Sonia Tastes Hawaii

A Taste of the Hawaiian Range Food Festival

Anthony and I were able to attend the 12th Annual Mealani's A Taste of the Hawaiian Range Food Festival this past Friday evening, September 28th, held at the Hilton Waikoloa Village.

Photo: Taken by Chef Allan Okuda in front of the HCC-Hilo School of Culinary Arts booth.

The Taste has become the showcase for our many Hawaii Island ranches, farms and food producers of all kinds and since its inception in 1996, it has increased so much in size, participation and attendance that through the years it has had to move to different and larger venues.

 

Photo: The Big Island Grill on Kuakini Hwy in Kailua Kona used a huge wok and bamboo steamer to prepare their assigned meat - which was ground beef. 

Attendance last year was about 2,000 and by the crowds we saw, we figured it had to be either that many or even more this year.

Photo: Chef George Mavrothalassitis of Chef Macro's Restaurant in Honolulu was assigned appropriately enough, lamb for his special dish.

The event is sponsored by the Cooperative Extension Service of the University of Hawaii at Manoa's College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources (CTAHR) as a celebration showcasing not only the naturally grass fed Hawaii grown beef, but also all of the bounty grown in our fertile 'aina.

Photo: Assorted heirloom tomatoes from the Hamakua Springs Farm in Pepe'ekeo.

 

Photo: Coffe and tea display from the Hawaii Coffee Company.

Most everyone in the world now knows that this island grows coffee, but most know only of Kona coffee....but there is wonderful coffee grown in three other regions on this island!  Also tea, vanilla beans and cacao beans which are used right here on the island to make chocolate!!!

Over 30 chefs from Hawaii Island and Oahu restaurants participated in the event, as well as the culinary students from both the Hilo and the West side campus of the Hawaii Community College School of Culinary Arts.  The chefs are challenged to prepare the various cuts of meat assigned to them by luck of the draw....from sirloin to chuck and hamburger and including tongue, tail and tripe.

Other meats fetured and also raised on the island are chicken, lamb, mutton and pork.  Island grown abalone was introduced at this event for the first time.

Photo: Ada Pulin, owner of Tex's Drive-In in Honoka'a, cutting the dough for malasadas.  Tex's is a must stop for us when driving to or from Kona side for some scrumptious Portuguese donuts called malasadas.

Photo: Frying the malasadas in a huge wok.  Once done the pillow-like malasadas are drained then filled with fruit fillings or custards.

The largest event of it's kind in the State of Hawaii, it is not only educational but a celebration of what our island has to offer by highlighting the diversification of crops and by the many value added products that make use of our island's bounty.

Part 2 will follow in a few days!

Traipsing through a new Farmer's Market

We had read not long ago that a new farmer's market had opened in Hilo but had not been able to visit it until this past Saturday.

The Kino'ole Farmers Market is open on Saturdays from 7 AM to Noon at the Kino'ole Shopping Plaza (old Sure Save market location) at 1990 Kinoole Street, and the corner of Kahaopea Street.

Photo: Bok Choy - Chinese Cabbage

Featuring only 100% Hawaii grown produce and products, grown or made by the actual farm or seller, it is a lively and colorful, although still small, market sponsored by the Hawaii Farm Bureau Federation.

One major convenience is that since it is set in an area of the plaza's parking lot, there is ample parking space all around the cluster of individual seller booths and tents.

Photo: Dwight Sato demonstrating how to dry steamed fresh tea leaves in a wok.

Free cooking demonstrations are presented each week with convenient benches for attendees to sit while watching. 

This past Saturday, Dwight Sato, agricultural extension agent from the University of Hawaii College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources, with an electric steamer, a wok, a piece of muslin cloth, a laundry scrubbing board, a basket and an electric pot in which to heat the water, demonstrated how easy it is to steam and dry fresh tea leaves to make small amounts of brewed tea from your own little bushes growing in the garden.

Photo: Rambutan

The demonstration scheduled for September 29th at 9 AM will be by the Tamaka Farm featuring their aquaculture grown Chinese catfish.  I was requested to do a small demo for Saturday, October 6th, and plan to make a grilled Japanese eggplant salad served with herbed Big Island chevre (creamy fresh goat cheese).

Photo: Chayote aka Mirliton

 

The booths ran the gamut from fresh veggies and fruit to potted plants, deliciously fresh Okinawan donuts and a variety of value added food products.

Photo: Calamansi or calamandin - small sour Philippino lemons

In this last category we ran into our old friends Aaron and Vinel Sugino and their ono Blue Taro label cookies, chips and snacks from Hakalau

 

Photo: Aaron Sugino of Blue Talo Label

PK Snacks also from Hakalua was there selling a wonderful array of lavosh, pies, cookies, macnut brownies, their own honey and assortment of fruit butter spreads.

Orchids and papayas made a statement in the booth from the Volcano Isle Fruit Company from Kapoho; potted herbs and fruit plants from the Moongarden Farms from Mountain View and avos, chayote, limes, rambutan and strickingly beautiful Hilo Rainbow lemons from the OK Farms located almost right in Hilo by Rainbow Falls.

Photo: Hilo Rainbow Lemons from the OK Farms in Hilo

Vinel Sugino was passing around samples of cooked Aremo, a small Japanese taro being sold by another vendor.  Of course I bought some and prepared them at home that same evening.

Photo: Aremo - small Japanese Taro

Did I forget to mention that each vendor supplies door prizes which are given away throughout the morning to lucky attendees who take time to fill out little entry forms?

Photo: Andagi - delicious, fresh deep fried Okinawan Donuts

Visit the above and several other sellers, attend the demonstrations and win prizes at the Kino'ole "Hawaii Grown" Farmers Market every Saturday morning from 7 to noon.

Photo: Buttery Avocadoes

Whatever you buy here will be fresh from the farm and will not have accumulated more travel miles than you!

Photo: Small Island grown sweet pumpkins

If interested in setting up a booth, please contact Rusty at 938-4545 or through dperry@papayas.net

Photo: Veggie, herb and fruit tree vendor Moongarden Farms

(c) Sonia R. Martinez

The Edible Garden

Living a sustainable life should be more than one of the so-called political correct catch-phrases for anyone, anywhere; but when it comes to living in

Hawaii

it should be a way of life.

You hear the words sustainability, sustainable gardening, edible gardens, edible landscapes, “

Victory

Gardens

”, “Plant a Row to Fight Hunger” and other catchy names for what is basically planting an edible garden in your own yards.

Some people are starting to see where big business farming is taking our country and where it is also becoming a big concern due to the recent scares in tainted produce, meats and canned goods. 

These same people are ripping up their labor-intensive grass lawns and planting edibles even in their front yards.   After all, if you have to work so hard to have a pretty lawn that just sits there, isn’t it smarter to work just as hard and be able to reap an edible harvest in the same space?

If you take the time and care to think about ‘landscaping’ with your herbs and other edibles, your yard can look as pretty as if it was planted in masses of flowering bushes or trees.  Just make sure your flowering bushes are all growing edibles and your trees bear nuts or fruit.

If you don’t have much room to plant a big garden in your yard or you live in an apartment or condo, there is always a little balcony or small place to grow a few potted herbs, peppers or tomatoes… or you can always support your community by buying from local farmers and nearby farmer’s markets.

We live on islands in the middle of the ocean.  We are far, far away from most market sources.  In case of national or global emergencies we need to rely on our own resources.  Where else better than on our own bountiful island?

Prices of food have escalated quite a bit lately.  It used to be you could buy a butternut squash for a bit over $1 a pound…recently we noticed they were priced at $2.39 a pound.  When you purchase a 3 pound squash for $7.17, I would say that is a bit much, no matter how much we like them.....and milk is now called "White Gold"!

In the past, I have written several articles for this publication (*) on growing food in your garden or supporting your local farms.

 

If you keep copies of back issues of The Hamakua Times you can go back to reread “

Victory

Gardens

” (April 02); “Lucky Live

Hawaii

” (April 05); “Richard Ha – Tomato Farmer” (May 05) “The Bounty of

Hawaii

” (June 05) and “

Hawaii

…the Garden of the Pacific” (March 06) among others.

If you have read some of my articles in other publications, you by now know that I am a firm believer in “Eating Local” and helping sustain the local farmers.

Last September, my son Anthony and I started working on a little garden in the yard on the side of the house.  We live on a property that doesn’t have many level areas, and that was the ‘levelest’ place for one. 

This summer, we added more to the garden after it lay unattended for a couple of months when I was visiting the mainland.  It is now fully restored, producing and we are already planning on expanding it.

We are growing many herbs: sweet Italian basil, lemon basil, Thai basil, American blue basil, plain leaf and ruffled leaf purple basils, and a basil we can’t identify; Italian parsley, ruffled leaf parsley and Japanese Mitsuba parsley; 2 types of dill; spearmint, lemon mint, lemon balm, bay leaf, rosemaries, sage and pineapple sage; Mexican tarragon, 2 types of thyme, chives and garlic chives; lemon grass, mustard greens and mizuna greens; marjoram, stick oregano and Cuban or Caribbean oregano.

We have started growing a variety of peppers, some sweet and some hot.  Three varieties of small tomatoes; 4 varieties of eggplants; three varieties of spinach: Malabar, Okinawan and Dawn Dewa; long beans and a few edible flowers for salads and garnishing.

There are papaya trees, apple bananas, dwarf Brazilian banana plants, Cuban red banana, four varieties of avocadoes, coconuts,

Surinam

cherries, passion fruit vines, pineapples and a source for fresh bamboo shoots.  There are also several citrus planted throughout the property and a jaboticaba that needs to be moved.

There are many books to be found that can help you start your own small garden.  They will go a long way toward helping you supplement whatever you might have to buy at the grocery stores.

Start small.  The concept of ‘square foot gardening’ teaches you how much you can grow in just one little 4 foot square space when you combine taller plants in the center and placing graduating sized plants towards the edges, ending with your mounding herbs along the borders.

Don’t forget the foods that grow wild and can be foraged, such as coconuts, berries, guavas, bread fruit, fiddlehead ferns and even bamboo shoots, seaweed for salads, kukui nuts to make inamona paste for seasoning and there is always sea salt.

Recently harvested from the yard: avocadoes, eggplants, cherry tomatoes and peppers.

You can read a bit more about our garden by visiting my blog site at www.soniatasteshawaii.com – if you look on the right hand side, you can click on “How Does My Garden Grow” or even on “Fruits From the Garden” and several pages will open up about the garden and some recipes using the harvest from our garden and yard.

(*) The Edible Garden by Sonia Martinez -Originally published in the Hamakua Times of Honoka'a - August 2007 issue.

Hawaii Blast 2007

I'm a member of a cookbook collectors group on the internet (if you're interested in knowing more about it, there is information below).  This group has hosted several National conventions and many of what we call reginal meetings.  The regionals can be as elaborate or as simple as the hosts want to make them.  The beauty of the regionals is that anyone from anywhere can attend, even if they don't live in the area.

For the last two years a group of us had been talking about having a Hawaii regional....of course, there are only two members of the group on this island and one of them is not very active in the cookbooker's group, so I decided to take the bull by the horn and host a regional which I called Hawaii Blast 2007.

After two years of planning and anticipating, 4 members of the cookbookers group and two husbands arrived in Hilo for a few days of food and fun.

During the two years of planning I collected little gifts, discount coupons from a few Hilo retailers (two locally owned book stores and the new Hilo Bay Food Emporium) and several others donated little gift items.

The guests were welcomed with purple Vanda leis for the wahine and ti leaf leis for the kanes.

Lois from California, Gail from Michigan, Sandy & Gregg from Iowa, and Larry & Pat from Oregon.

I had planned a lot of activities during their Big Island visit, but the one that we were all looking forward to was a special cooking class at The Hawaiian Vanilla Company in Paauilo.

We arrived there as expected by 3 PM ready to get into the kitchen. 

 

Our hosts, Tracy & Jim Reddekopp, owners of the Hawaiian Vanilla Company are a very talented duo.  Here is a link to read more about their Vanilla Adventures

Tracy going over a recipe with Sandy.

Gregg & Sandy making the batter for the dessert

Pat & Larry working on the pesto filling for the spanakopita appetizer

Lois & Gail working on the two remoulade sauces for the crab cakes

Anthony cutting the kernels off the corn cobs - the corn was used with the crab cakes

Sonia seasoning the corn

Corn kernels were cooked in butter, salt and pepper with a split vanilla bean in it.

Filling for the spanakopita consisted of spinach-basil macadamia nut pesto, with sauteed onions, roasted red bell pepper in vanilla oil with feta and Hawaii Island Goat Dairy cheese in crisp phylo dough

The Blasters at the table: Sonia, Anthony, Lois, Gail, our hostess-teacher Tracy Reddekopp, Gregg, Sandy, Pat & Larry

Appetizer: Spanakopita filled with spinach, macadamia nut pesto, onion and roasted red bell pepper in vanilla oil with feta & Hawaii Island Goat Dairy cheese in crisp phylo dough.  Vine-ripened tomato and micro greens picked when the first little leaves appear above ground. 

Entree: Two lump crab cakes with corn and two remoulades, served with capellini noodles with vanilla butter, organic broccoli sauteed in garlic butter and sauteed Swiss chard.

Dessert: Delicious, lighter-than-air Tuscan Almond Cake with Creme Anglaise and warm vanilla toffee sauce with Hawaiian vanilla bean ice cream

To drink we had a choice of Hawaiian Vanilla Lemonade (delicious!); Hawaiian Vanilla Tea; Hot Vanilla Cinnamon Sunset (a blend of black tea, cinnamon, orange peel and sweet cloves; Rainforest Vanilla Rooibos (herbal blend of Rooibos, cranberry and orange) and Emma's Vanilla Blossom Tea (my favorite, a beautiful blend of green teas and three types of flower blossoms and citrus flavors!)

After our meal, we all did a bit of shopping in their wonderful gift gallery where you can find both culinary and toilettries made with vanilla!

A fun experience and a beautiful meal to end an overall delicious day!

Mahalo nui loa, Jim & Tracy!

To find CookbooksEtCetera, please go to Yahoo Groups and do a search with that name, just as it appears here.

Hilo's new Fine Food Emporium

I leave for the mainland for a month and all sorts of things happened while I was gone........one of them was the opening of a fine food store in Hilo!

One day a couple of weeks ago, we were heading towards Hamakua on Kilauea when we passed a place we had never noticed before...out of the corner of his eyes, my son Anthony spotted the words Hilo Bay Fine Food Emporium ....What????  Where?????  Are you kidding me????????

Since we were already through for the day, it was hot and we had perishables in the car, we decided to leave the exploring for the next trip to town...which we did a couple of days later.

A pleasant shop in a not too congested area and within walking distance to the Hilo Farmer's Market......the warm and inviting deep apricot color of the walls embrace you as you come in... First impression...Nice!   Shelves quickly filling up with all kinds of good stuff....our own mini-version of Trader Joe's!

To date, their 'local offerings' are held in just three metro-rack shelving units, but owners Gwendolyn and Kala Alefaio hope to very soon have a large selection of high quality locally made items.

The impression when meeting Gwendolyn the first time is like visiting with someone you already know.  Warm, friendly, open, fun.....and if you can be both friendly, warm and yet a bit reserved, that is Kala.

The store had a 'soft opening' in April to take advantage of the Merrie Monarch crowds, but had their grand opening in mid-May.  Their plans for the not too distant future are very ambitious and exciting.

By mid-July they hope to have an on-line store where people everywhere will be able to find Hawaiian gourmet products, all in one place.  By Fall, they will be adding cookbooks to their offerings and book signing events..., wines and wine tastings...,  food demos and tastings... and their own line of fresh-made-daily sandwiches and salads.

Their newletter is already a reality and their website is impressive!

I ended up dropping a bit of change on my first visit, but felt it was worth it.  Just making my little bit toward making sure this exciting shop stays open! 

Here is the list of what I bought and what I did or hope to do with the items bought...

We don't use salt, but I HAD to buy this one:  Flor de Sal, 100% unprocessed sea salt with hints of mango, pineapple, red crushed chile pepper and clove and no additives.  The product is from Portugal and has won a Slow Food award for defense of biodiversity.   I can't wait to use it as a rub with chicken.

The next item was a jar of Sun Dried Tomato Pesto from Bella Cucina Artful Food - delicious!

I could not resist buying a bottle of A Perfect Pear Balsamic Vinegar from Napa.  The balsamic vinegar is imported from Modena and then infused with essence of pears in California....Absolutely exquisite.

And lastly..... a little loaf of gluten, wheat, dairy free, high in fiber bread.

That evening I prepared some pupus just for the two of us.  I cut the bread slices in squares, toasted them...then drizzled each piece with the pear balsamic, spread some fresh chevre and then topped with the sun-dried tomato pesto.... Need I say anything more?

Hours: Tuesday - Saturday 9 am - 6 pm

Address: 168 Kilauea Ave, downtown Hilo, Hawaii (96720)

Phone: 808/930-FOOD

DISCLAIMER: I was not paid for this review....I am just so thrilled to see little 'ole Hilo opening up to gourmet food status and am so enthused over this shop I just HAD to write this and let the world (or the part that reads me) know about it.

To those at Gather: Sorry, but Gather recently set up a system of RSS feed that anytime I post anything in my blog it will publish at my Gather site 

You Say Tomato.....Recipe Contest

After long months of planning and anticipation, the long awaited moment finally arrived... 

Monday, March 12 was the day when the judges would get to finally taste and decide which recipes were the winners out of 90 plus recipes received  in the Hamakua Spring Country Farms "You Say Tomato..." recipe contest...of course, before then, we judges had already been hard at work for several weeks, sorting, reading and evaluating which would be the 15 recipes to make it to the semifinals.

Hamakua Springs Country Farms has made the official announcement in their Ha Ha Ha! blogsite, so instead I will let you take a peek behind the scenes.

We all showed up full of anticipation.  June & Richard Ha, owners of Hamakua Springs Country Farms and sponsors of the contest, greeted and mingled with the judges as they arrived.

Randy Nunokawa, HCC's Non-Credit Culinary Program Coordinator,  food writer and cookbook author Joan Namkoong, Hawaii Tribune-Herald food columnist Audrey Wilson, June Ha, food writer and cookbook author Sonia Martinez, Richard Ha  and Marleen Hapai, of the University of Hawai'i Board of Regents.  The sixth judge, HCC Chancellor Rockne Freitas was tied up for a bit, but he managed to be able to join us in time for the tasting

Chef Allan Okuda's and Chef Sandy Barr's first and second year students at the Hawai'i Community College's (HCC) Culinary School had already been hard at work interpreting the recipes submitted by the contestants.  Thirty students participated forming 15 teams of 2 students each.  Each team was assigned a recipe.

Chef O going over last minute assignments with some of the students...

...while others patiently wait to get the show on the road...!

The judges taking a few moments to go over the rules: The recipes were judged on Visual Appeal, Taste, Originality and Best Use of Tomatoes.....

This is a very hard job......

.......but someone had to do it....!

Hmmmm.....wonder whose dish will win....?....not long now......

First Place in the Entree Category and also Grand Prize overall was the Hamakua Tomato Pie, entered by Candace Ames from Hilo.

First Place in the Salad Category was Crunchy Lomi Salad, entered by Leonora Tsukayama of Hilo

First Place in the Preserves & Condiments Category was the Tomato Chutney, entered by Suzie Littlejohn of Kea'au.

Second Place in the Entrees Category: Ripe Tomatoes Stuffed with Lentils & Rice, entered by Carolyn Uejo Kuntemeyer of Hilo.

Third Place in the Entrees Category: Tomato & Flank Steak in Awesome Sauce, entered by Barbara Lee of Aiea.

Second Place in the Salad Category: 'Tomato is a Fruit' Salad, entered by Eileen T. Tredway of Hilo.

Third Place in the Salad Category: Fresh Tomato & Corn Salad, entered by Alyssa Moreau of Honolulu.

Second Place in the Preserves & Condiments: Tomato 'Sass' entered by the students of the Kea'au High School Food Service in Kea'au.

Third Place in the Preserves & Condiments: Simple Salad Dressing entered by Jessie Hellinger of Hilo.

Everyone who participated, from the students to their instructors and the judges were so pleased with how it all went that we can't wait until next year!

Fun Girl's Day Diva Event in Hawaii

Based on an ancient Chinese custom the Japanese celebrate Girl's Day on March 3rd.   In Hawaii all cultures celebrate Girl's Day.

As part of the 3rd Annual Girl's Day Diva Event a benefit was held Friday evening,  March 2nd at the University of Hawaii at Hilo with proceeds going for the Performing Arts Center on campus.

There were food booths by several women owned and operated restaurants and some other type businesses such as beads and jewelry, clothing and The Book Gallery from downtown Hilo ( selling my cookbook and other Hawaiian books at the event).

You can see a press release about the event and all the participants when clicking below - of course, they misspelled my name, but not on the posters or the hand-out program.

DIVA EVENT

I felt quite special, since my demo station was set up on a stage in the lobby.
Along with all the other 'Divas', I was given an official DIVA medallion, to wear around my neck all evening!

The show by the Touch of Gold group was a lot of fun and had people dancing on their seats!

As one of the evening's ‘featured divas' I was asked to do two quick dessert demos. I had only 15 minutes for each and a half hour in between, so I did two of my favorite quickie ones - the Pineapple Macadamia Charlotte and the Trifle - this time local strawberries grown in Waimea were incredible, so I went strawberry all the way on the trifle. Found a strawberry Angel Food cake at our local supermarket which I used as the base, strawberry jam, the instant French vanilla pudding mix and fresh strawberries.

The first dessert demo was the Pineapple Macadamia Charlotte.  You can find the recipe in my recently published Gather Food Correspondent article Tropical Taste: Pineapple - Symbol of Hospitality

The second dessert recipe demonstrated was a fruit trifle.

Since I had only 15 minutes for each demo, I chose the short-cuts of using pre-made cake and pudding. Our local KTA superstores had Strawberry Angel Food cake and some lovely locally grown Waimea strawberries, so I went strawberry all the way. You can use any cake and combination of fruits you prefer

Strawberry Trifle

1 Angel Food Cake - I used strawberry flavored one
1 Jar fruit preserves or jam - I used strawberry jam
1 container strawberries, sliced - any other fruit or combination of fruit is fine
3 (4 serving size) packages of Vanilla Instant Pudding

Tear or cut the cake in pieces about 1 inch square and place 1/3 of the pieces in bottom of a high sided clear glass bowl or trifle dish.

Mix the jam so it will be ‘pourable' and drop 1/3 of the jar by dollops or spoonfuls over the cake, sprinkle 1/3 of the slices of fruit and then pour 1/3 of the pudding over all, continue layering, in that order until all ingredients are used.

The evening was a lot of fun and everyone seemed to enjoy tasting the two desserts!

"You Say Tomato"....Recipe Contest

Photo of Chef Alan Okuda, director of the Hawaii Community College (Hilo) food service program and Richard Ha, of the Hamakua Springs Country Farms holding a colorful selection of tomatoes grown by the Hamakua Springs Farms.

I have written about my friend Richard Ha and his wonderful tomatoes in the past and given you a couple of recipes I came up with using his tomatoes.  Here is the latest tomato happening and one in which I am pleased to be involved!

HAMAKUA SPRINGS ANNOUNCES ‘YOU SAY TOMATO’ RECIPE CONTEST

FOR HAWAII RESIDENTS ONLY

ENTRY DEADLINE JANUARY 31, 2007

HAMAKUA COAST, BIG ISLAND—Fried Green Tomatoes! Melt-in-Your-Mouth Marinara! Rock ‘Em, Sock ‘Em Salsa! What’s your favorite tomato recipe?

   The Hamakua Springs “You Say Tomato” Recipe Contest is in search of the best tomato recipe in three categories: entrée, salad and preserves/condiments. Enter to win up to $350 in Makana Card gift certificates redeemable at statewide Foodland and Sack and Save supermarkets. Three prizes will be awarded in each category to total $2,700 in Makana gift certificates. The top three winners of each category earn a personal tour of Hamakua Springs Country Farms in Pepeekeo; neighbor-island winners will receive complimentary airfare to the Big Island and ground transportation from Hilo Airport.

   Deadline for entry—submit as many recipes as you wish—is January 31, 2007 and complete instructions and rules are posted at www.hamakuasprings.com. The contest is open to Hawaii residents and ingredients must be readily available.

   "I think the contest is a fun way to not only promote our company and the products we produce, but to also bring attention to the Hilo Community College Culinary Program," says Richard Ha, president of Hamakua Springs Country Farms. “They do a terrific job educating our young people to become the next generation of chefs. I'm hopeful that when people visit our website to enter the tomato contest, they will also go to our blog, 'Ha Ha Ha,' and learn more about this excellent culinary program.”

   All submitted recipes will be prepared by Hilo Community College culinary students for sampling by a panel of judges: Marlene Hapai, UH Board of Regents East Hawaii; Rockne Freitas, Hawaii Community College chancellor; Joan Namkoong, food columnist and author; Audrey Wilson, Hawaii Tribune-Herald food writer; Randy Nunokawa, Hawaii Community College director of continuing education and Sonia Martinez, food writer and author.  Winners will be announced March 14 at Hamakua Springs’ blog site, Ha Ha Ha! and personally contacted via telephone.

   Entries can be submitted two ways: via email at contest@hamakuasprings.com or mailed to Hamakua Springs Recipe Contest, 421 Lama St., Hilo, HI 96720. Each entry must include your full name, address, daytime phone number and email address (if any). Indicate which category you are entering, the name of the recipe, ingredients used with exact U.S. measurements, how the recipe is prepared and the number of servings it makes. Submitted recipes must be original and previously unpublished.

   Hamakua Springs Country Farms has been in the banana business for 30 years and has expanded to research, develop, grow and sell—not only bananas—but also several varieties of tomatoes, lettuce, cucumbers and watercress. Led by Richard Ha, the family company practices sustainability at every level—from environmentally friendly hydroponic farming to going that extra step to receive coveted Food Safety Certification. Although the certification isn’t required, it ensures that employees have healthy working conditions and customers get not only excellent taste and consistency, but also the safest produce possible. For information, phone (808) 981-0805.