How to Cut a Pineapple, Hawaiian Style

By Sandy Hu

I’ve just returned from my Hawaiian vacation two days ago and I’m already yearning for all the wonderful tropical fruits at the Hilo Farmers’ Market – especially the sugar-sweet, deliciously fragrant pineapples.

Last Saturday, I took my prize fruit back to our plantation-style vacation rental in Hakalau and cut it up on our lanai. I did it the way my mother taught me years ago, growing up in Hawaii.

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Returning to My Roots: A Visit to a Living History Kona Coffee Farm

By Sandy Hu

Last week, I stepped back in time and into my childhood at The Kona Coffee Living History Farm in Captain Cook, Kona, on the Big Island of Hawaii. This living museum chronicles the life of immigrant Japanese coffee farmers from 1926 to 1945 through the original farmhouse and seven-acre coffee farm of the Uchida family. Their life mirrored that of my grandparents, Iwaki and Kitsu Honda, and their nine children.

While the farm is historically accurate to 1945, so much of that lifestyle continued well past it, to my own childhood, when, living in Hilo on the other side of the island, we would visit my grandparents, aunts and uncles, all coffee farmers at the time. As kids, we picked our share of coffee, too, during peak coffee season.

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A Visit to an Endive Farm

By Sandy Hu

I love endive – braised, grilled, in salads or as an edible scoop for dips. I’ll eat this crunchy, nutty, slightly bitter vegetable any way it’s served.

So you can imagine my delight when I was invited last Wednesday to Rio Vista, California, for an endive farm tour at California Vegetable Specialties (CVS), the largest producer of endive in the U.S.

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Apricot Jam Captures a Fleeting Taste of Summer

By Sandy Hu

When our boys were young, Steve and I used to do some home canning in the kitchen of our two-bedroom condominium in San Francisco. We did it for the cost savings.

Paying tuition at the French-American International School for our two boys and funding their extra-curricular activities meant that going home to Hawaii was a stretch for us. And, a trip home always involved taking food gifts to family and friends, following the Japanese custom of gifting, omiyage. One way we could ease the budget was to make some of the omiyage ourselves.

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Strawberries in a Jam

By Sandy Hu

In the summer, when strawberries are at their peak, I always buy a few extra pints to make fresh strawberry jam. This jam is so quick and easy, it shouldn’t take you more than 20 minutes from start to finish.

Because the berries aren’t cooked, the jam maintains an intense, fresh strawberry flavor. It’s perfect topping buttered bread or toast. But it’s also delicious mixed with yogurt, topping oatmeal or spooned on vanilla ice cream.

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