."
The campaign is being revised now, its mission still being a viable one. And Yamamoto has a tool that didn't exist 20 years ago: the Internet.
Through the newly revised www.hawaiiag.org Web site, buyers and sellers can take advantage of the department's database. A chef, seeking, say, dragon fruit, can enter that request and be rewarded with the contact number for a farmer that grows it.
The database was started 10 years ago and proved a good tool for farmers deciding what to grow, Yamamoto says. Chefs wanted fresh mushrooms and a variety of vine-ripened tomatoes -- a decade later they have them, from Hawaii farms.
Now online, the database can easily be kept current.
As the Island Fresh campaign reinvents itself, Yamamoto is looking toward more collective projects. "Instead of working independently, it's really nice to work together."
Fruity recipes
These recipes were developed for the Twelve Trees Project Orchard and Educational Center. The Hawaii Tropical Fruit Growers project promotes a dozen varieties of local fruit grown on a demonstration orchard in Kona. Chefs, fruit buyers, growers and the Hawaii Community College culinary program are all involved in efforts to grow and use the fruit.These recipes were adapted for the Kona rangpur lime, which is part of the 12 Trees project, but other types of lime may be substituted. More recipes using local fruit may be found the Web site, www.hawaiifruit.net.
Lime-Tequila Cheviche
Rob Love, Merriman's Restaurant, Waimea
3 limes, juiced
1-1/2 cups premium tequila
Handful mint leaves
24 ounces ono, in small cubes
5 tomatillos, diced
4 tomato skins, outer flesh only, diced
1/2 red onion, diced
1 large Maui onion, diced
2 jalapeño peppers, diced
» Garnish:
Chopped mint and cilantro leaves, lime slices, mixed greens
Combine lime juice and tequila in saucepan. Bring to a simmer; remove from heat. Add mint and cool 1 hour.
Remove mint. Pour liquid over ono; let sit for 1 hour.
Drain liquid. Combine fish with diced vegetables. Garnish. Serves 18 as an appetizer.
Starfruit Banana Chutney
Mark Burson, Outrigger Keauhou Beach Hotel
3 starfruit, chopped
1/2 cup tamarind water (tamarind paste mixed with water to an even consistency.)
1/3 cup lime juice
1 tablespoon grated lime zest
2 tablespoons minced ginger
1/2 habeñero pepper
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 green bell pepper, diced
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground coriander
Salt and pepper, to taste
6 ripe bananas, chopped
Combine all ingredients except bananas in pot. Bring to boil; cook until tender. Add bananas and cook 30 seconds longer. Makes 30 1-ounce portions.
Nutritional information unavailable.
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