Hawaii

Let’s Talk Food: Big Island agricultural products – West Hawaii Today

Published

2 years ago

June 11, 2024

Let’s Talk Food: Big Island agricultural products – West Hawaii Today

Kona orange is listed in
Slow Food’s Ark of Taste catalog

Kona orange, which was first brought to the islands in 1792 with the Vancouver Expedition, was recently nominated and accepted by Slow Food’s committee into the Ark of Taste catalog. This catalog is a listing of foods facing extinction.

According to Slow Food Oahu Governor Laurie Carlson, the Ark of Taste catalog identifies and champions food to keep them in production and on people’s plates.

“Once listed, the product gets on people’s radar,” notes Carlson. “It may help the product be newly or rediscovered by the consumer. Inclusion could rally support for the product’s producers and share their stories.”

Case in point is 100 percent Kona coffee.

“We have had this coffee on the Ark of Taste for a number of years now. We know that blending has been a big issue for Kona coffee farmers for quite some time. The Ark listing has made it clear to informed consumers that buying 100 percent Kona coffee is the right thing to do. Finally, in this year’s legislative session, progress was made to restrict the use of the Kona name if an insufficient amount of Kona coffee is in the package.”

Other Hawaii commodities or value-added products already listed in the catalog include kalo poi, ‘ulu (breadfruit), Kiawe honey, Hawaiian raspberry, hua moa banana, maikoiko sugar cane and inamona.

Planted in Kona as the first orange in the islands, the Kona orange became a commercial crop of Hawaii Island and O‘ahu before it was in high demand during the Gold Rush in California. According to the Ark of Taste, the US Army distributed the oranges to WWII servicemen. After the war, the USDA reverted to pre-war rules regarding fruit fly regulation and exports. The oranges continued to be sold decades later at local markets and grocery stores.

Today, there is no commercial production of the Kona orange and any existing backyard trees are showing their age.

“Clonal propagation is needed now to protect and save the Kona orange,” says Ken Love, executive director of the statewide Hawaii Tropical Fruit Growers and member of the four-person Ark of Taste committee. “The orange variety is currently threatened and available only through small farms and gardens for home consumption.”

With a tight skin and solid core, the Kona orange boasts a sweet and sub-acid flavor said to be similar to pineapple. It has a juicy pulp with 10-13 segments and is harvested from March through June. It is sometimes referred to as the Paris orange, as the family were the landowners where the original tree was planted.

As the trees are not available at nurseries, Carlson says an effort is needed to get new trees propagated and grafted. “We need to come up with a strategy to reproduce the Kona orange and find some grants to aid in that effort,” Carlson says.

“The Kona, or Paris, orange is perfectly adapted to Hawaii and it’s essential we protect it and expand its numbers,” adds Love. “Sweet and juicy, it’s the perfect citrus for Hawaii.”

Ka‘u Coffee Festival recipe contest winners

The winners of the recent Ka’u Coffee Festival 2024 are as follows:

Desserts

First Place Paty Fujimoto with her Ka‘u Coffee Layer Cake

Second Place: Brittany Zagoria with Ka‘u Coffee Sponge Cake in a Chocolate Bowl

Third Place: Cosette Paseka with Ka‘u Coffee Cupcakes with Ka‘u Coffee Buttercream Frosting with Coffee and Cayenne Candied Bacon

Pupus

First Place went to Paty Fujimoto with Tita Taquitos with Aikane Braised Kuahiwi Ranch Beef

Second Place to Kristin Davis with Goat Cheese with Ka‘u Lehua Honey

Third Place to Zane Monteleone with Burrata Salad with Ka‘u Balsamic Reduction

Entree

First Place to Keone Grace with Ka‘u Coffee Blackened Opakapaka

Second Place to Zane Monteleone with Maui Nui Venison Pastrami Dip with Ka‘u Au Ju

Third Place to Paul Eddy with Roasted Ka‘u Coffee Chicken

Here’s the recipe for the Ka‘u Coffee Cupcakes with Ka‘u Coffee Buttercream Frosting with Coffee and Cayenne Candied Bacon:

Ka‘u Coffee Cupcakes with Ka‘u Coffee Buttercream Frosting Topped with Ka‘u Coffee and Cayenne Rubbed Candied Bacon

Cake:

1-1/2 cups organic flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1-1/2 cups Ka‘u Coffee Mill Black Honey Coffee Grounds

1/2 cup butter

1 cup organic sugar

3 eggs

1/2 cup buttermilk

1/4 cup Ka‘u Coffee Mill Black Honey Coffee brewed

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift dry ingredients. In a large bowl, blend butter and sugar, add eggs one at a time. Mix buttermilk and coffee in a cup. Add dry ingredients and wet ingredients alternately, do not overmix. Fill 15 cupcake tins and bake for 18-20 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.

Frosting:

1 cup butter

1/2 teaspoon salt

4-1/2 cups powdered sugar

4 tablespoons or more Ka‘u Coffee Mill Honey Coffee

Beat the butter until creamy, add salt. Add 1 cup sugar at a time until gone. Add coffee until it has blended into the right consistency and flavor. Frost cupcakes.

Bacon:

8 slices bacon

6 tablespoons brown sugar

2 teaspoon Ka‘u Coffee Mill Black Honey coffee ground

1/2 teaspoon cayenne

Place the bacon on a rack. Mix other ingredients together until blended. Sprinkle half over your bacon and cook at 375 degrees for 15 minutes or until bubbly. Flip over and sprinkle remainder and cook until crispy.

Email Audrey Wilson at audreywilson808@gmail.com.

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Hawaii

Hawaii suffers first defeat of the season against Loyola Chicago | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Published

9 hours ago

January 10, 2026

Press Room

Hawaii suffers first defeat of the season against Loyola Chicago | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

The second-ranked Hawaii men’s volleyball team expected a different Loyola Chicago team to show up Friday night in the rematch of Thursday’s 94-minute sweep by UH.

They were certainly correct in that assessment.

Hawaii coach Charlie Wade said flatly the Ramblers were better after No. 7 Loyola Chicago handed Hawaii its first home loss in January in two years in a 25-23, 25-22, 24-26, 29-27 win before a season-high crowd of 5,811 at Bankoh Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.

Aleksandar Sosa put down a match-high 19 kills and setter Ryan McElligott set the tone with four of his five aces in the first set for Loyola Chicago (1-1), which out-served and out-blocked the Rainbow Warriors.

“I thought they touched a lot of balls on the block and those first two sets, the first set, we had three or four balls back on our side to score some points and we didn’t,” Wade said. “We kind of screwed it up. We weren’t quite as crisp and efficient and against a good team, we let them hang around and they come back and make some plays late.”

Hawaii looked done for the night trailing 20-13 when it mounted a furious comeback in the third set to avoid a sweep.

Loyola Chicago had five match points in the fourth set and finally put the contest away with a double block of Ofeck Hazan to complete the upset.

“I think they served way better and we really struggled passing their serve,” said Hazan, who started in place of Trevell Jordan in the middle. “They were more creative out of system. (Thursday) they just hit into our block and today they just found the touches or just played better.”

Louis Sakanoko led Hawaii with 18 kills and set a career high with 12 digs, and Kristian Titriyski added 16 kills before sitting out the fourth set. UH hit .254 for the match and had six aces to the Ramblers’ eight. Loyola Chicago hd 15.5 blocks to Hawaii’s 10.5.

“We weren’t clicking on all cylinders and I’m not trying to use this as an excuse, but (setter) Tread (Rosenthal) didn’t practice all week. He had a back that tightened up,” Wade said. “Trevell’s back tightened up and I thought Ofeck played pretty well and he gave us a nice spark, but you’re just a little off rhythm there. Kristian was kind of grabbing his back late and obviously we made the decision to go with Kainoa (Wade) to give us a spark and he gave us that.”

Kainoa Wade and Sakanoko each served three straight points for UH in the third set after it fell behind 20-13 and Finn Kearney came off the bench to serve the final two points that ended in blocks to get UH back in the game.

Hawaii hit just .171 in the fourth and made eight service errors. It had 20 serving errors for the match and served in at less than 80%.

“Obviously it’s a work in progress. We’re in game four of the year,” Kainoa Wade said. “We got a lot of work to do, but we’ve got to trust what we know. We’ve served a lot of balls in our lives, all of us, so we know we can go on runs and make plays.”

The Ramblers gave Hawaii a taste of its own medicine in the opening set with McElligott building a strong poker hand of aces during an 8-0 run during which Charlie Wade used both timeouts.

McElligott had three aces after Jake Read’s kill put him behind the service line, and despite two Hawaii timeouts and the media timeout, he poured it on until UH caught a break with a Loyola Chicago net violation on an overpass that almost certainly would have been a Ramblers point.

Sakanoko followed with back-to-back kills, including a deep tip into the far corner over a triple block that prompted Loyola Chicago to call timeout leading 17-14.

Hawaii extended the run to 5-0 after Titriyski put down a kill following a long rally to pull UH within a point.

The Rainbow Warriors got back to even at 22-all on Kainoa Wade’s ace as a serving sub. The set was tied once more until a Rosenthal service error and a McElligott ace for his fourth of the set handed UH its first set loss of the season.

Rosenthal wasn’t able to spin serve all night due to the back injury.

Neither team separated by more than a point in the second set until Justin Todd had two aces during a 4-0 UH run to put the ‘Bows ahead 13-10.

Hawaii led 21-19 when the Ramblers scored six of the next seven points to go up two sets to none.

UH’s only point during the final 6-1 run came on a Loyola Chicago service error. The Ramblers scored three of their points on errors by UH and another on their sixth ace of the match.

The Rainbow Warriors will have four days off before playing four matches in three days next week.

Hawaii has doubleheaders against Roberts Wesleyan and Rockhurst in reverse order on Wednesday and Friday.

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Hawaii

2026 Sony Open field is announced. See who’s playing in Hawaii

Published

21 hours ago

January 9, 2026

Press Room

2026 Sony Open field is announced. See who’s playing in Hawaii

The Sony Open in Hawaii has the honors of being the kickoff event to the 2026 PGA Tour season after the cancellation of The Sentry at Kapalua this season.

Instead of Maui, the Tour debuts in Honolulu on the island of Oahu, Jan. 15-18, at the Seth Raynor-designed Waialae Country Club, where Nick Taylor prevailed in a playoff over Nico Echavarria last year.

Among the changes this season is the field size, which was reduced from 144 to 120, and, there is no longer is a Monday qualifier offering four spots. Will that help with pace of play? Stay tuned.

The field includes the following notables in addition to Taylor and Echavarria: Daniel Berger, Keegan Bradley, Michael Brennan, Corey Conners, Tony Finau, Chris Gotterup, Brian Harman, Russell Henley, Billy Horschel, Robert MacIntyre, Collin Morikawa, Adam Scott, Jordan Spieth, Sahith Theegala, Gary Woodland and 62-year-old Vijay Singh.

Here’s the full field for the Sony Open, which will be live on Golf Channel all four days as well as NBC with early-round coverage on Saturday and Sunday.

This year’s Sony purse is $9.1 million and the winner also will receive 500 FedEx Cup points.

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