FL MORRIS / FMORRIS @STARBULLETIN.COM Idalia Schilling, left, and Muriel Kaminaka package cookies for the Discover Moiliili Festival at the Moiliili Community Center. Home-baked goods are a big seller at the festival.

Homemade delights
await discovery
at Moiliili festival

Discover Moiliili Festival A two-part celebration on Saturday: Daytime: Food and craft sales, cultural displays, games; 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Old Stadium Park. Free. Shuttle runs from parking lot at Kuhio School. Nighttime: "Scare Your Socks Off" storytelling contest, 6 p.m., Church of the Crossroads. Tickets are $3; $1 children. Call: 955-1555

The Discover Moiliili Festival offers a bazaar of homemade foods in the tradition of an old-fashioned country fair -- baked goods, pickles and preserves done up by volunteers, using produce from their own back yards or donated from someone else's.

This means you get boutique quality, but it also means the supply is finite. So be early. And don't be nasty if the supply runs out -- they're not hiding anything from you (this sort of accusation comes up a lot, festival veterans say).

Available for the early birds at the festival's General Store will be mango and persimmon chutneys, lilikoi and Surinam cherry jellies, onion-garlic mustard and jams made of loquat, poha, peach or blackberry.

Baked items include butter loaf cakes, mini-bundt cakes, scones, muffins, taro and guava rolls, artisan breads and baguettes. Plus, of course, cookies: cornflake, butter dream, chocolate chip, snickerdoodles and brownies.

Also in the food category: sushi, chili and hot dogs.

Proceeds from anything you buy goes to the Moiliili Community Center's community service programs.

Now, if you don't get up early enough to grab some festival foodstuff, you can make your own for these festival favorites:

Cornflake Cookies

1 cup butter
3/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups flour
1-1/2 cups cornflakes

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Mix in vanilla, then add flour gradually, mixing continuously until well-blended. Stir in cornflakes.

Form dough into walnut-sized pieces and place on a lightly greased or parchment-lined cookie sheet. If desired, roll dough in more cornflakes. Flatten each cookie. Bake 10 to 25 minutes, until light brown. Makes about 3 dozen.

Sanbaizuke (Pickled Radishes)

1-1/2 pounds red radish, trimmed and thinly sliced
1 tablespoon salt
1 ounce kiri konbu (thinly sliced seaweed), soaked in warm water 10 minutes
>> Vinegar sauce:
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup rice vinegar
2 tablespoons finely chopped ginger
1 chili pepper, finely chopped, optional

Sprinkle radish slices with salt; let stand 20 to 30 minutes. Rinse thoroughly and squeeze out excess liquid, using cheesecloth.

Squeeze out liquid from konbu; chop coarsely and combine with radish.

Combine sauce ingredients in a pan and place over medium heat. Stir until sugar dissolves; remove from heat. Add radish and konbu; mix well. Pour into jars, cover and refrigerate at least a day. Makes 4 to 5 cups.

Note: White radish or turnips maybe substituted for red radish.

Nutritional information unavailable.