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9 - 10th Chapter. Has some useful info.

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At Kailua's Thursday night farmer's market, knobby, oblong sweet potatoes overflow from rickety farm crates, all begging to be taken to table. Lavender-fleshed Okinawans from small-scale producers appear one week, a red-skinned, deep purple variety from Moloka'i on another. The flesh of these myriad tubers runs the Technicolor gamut—fire-orange as a North Shore sunset or butter-yellow as a plumeria blossom. They're headed for tables in Alan Wong's and Auntie's Liliha house alike. In kitchens grand and humble, they'll be baked and boiled in preparations sweet and savory.

Sure, the sweet potato has earned notoriety in culinary circles, but that's only one side of its story. It might sound far-fetched to think of this staple as more than just a colorful Island treat, but it played a crucial role in Hawaiian history. The sweet potato is, in part, responsible for Hawai'i as we know it today.

Quilted among the Big Island's landscapes of verdant rainforest and barren volcanic rock, the ancient fields of leeward Kohala stretch as far as the eye can see. Walking with a GPS, Professor Michael D. Graves explores a wide meadow that's used as farmland during the summer months. From the ground, it looks like any other field. But viewed from above, one can see the faint parallel lines running for hundreds of feet in the grass—the buried remains of massive terraces. Dr. Graves, a former University of Hawai'i at Manoa researcher (now at the University of New Mexico) has devoted the past ten years to studying the sweet potato, an herbaceous creeping vine in the morning glory family that was once cultivated in these fields. The sweet potato's tale is a complex story that weaves history, geography, agriculture and genealogy. Most of all, it contributes to our evolving understanding of Hawai'i's importance as a cultural crossroads, deepening our appreciation for the early Polynesians' achievements in trans-oceanic voyaging.

The first Polynesians inhabited the lush windward sides of select Pacific islands roughly between AD 1 and 600; they expanded into dryer leeward areas in later centuries. By the time of his arrival in 1778, British explorer Captain James Cook observed that the sweet potato was already an essential crop for Hawaiians.

The sweet potato Cook saw arrived in Hawai'i at least a few centuries earlier than the Okinawan purples we know and love today. (Europeans introduced those to Asia in the 1500s, and they later came to Hawai'i from the Far East.) In fact, in Hawaiian and other Polynesian oral traditions, poems and tales hint at the sweet potato's antiquity and bounty, not to mention its 200-plus varieties. Maori chants tell how the god of food cultivation, Rongo Ma-Tane, took care of the sweet potato—and how the plant took care of the people. In Hawaiian legend, we learn of the pig god, Kamapua'a, whose snout was just long enough to dig up sweet potato tubers with ease.

Though he didn't know it then, the plants Cook documented had somehow come from unimaginably far away: South America. There, remains of the Peruvian sweet potato dating back to 8,000 BCE—genetically similar to, though far older than, those found in Polynesia—have been discovered in caves and ancient refuse heaps. Tantalizing evidence of a common origin survives in the plant's various names: Peruvians called it kumar, and the Maori call it kumara, which is similar to the Hawaiian variant, 'uala. This linguistic connection is an important piece in the puzzle of South American-Polynesian contact. It seems clear that someone crossed 5,000 miles of Pacific Ocean, bringing a sweet potato to the Hawaiian Islands. But who?

Anthropologist Roland B. Dixon concluded in his 1932 study, "The Problem of the Sweet Potato," that either pre-Columbian South Americans took the sweet potato on balsa rafts en route to Polynesia, or seafaring Polynesians found their way to South America on double-hulled canoes and brought them back. As for the former theory, Norwegian anthropologist Thor Heyerdahl's 1947 voyage on the Kon-Tiki proved that one could sail from Peru to Polynesia on such a raft. While successful in its execution, the conclusion Heyerdahl's legendary experiment posits has been repeatedly refuted by genetic decoding and dating of crops, including the sweet potato.

For Professor Graves, dating is the key to unlocking the who: "How early did the sweet potato arrive? That's the $64,000 question," he says. To answer it, he and other researchers are looking to 'uala: "There are radiocarbon dates on sweet potatoes for different Hawaiian islands and for the Cook Islands that suggest a date between 1200 and 1400 AD. My view is that the Polynesians got to South America during a phase of colonization that took place between 800 and 1200 AD. They were good enough voyagers, and they could have gotten from the southeastern part of Polynesia to South America and back again. I think they came back with the sweet potato, which had a big impact on Polynesian culture, especially in Hawai'i."

The "big impact" Graves refers to is the critical role the sweet potato would play in the Islands' future. By mapping Kohala on foot, Professor Graves has discovered evidence of a remarkable 20 square miles of land once devoted to sweet potato agriculture—the equivalent of the total area of taro cultivation on all the Hawaiian Islands combined. Unlike taro, which requires irrigated pools and ample rain, the sweet potato was a perfect cultivar for dry uplands such as Kohala and Kona. In areas otherwise marginal for settlement, the population could now move to less inhabited areas because they had food to eat.

A single serving of sweet potato provides lots of dietary fiber, complex carbohydrates and B vitamins. The carotenoids in orange- and yellow-fleshed varieties offer hefty doses of vitamin A, which were critical to people who ate mostly fish. During these formative centuries for Polynesians in Hawai'i, the crop's adaptability provided stability for a growing society in flux. It also provided opportunities for ambitious leaders to consolidate their rule. Such a feat required energy, and sweet potato was the fuel.

"After the time of Cook, things became more intense for chiefs moving to the east," Graves explains. "Kamehameha comes from Kohala—he's a leeward Big Island chief. And I believe sweet potatoes were critical to his success ... well, really the success of his immediate ancestors who were able to grow the population because they had more—though riskier—agriculture. This allowed Kamehameha to become more and more powerful."

Sweet potato farming on the scale evinced by the fields in Kohala would not last, however. With the advent of the sugarcane plantation system, traditional sweet potato cultivation was slowly replaced by large-scale commercial farming. The site of Graves' work is now home to pasture land and cattle ranches.

Many aspects of ancient Island culture have survived and are reappearing in new ways: Schools now teach the Hawaiian language, and the arts of ocean voyaging are all being recovered from the distant past. 'Uala, too, is prospering. Norman Sadoyama of Waiahole Valley's Living Seed Farm calls sweet potato farming "traditional, hard work." He says the crop's cultivation style hasn't changed much since its introduction to those massive agricultural plots walked by Graves. "We don't have planters or harvesters—when you use them, you bruise the crop. We can't compete with volume, so we compete with quality."

Today, sweet potato cultivation is thriving, with annual production of over 6 million pounds and a growing export market on the Mainland. It is used in pastries, like the custardy fresh sweet potato haupia (coconut pudding) sold at the Sweet Stop in Kailua on O'ahu, or baked alongside rosemary-scented rack of lamb at Lahaina's Mala Ocean Tavern. For many, though, the sweet potato's historical allure outshines its culinary appeal. The tuber that helped shape Hawaiian history fully deserves a lasting tribute. Perhaps the famous statue of Kamehameha I standing before Ali'iolani Hale should be rebronzed–with a single sweet potato in his permanently outstretched hand.

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At Kailua's Thursday night farmer's market, knobby, oblong sweet potatoes overflow from rickety farm crates, all begging to be taken to table. Lavender-fleshed Okinawans from small-scale producers appear one week, a red-skinned, deep purple variety from Moloka'i on another. The flesh of these myriad tubers runs the Technicolor gamut-fire-orange as a North Shore sunset or butter-yellow as a plumeria blossom.

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He Momi e Lei ai (a pearl to wear as a lei)

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Shannon Wianecki

The sweet potato, or 'uala, is one of Polynesia's most mysterious plants. Early trans-Pacific voyagers carried 'uala cuttings with them as they settled new islands. But unlike the other "canoe plants," which originated in Southeast Asia, the sweet potato is native to South America. At first, botanists assumed that the American spud was introduced by Spanish explorers in the 1500s. But archeological studies later proved that Polynesians had been cultivating 'uala for five centuries before the first European ship dropped anchor in the Pacific.

So how did pre-Contact Polynesians come to possess the sweet potato? Did viable plants drift here aboard a South American raft? Or did skilled Polynesian wayfarers sail against prevailing headwinds 5,000 miles to Peru and back with the tasty tuber in tow?

Regardless of how it found its way here, the sweet potato became one of Hawai'i's most important foods, a complement to taro. 'Uala thrives in drier, less arable landscape than taro and quick-growing varieties were planted during times of famine. Hawaiians, Polynesia's most adept agriculturalists, cultivated numerous varieties of 'uala. Names like Pele's smoke and piko nui (swollen navel) described a unique variety's leaves, tubers or growing habits. The dried, heart-shaped leaves provided extra cushioning under lau hala or makaloa mats. Nursing mothers wishing to stimulate their milk supply wore open lei of entwined 'uala leaves, which dripped white, milky sap. The sap was also used to treat asthma, chest congestion, constipation, and insomnia. Humans weren't the only ones with an appetite for 'uala, either. Farmers fattened domestic pigs on the fleshy tubers. Fishermen continue to catch 'opelu on hooks baited with steamed chunks of sweet potato.

Of the 230 varieties of 'uala once found in Hawai'i, only around 40 remain. Today, when someone refers to "Hawaiian sweet potato," they most likely mean the popular, bright purple variety introduced more recently from Okinawa. That sweet spud traveled the opposite direction-from South America across the Atlantic to Southeast Asia, arriving in Hawai'i with Japanese sugarcane workers in the late 1800s. This year, while enjoying sweet potatoes with your holiday feast, take a moment to reflect on their seafaring, globetrotting ancestors.

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Shannon Wianecki The sweet potato, or 'uala, is one of Polynesia's most mysterious plants. Early trans-Pacific voyagers carried 'uala cuttings with them as they settled new islands. But unlike the other "canoe plants," which originated in Southeast Asia, the sweet potato is native to South America.

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Hawaiian Name(s): kalo

Scientific Name: Colocasia esculenta

Vernacular Name: taro

Family: Araceae

Status: Polynesian introduction

Authority: (L.) Schott

Description: Herbs, up to 1 m, heart-shaped leaves, and large edible corm.

Habitat Most commonly cultivated in lo'i (ponds) occasionally persisting after fields abandonned (Wagner et al. 1990:1356-1357).

Medicines: There are numerous varieties of kalo, some if which are favored over others in medicinal treatments. These include kalo lauloa, kalo 'api'i, kalo mana, kalo hāpu'u ke'oke'o, kalo uahiapele, kalo manini,kalo 'apuwaike'oke'o, kalo haokea mana, and kalo pi'iali'i (Chun 1994:134). Abbott notes that the cut end of a petiole used to stop wounds from bleeding; stem leaf rubbed on insect bites to prevent swelling & pain; juice consumed to reduce fever. Only uncooked flesh of corm was used in medicines. Raw scrapings from kalo corms were mixed with the juices of kō (sugarcane, Saccharum officinarum) and other plants, the mixture then pounded, and the juices squeezed out for ingestion (Abbott 1992:101).

Non Medicinal Uses: Single most important food plant to Polynesians, early Hawaiians grew 300 varieties, mainly grown for poi production. Poi is produced by steaming (in an underground oven or imu), then mashing and adding water. Also used in religious rituals, as medicine, as bait for 'opelu fishing, for gluing kapa pieces together, & as a red dye for kapa (Handy et al. 1972:111-117).

Specific gravity of wood: n/a

Famous Locations:

Mele:

`Ōlelo Noeau: [I] 'Ai no i kalo mo'a. One can eat cooked taro. The work is done; one can sit at ease and enjoy himself. [II] E 'ai ana 'oe o ka poi paua o Keaiwa. Now you are eating the poi made from the paua taro of Keaiwa. A boast from the district of Ka'u: "Now you are seeing the very best that we have." Also used to say, "Now you will find out how fine a girl (or boy) can be in making love." The paua was the best taro in Ka'u and the only variety that grew on the plains. [III] E 'ao lu'au a kualima. Offer young taro leaves to the gods five times. Advice to one who has erred and wishes to rectify his mistake. Young taro leaves often were substituted for pigs when making an offering to the gods. To remove sickness of mind or body, one made five separate offerings of young taro leaves. [IV] E kanu i ka huli 'oi ha'ule ka ua. Plant the taro stalks while there is rain. Do your work when opportunity affords. [V] E lawe i ke o, he hinana ka i'a kuhi lima. Take vegetable food; the hinana is a fish that can be caught in the hand. A suggestion to take taro, poi, potato, or breadfruit along on the journey and not to worry about meats, which can be found along the way. First uttered by Pele in a chant about the winds of Kaua'i. [VI] E! Loa'a aku la ke kalo, o ka 'apowale. Say! You'll obtain a taro, the 'apowale. You're wasting your time. A play on 'apo-wale (grasp-at-nothing), a variety of taro.

Dye Color and Parts: Purple/red (sap of the poni kalo)

Kino lau: LONO (leaves shaped like pig's ears)

Location on Bishop Museum Kalihi Campus:

Propagation Information: (Burgess and Enos 1996; Enos and Johnson 1996; Handy et al. 1972:88-110; Nagata 1992)

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Hawaiian Name(s): kalo Scientific Name: Colocasia esculenta Vernacular Name: taro Family: Araceae Status: Polynesian introduction Authority: (L.) Schott Description: Herbs, up to 1 m, heart-shaped leaves, and large edible corm. Habitat Most commonly cultivated in lo'i (ponds) occasionally persisting after fields abandonned (Wagner et al. 1990:1356-1357).

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The tall coconut tree sways in the Hawaiian trades. Many visitors to the islands expect to see these graceful ...

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Coconuts have remained popular in tropical regions for more than 4,500 years, and Indian households have been using coconuts in different forms for generations now, so why shouldn't you? This fruit has plenty to offer to keep you coming back for more. However, if you are still not convinced, here are seven fantastic health benefits of coconuts that will make you think otherwise.

1. Provides Good Fats

Even though coconut has healing capabilities, a lot of people are still not sure whether or not coconut oil is suitable for their health since it contains saturated fats. Pure coconut oil is extracted from ripe coconuts with hard flesh, while hydrogenated coconut oil is collected and then cold-pressed at 100-degrees Fahrenheit. You are better off with unrefined and unprocessed virgin coconut oil. Hydrogenated coconut oil should not be mistaken for extra virgin coconut oil, as the two are entirely different.

2. Coconuts Enhances Weight Loss

If you are having trouble losing weight, then you should look into consuming coconuts. Even with saturated fat, it is not as dangerous as saturated fat soaked in high calories and cholesterol. Coconut contains a medium-chain fatty acid that not only aids in weight loss but boosts metabolism at the same time. The fat burns off as energy rather than sticking to your belly. If that is not enough, it maintains a balance in your digestive tract and detoxifies your body.

Coconuts have no harmful by-products for you to worry about, even when it is heated to cook foods like other vegetable oils. The benefit of coconuts is you can cook, bake and also make some of the most delicious vegan desserts with them. Try coconut milk powder and coconut oil to cook foods.

3. Keeps You Hydrated

By consuming water found in young coconuts, you will get all the electrolytes you will ever need. It is the highest-rated source of electrolytes, which is primarily responsible for keeping your body hydrated. It will also keep your nerves and muscles functioning optimally.

4. Improves Skin Health

To keep your skin healthy and young, you need not look further than coconut oil. It contains antioxidants that slow down the aging process and protects your skin from harmful radiation from the sun. All you need to do is to apply a few drops of coconut oil on your skin. Use it before showering, so that it will be easier for the oil to be absorbed through your skin once your pores have opened up.

5. Coconuts Fight Bacteria

Coconuts contain lauric acid, which when digested forms a substance called monolaurin. These substances help fight against fungi, viruses and bacteria to keep infections at bay. They've even been shown to help kill the bacteria Staphylococcus aureusand the yeast Candida albicans, a common source of yeast infections in humans.

6. Ensures Healthy Teeth and Bones

The benefit of eating coconuts daily is it supports the development of healthy teeth and bones. By doing so, you will improve your body's ability to absorb manganese and calcium, which is vital for bone development and can also help prevent osteoporosis, a condition responsible for making bones fragile and thin while causing loss of density. Coconuts are also an excellent alternative for people that are lactose intolerant.

7. Eliminates Scalp Infections

The antifungal and antibacterial properties that will protect the scalp from lice, dandruff and itchy scalp, which are primarily responsible for reducing hair growth.

Consuming coconuts also:

Boosts the immune system since coconuts are anti-parasite, antibacterial, anti-viral and antifungal.

Provides quick energy and improves athletic and physical performance.

Considerably reduces the risk of heart diseases.

Protects against bladder infection and kidney disease.

Restores and maintains thyroid functionality.

Makes you look young by preventing age spots, sagging skin and wrinkles.

Fortunately, there are a ton of recipes out there for ways you can cook various foods using coconut, so there is no way you will get bored with them. Once you stick to a coconut diet, there is no going back!

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7 Amazing Benefits of Coconuts - Diet - Health Journal

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Coconuts have remained popular in tropical regions for more than 4,500 years, and Indian households have been using coconuts in different forms for generations now, so why shouldn't you? This fruit has plenty to offer to keep you coming back for more.

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8 Hawaiʻi-Related Coconut Facts for World Coconut Day

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8 Hawaiʻi-Related Coconut Facts for World Coconut Day

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Love the coconut? So do we, and to prove it we've compiled a short list of fun coconut facts.

Who doesn't love the coconut? Even if you're not a fan of its peculiar tasting water, or its fleshy meat, the coconut-or stone fruit-has become synonymous with Hawaiʻi's island culture. To celebrate World Coconut Day, which was established in 2009 and is observed on Sept. 2, we've put together a list of eight Hawaiʻi-related coconut facts, and tips.

They're Not Native to Hawaiʻi

That's right, coconuts aren't from here. They were actually introduced to Hawaiʻi soil by early Polynesian voyagers, who brought with them a large number of crops, called canoe plants, to grow wherever they found land. Along with coconuts, the Polynesians also carried kalo (taro), kō (sugarcane), maiʻa (bananas) and other plants in their vessels.

The Difference Between Green and Brown Coconuts

Relatively young coconuts still hanging on their tree.
Photo: Getty Images

This one's easy, but important to know. Green coconuts are young and not fully ripened, meaning they'll have less meat and more coconut water. Their brown, fuzzy counterparts on the other hand are fully matured and come chock-full of that firm, fibrous meat that can be eaten raw or shaved onto desserts.

Coconut or Niu?

While most visitors and locals call the coconut "coconut," a name that originated from the Portuguese and Spanish word "coco" meaning head, or skull, the word for coconut in ʻ ōlelo Hawaiʻi (Hawaiian language) is niu- pronounced nee-oo. And while calling a coconut niu may require a little more explaining at your end, it is a fine way to flex your new niu knowledge.

The Coconut Weather Station

Coconuts are used to tell the weather, too!
Photo: Royce Bair/Flickr

Parking Under a Coconut Tree

Ask any Hawaiʻi local, and they'll probably know someone who has parked under a coconut tree on an especially windy day and came back to a big old ding on the roof or hood of their car. Sure, it might not be a huge problem, but it's on the back of every resident's mind.

Ancient Hawaiians Used Coconuts For ... Everything

Once of the most common uses for coconut, making fresh coconut milk.
Photo: Courtesy of The Coconut Information Project

Aside from providing vital nutrition for kanaka maoli (Native Hawaiians), every part of the niu was used in ancient Hawaiian culture. Coconut fronds were used for weaving, husks for burning, fibers for ropes and lines, empty shells for musical instruments, games and fertilizer. It's no wonder why the coconut quickly became a staple crop in the Islands.

Punakea Palms

Maui native Kai McPhee leads tours of his coconut farm on the slopes of the West Maui Mountains.
Photo: David Croxford

Surprisingly, there are not many farms in the Islands solely dedicated to producing coconuts. However, at Punakea Palms, located on the scenic slopes of the West Maui Mountains, more than 10,000 coconuts are grown and harvested yearly. The boutique farm's owner, Kai McPhee, also offers educational tours and property walk-throughs for those interested in learning more.

SEE MORE: PUNAKEA PALMS IN LAHAINA MAKES VISITORS NUTS FOR COCONUTS

Coconuts ... Postcards?

If you're willing to pay for shipping, there are actually multiple ways to mail a coconut-decorated or not-to your not-on-Hawaiʻi friends and family. The first method is to do it all yourself, from finding the perfect nut and glamming it up, then getting it inspected and approved at a local airport agricultural inspection station before sending it off with the help of the post office. Alternatively, if you want to save some time and hassle, there are multiple businesses and services that will find, customize and send a coconut for you. The Hoʻolehua Post Office's Post-A-Nut service sells already-inspected coconuts that are ready to ship, and will design it to your liking. The Punaluʻu Bake Shop on Oʻahu also sells prepainted, ready-to-go coconuts, which they will send off-island for you.

SEE MORE: HOW TO MAIL A COCONUT FROM HAWAIʻI IN FOUR EASY STEPS

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8 Hawaiʻi-Related Coconut Facts for World Coconut Day - Hawaii Magazine

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Love the coconut? So do we, and to prove it we've compiled a short list of fun coconut facts. Who doesn't love the coconut? Even if you're not a fan of its peculiar tasting water, or its fleshy meat, the coconut-or stone fruit-has become synonymous with Hawaiʻi's island culture.

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How The Westside Is Restoring The Coconut Tree As A Food Source In Hawaii

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How The Westside Is Restoring The Coconut Tree As A Food Source In Hawaii

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Indrajit Gunasekara had never seen trimmed coconut palms until he moved to Hawaii in 2004. As he walked along the beaches in Waikiki, he didn't recognize them at first.

"I have never seen that before in my life. It did not look like the natural tree," Gunasekara said.

Hailing from Matara, a village in southern Sri Lanka, Gunasekara learned to climb his first coconut tree when he was 4 years old and ate coconut with every meal. He was taught it is the tree of life because not only was it a food source for his village, but its cultivation is still a part of their everyday lifestyle.

Gunasekara was shocked to find out that coconut was no longer a staple in Hawaii's diet. His village was surrounded by forests and his community would often go to them for food and medicine. It's a relationship with the land that he was hoping to find when he moved to Oahu.

"To this day, it's hard for me to get over. Why don't people eat the foods that grow here?" Gunasekara says.

With a grant from the University of Hawaii's Office of Sustainability, the Uluniu Project launched in 2020 with the planting of 10 niu - coconut - palms and 10 ulu - also known as breadfruit - trees in the Student Organic Gardens at UH West Oahu.

Now, they have more than 400 seedlings in their nursery that they plan on distributing to community members as a way for them to grow their own food. Their 11,000-square-foot lot also hosts other native shrubs and crops with the hope of creating a harmonious all-native mala, or garden.

Gunasekara, who is a financial aid advisor at UH West Oahu, is teaming with faculty member Dr. Manulani Aluli Meyer to bring back coconut, or niu, and other native fruit-bearing trees to Oahu - particularly to the Westside. They are calling their efforts the NiU Now! movement.

"This planting is a good way for people to connect to their food and understand the place that it comes from," Gudasekara says.

Because the palms take about five to seven years to produce coconuts, the NiU Now! team plans to host their second Arbor Day coconut giveaway in 2022. People in the movement see food security as the biggest challenge for their communities and hope that by giving people the plants and knowledge they need to grow their own food, it will revitalize cultural niu practices and provide a sustainable food source for local families.

A Transformative Experience

The first time Meyer tried fresh coconut milk, she cried. Gunasekara grated the niu meat and squeezed it into a glass for her, with a little bit of paakai, or salt, to bring out the flavor. After that moment, she realized how little she knew about coconut and its many uses.

"We've lost the taste for our own staples," Meyer says.

As the konohiki, or facilitator, of Kulana o Kapole​i - A Hawaiian place of learning at the University of Hawaii at West Oahu - Meyer works in and out of the classroom, teaching her students how to connect to Hawaiian culture by working with the land. She believes that the coconut tree has become an "ornamental liability," no longer a main food source but a decorative symbol of tourism in Hawaii. Meyer says that people have become more afraid of a coconut falling on them or damaging their property.

The relationship people in Hawaii have to their staple foods is a key reason why she wanted to plant niu at the university.

Besides nourishment, coconut tree trunks were used historically to make hale and cordage from the husks. Using the tree for multiple purposes lends to Meyer's idea of cultural agroforestry, or using traditional knowledge to grow a sustainable, native forest.

"We don't harvest kale or salad every six weeks. We harvest lau (leaf), uala (sweet potato), ulu, and niu because we are in the tropics and we are island people," Meyer says.

A Rich History

Up until the 1800s, coconut groves flourished along the Waianae Coast of Oahu. One Hawaiian story tells of the Tahitian chief Pōkaʻī, who is said to have brought the first coconut trees to Hawaii and planted them in Waianae. There, he grew his most famous grove, Ka Ulu Niu o Pōka'ī. The present-day beach park, Pokai Bay, is named after him.

West Oahu was prolific for its diverse agroforestry pre-European contact. Fed by many perennial rivers, the valleys were filled with kalo, or taro, patches. Dr. Noa Kekuewa Lincoln, a professor at UH Manoa, says there are a lot of reasons why native crops like niu have diminished in the area. Specifically for the Westside, it was the diversion of water from the area to sugar cane plantations in the late 1800s.

"Changing the hydrology of the Westside caused a big loss of self-sustaining ecosystems like these novel coconut groves," Lincoln says.

Like Meyer, he is appalled at the way people view coconuts today.

"Coconut and these other crops were a major part of the ecosystem for a third of the world and how quickly it's gone from being a critical food source to landscape decoration amazes me," Lincoln says.

Jesse Mikasobe-Kealiinohomoku has seen changes in the trees on the Westside throughout his lifetime. Born and raised in Waianae, he took an interest in farming and food sustainability after interning at MA'O Organic Farms and Malama Learning Center. As a Sustainable Community Food System major at UH West Oahu, he attributes the shortage to genetic erosion. When coconut trees are trimmed down or completely removed from their natural habitat, the diversity of species and fruit production diminish.

"Plants cannot build resiliency to pests, weathering, or climate change if we are not being good stewards," Mikasobe-Kealiinohomoku says.

He's concerned about how Hawaii struggles with food insecurity and believes that food sustainability can be achieved through these kinds of native plants. He was inspired by Gunasekara and Meyer's work with niu and started working with them in the nursery.

He also founded the Aloha Aina Student Services Club at UH West Oahu to give people an opportunity to work with their hands and get a better understanding of plants. The trio have been to a few Westside farms and residences to help gardeners with their old niu palms. The biggest concern they've seen is pests, but it has been encouraging for them to meet other community members interested in revitalizing niu.

"It gives me a great sense of pride to be able to plant and feed my community," Mikasobe-Kealiinohomoku says.

Bringing Back The Coconut

Since 2019, Mikasobe-Kealiinohomoku's club has been working with Gunasekara and Meyer to cultivate the school's garden and working with other conservation programs and farms to bring fruit-bearing niu trees back to the Westside.

Partnering with Malama Learning Center, they have two niu nurseries in Kapolei. One of them, at Kapolei High School, teaches students how to grow the trees. The second at Palehua has sprouted 242 seedlings of over 20 varieties of niu.

NiU Now! is also working with MA'O Organic Farms. Before meeting Gunasekara and Meyer, MA'O only had a few coconut trees on their grounds but now have a small plot of 30 coconut trees with aspirations to build a niu nursery on newly acquired acreage.

MA'O's Farm Manager Kaui Sana was inspired by Gunasekara when he husked a coconut for her back in 2019. She wondered why she didn't have a stronger relationship with niu and seeing his passion sparked her own.

"When we disconnect from our food, we disconnect from our culture in general," Sana says.

With the help of their Communications Coordinator, Chelsie Onaga, they've hosted husking and weaving workshops and, during the pandemic, a NiU Now! webinar series to bring together fellow "niunates"- or beginner coconut stewards - across the Pacific. The intersection of niu knowledge across cultures has brought up connections that Sana says is rooted in the navigation traditions of Polynesia.

"We all have our own spaces whether we're in Hawaii or Samoa or Sri Lanka, but the coconut continues to travel," Sana says, "So we're not just relearning these practices, but we're remembering who we are."

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How The Westside Is Restoring The Coconut Tree As A Food Source In Hawaii

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Indrajit Gunasekara had never seen trimmed coconut palms until he moved to Hawaii in 2004. As he walked along the beaches in Waikiki, he didn't recognize them at first. "I have never seen that before in my life. It did not look like the natural tree," Gunasekara said.

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11 Banana Health Benefits You Might Not Know About

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11 Banana Health Benefits You Might Not Know About

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H ow can something so delicious be good for you? In fact, a banana's health benefits are so impressive, we're sure they'll be your go-to food. Plus, get delicious, healthy banana recipes too...

Americans eat more bananas each year than any other fresh fruit, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

No wonder. They're easy to grab and go when you're in a hurry - and you can stash them in your purse or briefcase.

But besides being convenient, bananas are healthy for you. Read on for 11 surprising banana health benefits.

Bananas Health Benefit #1. No. 1 Superfood
Forget apples. A banana a day keeps the doctor away.

Banana health benefits far outweigh those of the apple. That's because they have many more vitamins and nutrients than their round counterparts.

Bananas have twice as many carbohydrates, 5 times as much Vitamin A and iron, and 3 times as much phosphorus as apples. Bananas are also rich in potassium, fiber and natural sugars.

The vitamin C, potassium and other vitamins and minerals bananas contain help to maintain overall good health.

Because the fruit's sugar content is balanced with fiber, it helps maintain a healthy blood glucose level. Even people with diabetes can enjoy a banana, according to the American Diabetes Association.

This wealth of nutrients makes bananas a "superfood" that should be an integral part of your healthy daily regimen.

Bananas Health Benefit #2: Energy Booster
Bananas are a better source of energy than expensive sports drinks, according to a 2012 study at Appalachian State University, published in PLoS ONE.

Two bananas provide enough calories for an 1-1/2 hour workout or walk.

Bananas also are an ideal pick-me-up. When you feel tired and sluggish in the afternoon don'tgo for coffee or a sugary snack. Grab a banana instead.

Your energy level will last longer, and you won't suffer the dramatic crash caused by caffeine or cake.

Eat 'em: Try a Banana Cocoa Soy Smoothie for a quick and tasty energy boost. (Get the recipe at the end of the article.)

Bananas Health Benefit #3: Better Heart Health
Because they are rich in potassium, bananas help the body's circulatory system deliver oxygen to the brain.

This also helps the body maintain a regular heartbeat, lower blood pressure and a proper balance of water in the body, according to the National Institutes of Health.

Potassium-rich foods are also known to reduce the risk of strokes in older women, according to a 2014 study in the American Heart Association journal, Stroke.

Try 'em: This Banana-Bran Muffin is delicious and heart healthy too. (Get recipe at the end of the article.)

Bananas Health Benefit #4. Natural Laxative
Eat bananas, and you might say goodbye to constipation.

Well-ripened bananas have a type of fiber that helps to restore and maintain regular bowel functions. They are a natural source for improving the movement of waste through the bowels, according to a 2014 Chinese study published in the Journal of Medicinal Food.

So eat ripe bananas twice a day.

Bananas Health Benefit #5: Put a Smile on Your Face
Bananas have a small amount of tryptophan, an amino acid that when combined with bananas' natural vitamin B6, helps boost the production of serotonin, a "feel-good hormone."

This mood-regulating substance may help your mind and body relax so you feel happier.

Or it may just be the bright yellow color and the smile shape of a banana that does the trick, according to nutritionist Joannie Dobbs, Ph.D, CNS, at the University of Hawaii.

Bananas Health Benefit #6: Banish PMS Pain
Don't take pills to reduce your menstrual pains. Try bananas instead.

Bananas have plenty of vitamin B6. Some studies suggest that B6 may reduce symptoms of premenstrual syndrome (PMS), according to the National Institutes of Health's Office of Dietary Supplements (ODS)

Try 'em: This Virgin Banana Pina Colada has ripe bananas and refreshing coconut milk. (Get the recipe at the end of the article.)

Bananas Health Benefit #7: Fight Morning Sickness
Because of the calming properties associated with vitamin B6, bananas are often eaten by pregnant women to combat early-pregnancy morning sickness, says Richmond Hill, Canada, dietitian Anar Allidina.

Bananas Health Benefit #8: Hangover Remedy
The natural ingredients in bananas and their ability to replenish the body's vitamins make them an ideal way to reduce the effects of a hangover.

Put a couple bananas in the blender with some plain yogurt and add some honey to sweeten the taste. The fruit tends to calm the stomach and the honey helps to restore the blood sugar levels to normal.

Bananas Health Benefit #9: Itch Relief
Don't throw banana peels away if you have an itchy mosquito bite.

Rubbing the inside of a banana peel reduces itching and swelling of insect bites, people report.

The research isn't conclusive, but what do you have to lose by trying it?

Banana Health Benefit #10: Soothe Ulcers
Bananas help to increase mucus in the digestive tract, which can help heal or even prevent stomach ulcers, according to alternative health researcher and chiropractor David Williams, D.C.

They help reduce the irritation of the digestive system by leaving a protective coating around the inner walls, making it a natural way to promote intestinal health as well.

Since they help to neutralize acidity, they're also a great way to get rid of heartburn. They act as a natural antacid and quickly soothe the burn.

Try 'em: A Dairy-Free Banana Rice Pudding may be just the ticket to soothe your heartburn. (Get the recipe at the end of the article.)

Banana Health Benefit #11: Treat Warts
Banana peels also heal plantar, flat or common warts.

If you have a wart, tape a banana peel over it before going to bed, the University of Maryland Medical Center says.

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11 Banana Health Benefits You Might Not Know About

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H ow can something so delicious be good for you? In fact, a banana's health benefits are so impressive, we're sure they'll be your go-to food. Plus, get delicious, healthy banana recipes too... Americans eat more bananas each year than any other fresh fruit, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

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Mending Hawaii’s Lack of Food Security Through Breadfruit

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Mending Hawaii’s Lack of Food Security Through Breadfruit

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With about 3,850 kilometers to the nearest continent, Hawaii is one of the most isolated island chains in the world. When it comes to feeding its 1.41 million residents, the state spends up to $3 billion a year to import as much as 90 percent of its food. show that the issue isn't a lack of agricultural land, but rather the fact that the islands grow way more exported commodities, such as coffee, and not enough food to feed the local population. As a result, essential groceries are costly-we're talking $9 for a loaf of bread -contributing to one in nine people in Hawaii experiencing food insecurity.

Food insecurity was only exacerbated by the pandemic. And with climate change, the islands are facing greater threats from rising temperatures and rising oceans. Something about Hawaii's food system has to change.

'i 'Ulu Cooperative and other advocates believe the solution can be found in a starchy crop called breadfruit, or 'ulu in native Hawaiian. While 'ulu has indigenous roots in Hawaii, the organization says it's under-utilized, and is pushing to make the fruit a staple in local diets. To do so, it first needs to decolonize Hawaii's food system to benefit farmers and the greater public alike.

For those unfamiliar, 'ulu is what Dana Shapiro, a farmer and general manager of Hawai ʻ i 'Ulu Cooperative, describes as "a big tropical tree potato." Grown on trees, 'ulu is a round or oval fruit with skin the shade of a tennis ball. The plant thrives in tropical climates, where 'ulu trees are not only an abundant and perennial producer but resilient to temperature and precipitation swings.

According to the Breadfruit Institute at the National Tropical Botanical Garden, 'ulu is a complete protein and a good source of complex carbohydrates with other nutrients, such as potassium, Vitamin C and calcium. 'Ulu can be cooked any way a potato can-think chips, fries or mash. It can also be dried and ground into a gluten-free flour. In Hawaii, it's commonly pounded into a poi-like paste. Once ripe, its flesh softens like a sweet custard and can be eaten raw for dessert.

For at least 800 years, 'ulu has been woven into the cultural fabric of Hawaii . For instance, there's the moʻolelo (story, legend) of Kū, the Hawaiian god of war and prosperity, who turned himself into an 'ulu tree to save his family during a grave famine. Ancient Hawaiians had 'ulu groves in South Kona on Hawaii Island and ate the fruit with (taro) and mai'a (banana or plantains) as staple carbs in their diet.

With European contact came diseases that wiped out Hawaii's Indigenous population and its culture. This included their labor-intensive agricultural systems. The traditional Hawaiian food system collapsed largely because of this, Shapiro says. As westernization intensified, imported staples like wheat and rice became the dominant starches and 'ulu at the market became rare. In the 1970s, activists and advocates spurred a cultural renaissance, with the revival of traditional crops being a central component.

Shapiro, an expert in cooperatives who is originally from Israel, saw the next step to be commercialization. In 2016, she and her husband Noa Lincoln, a University of Hawaii professor who researches indigenous crops in the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources (CTAHR) department, founded the Hawaiʻi 'Ulu Cooperative with eight other small farms. Together they are trying to collaborate and create a market that would get 'ulu on more plates. "By building it as a farmer co-op, we're ensuring that the farmers are forever going to be in control and I believe that's important in developing the industry," Shapiro says.

Now into their fifth year, the cooperative has grown rapidly to encompass 110 farmers. Pre-pandemic, the co-op sold to hotels like the Four Seasons Resort Hualalai on Hawaii Island and 256 public schools statewide. At its factory on Hawaii Island, the cooperative creates and sells products like 'ulu flour, hummus and packaged frozen 'ulu chunks that just need to be warmed up.

Andrew Trump (no relation to the former president) is a second-generation farmer for Island Harvest Hawaiʻi , an organic farm specializing in macadamia nuts located in Kohala on Hawaii Island. "We want to contribute to the local economy as a small business and small farm, plus be a part of revitalizing a food system in a way that acknowledges the past and pays homage to what Native Hawaiians have been doing for centuries," Trump says. The farm now has a few hundred 'ulu trees, some of which have died from wild pig debarking, but the trees that remain are just beginning to bear their first fruits.

Trump adds that the cooperative is a pilot program that could help change Hawaii's food system. "If more organizations, more farmers and more people succeed and show that we can do this, it just adds to the momentum, eventually creating a food system that's not just about consuming local foods, but also about sustaining local farmers, protecting local land from development and acknowledging the value of indigenous practices," he says.

Farming 'ulu in groves like ancient Hawaiians did is known as agroforestry. This has a wide variety of benefits for the planet such as carbon sequestration, improved soil, better watershed conditions and water use efficiency.

There's still a long road ahead for Hawai ' i 'Ulu Cooperative. Although the co-op is close to turning a profit, 'ulu farming on a scale is still nascent. Grant funding and research haven't always focused on indigenous crops like 'ulu, and the farmers partnering with Lincoln at the University of Hawaii are figuring out challenges as they go, like fertilization and diversification.

"A lot of really basic questions have just not been answered," Lincoln says. "Hundreds of crops in the tropics aren't well-utilized because it's the European history of agriculture, globally. I hope Hawaii can serve as an example of what real local food security and resilience looks like and that's increasingly important for the world."

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Mending Hawaii's Lack of Food Security Through Breadfruit - Modern Farmer

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With about 3,850 kilometers to the nearest continent, Hawaii is one of the most isolated island chains in the world. When it comes to feeding its 1.41 million residents, the state spends up to $3 billion a year to import as much as 90 percent of its food.

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Saving Hawaii’s Banana Industry ‘One Good Banana’ At A Time

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Saving Hawaii’s Banana Industry ‘One Good Banana’ At A Time

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Near the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, in early 2020, Matt Hong, co-founder of Oahu's Banan frozen banana dessert chain, got some bad news. Banan's banana supplier, Sugarland Farms, was throwing in the towel on the Cavendish variety bananas Banan uses - and with no warning.

Fortunately, for Banan, it had some backup: Gabriel Sachter-Smith, a banana scientist and farmer known as "Banana Gabe."

Banan had invested $10,000 years before to help Sachter-Smith develop a banana nursery at Haleiwa's Counter Culture Organic Farm on Oahu's North Shore, Hong said. And it turned out Sachter-Smith's banana operation, called Hawaii Banana Source, was starting to mature just when Banan needed bananas most.

Hong said the timing felt like a karmic gift for Banan, which had a handshake deal with Sachter-Smith to repay Banan with bananas whenever he could.

"It felt like a pat on the back, or a miracle, that his bananas started coming on line," Hong says.

Sachter-Smith's deal with Banan is just one example of what the 32-year-old banana enthusiast is doing to help rebuild Hawaii's banana industry, combining academic knowledge gained at the University of Hawaii Manoa, with hands-on farming experience and infectious enthusiasm.

Sachter-Smith is cultivating some 200 varieties of bananas on the North Shore. They include the Dwarf Iholena banana, descended from the Hawaiian canoe plants brought to the islands by Hawaii's Polynesian settlers, which Sachter-Smith believes can be grown on a large scale.

Other projects include breeding a small banana plant that will provide a steady stream of small bunches for home gardens. And for Banan, he's growing a variety called Gros Michel, the original Central and South American type exported to the U.S. before they were supplanted by the Cavendish, the variety now most commonly sold in supermarkets.

Finally, there's Sachter-Smith's academic work, which entails expeditions to far-flung locales to catalogue plant varieties, like some Indiana Jones of the banana world.

"I have a ton of respect for Gabe," says Richard Manshardt, a professor of horticulture at UH Manoa, where Sachter-Smith earned bachelor's and master's degrees at the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources. "I'd like to claim a lot of responsibility for who he is, but I can't."

In fact, Manshardt says, Sachter-Smith "was already familiar with a lot of banana research going on in the world" when he first came to Hawaii as an undergraduate from Colorado, where he had spent much of his teen years growing banana plants and cultivating hybrids. Sachter-Smith was also infectiously enthusiastic about farming and showed an unusual ability to build collaborations.

But most of all, Manshardt says, Sachter-Smith was "a child prodigy for banana research."

Getting Plants To Put In The Ground

Banan is hardly the only collaborator helping Sachter-Smith turn his banana dreams into a reality. Even more instrumental, Sachter-Smith said, is Rob Barreca, a major player in Hawaii's resurgent diversified agriculture business. Barreca founded Counter Culture Organic Farm on the way to creating Farm Link Hawaii, an online local food marketplace and delivery service that has boomed amidst the pandemic.

Counter Culture now has 40 acres under its purview, including two 5-acre plots near Haleiwa and a recently added 30-acre plot near Waialua. Sachter-Smith manages the farming operation, which has given Barreca more time to focus on Farm Link, Barreca said.

While Counter Culture still grows other crops, like papaya, taro and turmeric, bananas are clearly Sachter-Smith's passion. And although Banana Source has a lot of land and water available, there's still one challenge, Sachter-Smith says.

"The one thing you can't just snap your fingers and make happen is to have plants to put in the ground," he said.

But that challenge isn't stopping him. He gets new baby plant varieties from a facility called the Bioversity International Musa Germplasm Transit Centre in Belgium, which its website calls "the world's largest banana gene bank."

But he still has to propagate those into lots of plants. In some cases, to do that, he cuts the top off and slashes the stems of mature banana plants in the fields to encourage them to send out shoots that will produce baby plants. Another method is to harvest a root-like ball at the base of the plant, called a corm, and cultivate multiple shoots from each corm.

But all of this takes time, and it creates a challenge when scaling up to supply an operation like Banan, which processes frozen bananas into a dessert something like soft-serve ice cream but healthier.

Founded by four friends from Punahou School who decided to create a business together after reuniting back in Hawaii after college on the mainland, Banan started in a food truck on the side of Diamond Head, which the founders bought for $2,000.

By the time the pandemic hit, Banan had grown to four locations: two in Waikiki, one in Kailua and one in Manoa near the University of Hawaii. For a time, Banan also had two pop-up locations in Japan.

At its pre-pandemic peak, Banan was going through 5,000 to 6,000 pounds of bananas per week, Hong says.

And it wasn't just any kind of banana.

Banan discovered the apple bananas grown in Hawaii clogged its machines, so it really could only use the Cavendish variety commonly sold in grocery stores. Fortunately, for a while at least, Sugarland had a big supply of Cavendish, so all of Banan's bananas were grown locally, fulfilling Banan's mission of supporting local agriculture with a farm-to-table operation that could provide meaningful jobs for its employees.

But then the pandemic came, along with word that Sugarland was cutting out the Cavendish bananas. The farm's owner, Larry Jefts, said his biggest buyers were hotels and cruise ships, and when Covid-19 shut down tourism, it made no sense to grow Cavendish bananas, although he indicated he still grows some apple bananas.

Jefts said a major solar project under development, 176 Power Global's Kupehau Solar farm near Kunia, added to the challenge by taking up farm land Sugarland once used for multiple crops, including apple bananas. But Jefts said the main reason Sugarland ditched Cavendish bananas was the pandemic-induced market crash.

All this left Banan turning to Sachter-Smith.

The question is how fast can he scale up to meet Banan's demand?

Banan's Manoa location closed after UH took over the building where it was located, Hong said.

But even with one fewer retail location, Banan needs more than Sachter-Smith can grow, he said.

Sachter-Smith says he's "still in start-up mode," producing about 2,000 pounds during a peak week.

It's demoralizing that Banan now has to import bananas, Hong said. But he's confident Sachter-Smith can scale up.

"If anybody can do it, it's Gabe," Hong said.

Banan isn't Sachter-Smith's only customer. He also sells through Farm Link. And he's building connections with restaurateurs who want to showcase traditional Hawaiian foods.

A case in point is Juicy Brew, a vegetarian restaurant on Waialae Avenue in Kaimuki. For years, Juicy Brew has brought attention to Hawaiian ulu, the canoe plant also called breadfruit, by using it in recipes.

Now Juicy Brew has picked up on another canoe plant, Sachter-Smith's Iholena bananas. Christina Hee, who co-owns Juicy Brew with her sister Jennifer, said they use the bananas for both a Cuban and black bean bowl and a taco bowl.

"That's what I love to do: feature local produce, especially local produce that's not common," Christina Hee said.

But is there really enough demand for Hawaii Banana Source's product to support a growing farm?

"There's room for anybody with any product," said Jefts, a longtime Oahu farmer who trained as an economist. "If you do a better job, you will have your share of the market."

An Instinct For Identifying Bananas

Among those confident Sachter-Smith can impact Hawaii in a big way is Anne Vezina, a Quebec-based science writer and researcher who also spent years in Montpellier, France, working with the International Network for the Improvement of Banana and Plantain, a leading banana organization.

She recalls going with Sachter-Smith on a research expedition to Samoa, where they simply went cruising around at the beginning of the trip. Vezina noticed banana plants in the landscape, and afterward Sachter-Smith said he had seen them too, then started rattling off the names of more than a dozen types they had driven by, she said. Vezina recalls being astounded.

"You cannot explain it - how he does it," she said of Sachter-Smith's ability to classify banana plants. "It's just instinctive."

It's a loss to banana science that Sachter-Smith chose to go into farming rather than pursue a doctorate and become a full-time researcher, she said.

But it's a good opportunity for Hawaii, she said. Sachter-Smith's plan to cultivate Dwarf Iholena bananas makes sense, she said, in part because the plants grow and produce fruit relatively quickly, outpacing a virus called Banana Bunchy Top before the disease can take hold.

She's confident Sachter-Smith's constant experiments with hybrids and propagation methods will pay off. He has so much going on; some of it is bound to stick, she said.

For his part, Sachter-Smith says all the tinkering with different varieties, hybrids and propagation methods is aimed at one overarching goal.

"I just need one good banana," he said.
" Hawaii Grown " is funded in part by grants from the Ulupono Fund at the Hawaii Community Foundation, the Marisla Fund at the Hawaii Community Foundation, and the Frost Family Foundation.

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Saving Hawaii's Banana Industry 'One Good Banana' At A Time

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Near the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, in early 2020, Matt Hong, co-founder of Oahu's Banan frozen banana dessert chain, got some bad news. Banan's banana supplier, Sugarland Farms, was throwing in the towel on the Cavendish variety bananas Banan uses - and with no warning.

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The people of ancient Hawai`i grew about 200 varieties of `uala. Now there are only a few. In old Hawai`i, the cultivation of `uala was one of the few agricultural ventures shared by both men and women. `Uala is planted in mounds, ridges or flat ground, from sea level to 5,000 feet elevation. Th…

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Hawaiian Name(s): 'uala, 'uwala

Scientific Name: Ipomoea batatas

Vernacular Name: sweet potato

Family: Convolvulaceae

Status: Polynesian introduction

Authority: (L.) Lam.

Description: Vine with large, underground tubers.

Habitat A tuber crop that can withstand less than 30 inches of rainfall annually, important in leeward coasts (Abbott 1992:28). Most commonly cultivated, but occasionally escaping and persisting near abandoned gardens (Wagner et al. 1990:555).

Medicines: The leaf buds and tuber of many varieties of 'uala (sweet potato) are said to be good medicines. To cure ho'opapailua (nausea without a cause), 'uala huamoa (or another variety) is combined with niu water (coconut, Cocos nucifera) and kī leaves (ti, Cordyline fruticosa); the mash is strained through a niu sheath and drunk to induce vomiting. For pa'ao'ao in babies, 'uala kala leaves and leaf buds are mixed with pork. Adding lu'au and kukui nut sap ( Aleurites moluccana), the mixture becomes a purgative for older children and adults. For nae (shortness of breath) and nae'oiku (croup), the tuber of the 'uala kihi is pounded and blended with 'ōhi'a ai ( Syzygium malaccense), hinahina ku kahakai ( Heliotropium anomalum var. argenteum), tap root bark of 'uhaloa ( Waltheria indica), and kō honua'ula (red sugarcane, Saccharum officinarum. The mixture is strained, cooked, and drunk; ko'oko'olau ( Bidens spp.) tea is consumed and koali 'apu ( Ipomoea spp.) is used as a purgative For na'ena'e (?asthma) and as an emetic, 'uala lehua is used. To induce sleep or cure lepo pa'a (constipation), the 'uala mohihi tuber is combined with kalo pi'iali'i (taro variety, Colocasia esculenta), hau ka'eka'e bark ( Hibiscus tiliaceus), the stems of kikawaioa, and water. The concoction is strained and drunk. It may be followed by a noni fruit ( Morinda citrifolia) enema. To remove the thick, tough phlegm from stomach or chest, the tuber of the 'uwala piko nui is added to the na'a of kī leaves (ti, Cordyline fruticosa) and water; the mixture is strained through 'ahu'awa ( Cyperus javanicus) and drunk. During the treatment brackish water is consumed and mai'a lele (banana variety, Musa spp.) is eaten; koali 'apu is a purgative. To turn the womb of a woman to the right side, the tuber of the 'uala pu (or other varieties) is mixed with flowers, leaves, and leaf buds of the 'ala'alawainui pohina ( Plectranthus parviflorus) and hinahina ku kahakai, as well as noni flowers and flower buds, and the fruit of moa holokula lelo, along with a green kukui nut and kō kea. It is strained, Hawaiian pia is added ( Tacca leontopetaloides) and it is cooked, and finally drunk. During treatment tea of ko'oko'olau leaves is also consumed; koali 'apu is the purgative (Chun 1994:239-244).

Non Medicinal Uses: Cultivated principally for its tubers, while leaves can also be eaten, important in dry areas where kalo was not abundant or did not flourish (Abbott 1992:2831); tubers used as bait for fishing (Abbott 1992:85; Lucas 1982:70). Vines used to make an undercushion for lauhala mats in houses (Handy et al. 1972:136); an open lei of uala vines hung around a mother's neck or her breasts beaten with a handful of vines (the presence of the milky sap of uala said to induce the flow of the mother's milk) (Gutmanis 1983:52; Handy et al. 1972:136). Fermented uala "beer" (uala awaawa) brewed, but it is unclear if this is a pre-contact practice (Handy et al. 1972:135).

Specific gravity of wood: unknown

Famous Locations:

Mele:

`Ōlelo Noeau: [I] Aia i luna o 'Ualaka'a. He is up on 'Ualaka'a. A play on 'Uala-ka'a (Rolling-potato-hill). Said of one who, like a rolling potato, has nothing to hold fast to. The hill was said to have been named for a sweet potato that broke loose from its vine on a field above and rolled down to a field below in Manoa. [II] E lawe i ke o, he hinana ka i'a kuhi lima. Take vegetable food; the hinana is a fish that can be caught in the hand. A suggestion to take taro, poi, potato, or breadfruit along on the journey and not to worry about meats, which can be found along the way. First uttered by Pele in a chant about the winds of Kaua'i. [III] He 'uala ka 'ai ho'ola koke i ka wi. The sweet potato is the food that ends famine quickly. The sweet potato is a plant that matures in a few months. [IV] I ka holo no i ke alahao a pi'i i ka lani. While going along the railroad one suddenly goes up to the sky. A drinker soon finds himself "up in the clouds." An expression used by the sweet-potato beer drinkers of Lahaina, Maui. [V] I ka ho'olwea aku nei o Kuhelemai. Attended the funeral of Kuhelemai. A play on ho'olwea (to lift) and ku hele mai (stand up and come), meaning that we stood up and lifted the beer down our throats. An expression used by the sweet-potato beer drinkers of Lahaina, Maui. [VI] Ka i'a ka'a poepoe o Kalapana, 'ina'i 'uala o Kaimu. The round, rolling fish of Kalapana, to be eaten with the sweet potato of Kaimü. The kukui nut, cooked and eaten as a relish. This is from a ho'opapa riddling chant in the story of Kaipalaoa, a boy of Puna, Hawai'i, who went to Kaua'i to riddle with the experts there and won. [VII] Kalina ka pono, 'a'ohe hua o ka pu'e, aia ka hua i ka lala. The potato hill is bare of tubers for the plant no longer bears; it is the vines that are now bearing. The mother is no longer bearing, but her children are. [VIII] Kamipulu Kawaihae. Damned fool Kawaihae. Said of Kawaihae natives. Some natives of Kawaihae, Hawai'i, once sold sweet potatoes to the captain of a ship. He discovered some sticks placed at the bottom of the barrel for filler and called the men damned fools. [IX] Mo'a nopu o ke kau. Summer's first parched product. The first sweet potato of the summer or the first from one's field. [X] Na pu'e 'uwala ho'ouwai. Movable mounds of sweet potato. It was the custom of Pula'a, Puna, Hawai'i, to remove the best mounds of sweet potato, earth and all, to wide strips of thick, coarse lauhala mats stretched out on racks. When a chief came to visit, these mats were placed on the right-hand side of the road and made kapu. Should he return, the mat-grown potato field was carried to the opposite side of the road so that it would still be on the right side of the traveling chief. [XI] Na pu'e 'uwala 'ina'i o ke ala loa. The sweet-potato mounds that provide for a long voyage or journey. [XII] Ola i ka 'ohulu. There is substance in the sprouting tubers. Said when there is a poor growth of sweet potatoes during an excessively warm summer. The broken pieces of potato sprouting among the weeds produces a few potatoes that feed the farmer and his family until a new crop is started. [XIII] Ola no ka mahi'ai i kahi ku'o'o. A farmer can subsist on small. Broken potatoes. As long as there are potatoes, even small or broken ones, a farmer gets along. [XIV] 'Opu palulu. Stomach full of sweet-potato greens. Said of an ignorant person who can only grow sweet potatoes. [XV] Ua ka ua i Papakolea, ihea 'oe? When it rained at Papakolea, where were you? The reply of a sweet potato grower on Papakilea to one who asks for some of his crop. If one answered that he had been there when the rain fell to soak the earth for planting, but had not planted, then he was lazy and would be given no potatoes. [XVI] 'Uala li'ili'i o Kalepolepo. Small potatoes from Kalepolepo. Said of a stupid person. [XVII] 'Uala ne'ene'e o Kohala. Ne'ene'e potato of Kohala. A person who hangs around constantly. Ne'ene'e, a variety of sweet potato, also means "to move up closer."

Dye Color and Parts:

Kino lau: LONO.

Location on Bishop Museum Kalihi Campus:

Propagation Information: (Burgess and Enos 1996:22-23; Handy et al. 1972:127-133).

Seed: Seed length approximately 3.5 mm. Photograph: B.Kennedy.
Click for image

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Hawaiian Name(s): 'uala, 'uwala Scientific Name: Ipomoea batatas Vernacular Name: sweet potato Family: Convolvulaceae Status: Polynesian introduction Authority: (L.) Lam. Description: Vine with large, underground tubers. Habitat A tuber crop that can withstand less than 30 inches of rainfall annually, important in leeward coasts (Abbott 1992:28).

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By Mike DeMotta, Curator of Living Collections

"He 'uala ka 'ai ho'ola koke i ka wi" - Sweet potato is the food that quickly restores health after famine

The first Hawaiian voyagers arrived in the Hawaiian Islands with approximately two dozen plants that were important enough to earn space on the crowded outrigger canoes used to cross the ocean. These 'canoe plants,' as they are known, were vital for providing food, fiber, medicine, and more. Many of these plants had multiple uses. Three were essential staple food crops - kalo (taro), ulu (breadfruit), and uala (Hawaiian sweet potato).

Easily propagated and grown from live cuttings or slips, uala ( Ipomoea batatas) was widely cultivated on all the islands. Many communities in Hawaii's driest areas placed great value on uala and were able to produce enough of the starchy vegetable to sustain large populations by strategically planting it during the rainy winter months and keeping it stored underground for some time after the rains had ended.

Over many generations, mahiai (Hawaiian farmers), who understood the importance of crop diversity, developed many different varieties. They cultivated these hearty, tuberous roots, protecting against total loss of any given variety and building resilience in the event of changing weather patterns or other environmental instability.

As a staple food, uala is an excellent source of vitamin C, beta carotene, potassium, protein, and minerals. The unevenly-shaped Hawaiian sweet potato is valued as a life-preserving crop, but the shoots and young leaves (called palula in Hawaiian), are also cooked and eaten. Offering great flexibility in its preparation, uala can be cooked in the same ways as other potatoes. My favorite way to enjoy uala is steamed in an imu (traditional Hawaiian underground oven). Like kalo, uala can also be mashed into a soft poi which has the consistency of thick pudding and is eaten with fish. Uala poi ferments quickly and so it must be consumed within a day or two. Grated uala cooked with coconut milk is called palau and enjoyed as a special treat.

Today there are about 24 different varieties of Hawaiian uala. Each has a distinctive leaf shape and colors of skin and flesh that range from orange and red to white. The variety Eleele literally means 'black' and is named for its very dark stems. Huamoa ('chicken egg') is a smallish, egg-shaped tuber. Inside, its darker yellow center is reminiscent of an egg yolk. Palaai (literally: 'fat') refers to the size of the large tubers. Piko ('navel') is recognized by its deeply-lobed leaves.

Mike DeMotta Inspects uala variety papaa kowahi growing outside the nursery.

Like other multi-use edible canoe plants, many uala have medicinal value. One example of uala's medicinal use was in the concoction apu, a drink with many ingredients, but primarily made with uala. Apu has been traditionally prepared for women to be taken soon after childbirth to facilitate healing.

NTBG currently has about 20 uala varieties in our collections growing at our south shore Conservation and Horticulture Center and at Limahuli Garden on Kauai's north shore and Kahanu Garden on Maui. We maintain all varieties within our nursery because of the challenges of growing uala in the field, namely the tenacious feral pigs who always seem to know when uala is ready to harvest. If we don't get to them first, the pigs will complete their own harvest and never fail to eat everything, destroying all stems and leaves as they go. Growing a backup collection safely inside our nursery, helps us ensure we preserve these irreplaceable varieties.

At NTBG, we have a strategic objective to maintain collections of important Hawaiian canoe plants within our gardens. Heirloom or heritage varieties of canoe plants that are not grown commercially tend to become less common. Each named variety of canoe plant holds great importance in Hawaiian culture, whether identified in ancient legends or for its value as food and medicine. Preserving these varieties, cultivated over many generations, and the names ascribed to each, is equally important. As a key component of Hawaiian language and culture, we must remember these names which provide connections to Hawaii's ancestors. The same uala we grow today can be traced back many generations to Hawaiian farmers of long ago, providing us with essential sources of food, medicine, and beauty, and living links to an ancient past.
The UN General Assembly has designated 2021 as the International Year of Fruits and Vegetables. The campaign provides an opportunity to increase awareness of the importance of fruits and vegetables to health, nutrition, food security, and UN Sustainable Development Goals.

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Uala Hawaiian Sweet Potato | News | National Tropical Botanical Garden

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By Mike DeMotta, Curator of Living Collections ­ "He 'uala ka 'ai ho'ola koke i ka wi" - Sweet potato is the food that quickly restores health after famine The first Hawaiian voyagers arrived in the Hawaiian Islands with approximately two dozen plants that were important enough to earn space on the crowded outrigger canoes used to cross the ocean.

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Why Kalo? (Scroll down to read about Kalo)

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Why Kalo? (Scroll down to read about Kalo)

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Hāloa Story The story of Hāloa takes us back to the beginning of the Hawaiian people. So, to learn about Hāloa, we need to first learn some basics of Hawaiian genealogy. Hāloa's father is Wākea. He...

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Fewer Farmers Are Growing Hawaii’s ‘Miracle Food’ Taro Despite Growing Demand

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Fewer Farmers Are Growing Hawaii’s ‘Miracle Food’ Taro Despite Growing Demand

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Fewer Farmers Are Growing Hawaii's 'Miracle Food' Taro Despite Growing Demand

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Growing, cultivating and cooking the starchy root vegetable, which is used to make poi, is hard work that's not always profitable.

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Taro root Nutrition facts and Health benefits

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Delicious taro (dasheen) corm is one of the nutrient-rich root vegetables. Its nutty textured root and leaves are popular ingredients in the Pacific islands and some East-Asian cuisine. Calories-112 per 100 g, thiamin-0.095 mg (8% DV), vitamin C-4.5 mg (7% DV), vitamin A-76 IU (2.5% DV), pyridoxine-…

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Breadfuit as Food

What is breadfruit?

As its name suggests, breadfruit is a fruit that has the same texture as baked bread and it has what many call a potato-like flavor. Part of the Mulberry Tree family that originated in the South Pacific region, almost 300 years ago, this overlooked flowering tree has recently become a hot topic in discussing hunger, poverty and nutrition. With multiple health benefits and the nutritional value this fruit provides, breadfruit could be the next super food and staple.

History of Breadfruit

Originally from present-day New Guinea, breadfruit has been cultivated for over 300,000 years and was introduced to the Western world by British explorers like Captain James Cook and William Bligh. Each of them, on their respective voyages, began to transport and spread the breadfruit tree to tropical regions like the Caribbean. Once there, the trees were successfully introduced and planted, being able to produce the so desired fruit. In fact, there are places where you can still find some of the original trees cultivated over 200 years ago.

Where Breadfruit Grows?

Breadfruit has a wide range of adaptability to various environmental conditions within the tropics. The best conditions for growth is found in the tropics, where the temperature stays between a warm 70-90 degrees Fahrenheit year round. For example, in Costa Rica the fruit is commonly found along its Caribbean coast, from Tortuguero south through Limon, Cahuita, Puerto Viejo and Manzanillo which are all places that provide the best conditions for its growth. Also, it is locally known as "fruta de pan". Breadfruit flourishes in areas where there is an annual rainfall of 59-118 inches and soil needs to be fertile, well-drained, and deep enough for optimal growth. However, some breadfruit plants somehow manage to adapt to the shallow, sandy soils of the Pacific. They have even been seen to grow on rocky, volcanic soils in Hawaii.

Nutritional Value

Breadfruit has many health benefits and holds more nutritional value than assumed. Eating this plant you get 102 calories. Within the flesh of the fruit it holds a decent amount of fiber, Vitamin-C, carbohydrates, is an excellent source of potassium, and even contains small amounts of flavonoid anti-oxidants.

Snacking on breadfruit can help reduce blood cholesterol, obesity, blood pressure, and helps regulate heart rate. When preparing ripe, or mature, breadfruit for consumption, it is recommended for the plant to be either roasted, baked, fried, or boiled! This is just to bring out the abundant flavors the plant provides. But, you don't have to wait until the breadfruit has ripened to eat it. Immature fruits can also be cooked, pickled, or marinated, imparting a flavor similarly to that of artichoke hearts. Thinly slicing these fruits can even be fried or baked to make homemade chips. Yum!

As for the conservation context, the National Tropical Botanical Garden (NTBG) states that breadfruit also contributes to diversified sustainable agriculture and agroforestry, improved soil conditions and watersheds, and valuable environmental benefits including the reduction of CO2.

Will Breadfruit End Global Hunger?

According to the NTBG, more than 80% of the world's hunger-stricken communities live in tropical, or subtropical, regions - the type of environment that is perfect for growing breadfruit trees. Organizations like Global Breadfruit and NTBG Breadfruit Institute are dedicated to promoting the super food and spreading it to areas of the world that need it most.

"Every time we plant one of these trees, we're reducing the susceptibility to famine and starvation in the country where the tree is going," said Josh Schneider a horticulturist and partner to Global Breadfruit.

Schneider has been working with the botanical scientists and the Breadfruit Institute in Hawaii to reproduce breadfruit trees and transport them to the areas that need the most help. The Trees That Feed Foundation, for example, is planting more breadfruit trees in Haiti in effort to feed at least 1,000 orphans every day. These trees are very easy to maintain and can bear an abundance of fruit for decades. Horticultural partnerships like these help with the outstanding and healthy shipping of young plants that within time will grow into productive trees. Altogether, these alliances surely contribute to the alleviation of hunger issues but also, and not less importantly, they make widespread cultivation and reforestation feasible.

It sounds like there is a hunger, environmental and conservation hero in our midst; so let's start planting!

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As its name suggests, breadfruit is a fruit that has the same texture as baked bread and it has what many call a potato-like flavor. Part of the Mulberry Tree family that originated in the South Pacific region, almost 300 years ago, this overlooked flowering tree has recently become a hot topic in discussing hunger, poverty and nutrition.

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Since childhood, most of us have heard our parents preach about the benefits of eating fruit. Fruits are, by definition, (usually) the edible reproductive body of a seed plant. And fruit is an essential part of a healthy diet, and the USDA MyPlate platform advocates that adults consume at least 2 cups of fruit a day. Because it is such an important part of our diet, new approaches to how it is used and consumed are being explored. Additionally, food and health industries are constantly searching for potential new "stars" that can join the fruit food group.

Recently, one "rising star" which has taken center stage and is receiving the world's attention: breadfruit. Time Magazine and National Geographic have featured breadfruit in articles because of its potential to alleviate world hunger. Other headlines have dubbed breadfruit as "the Food of the Future," quickly spreading its "super food" status to the masses. But what exactly is breadfruit?

Breadfruit ( Artocarpus altilis) has been a staple crop on Pacific islands for more than 3,000 years. British and French voyagers in the late 1700's, brought a few seedless varieties westward to the Caribbean. Now, breadfruit is grown in tropical regions across the globe. Though it is a fruit, breadfruit is characteristically less like a fruit and more like a potato. If the "bread" part of its name conjured ideas of carbohydrates, well you wouldn't be wrong. Breadfruit is a starchy, carbohydrate fruit equivalent to staple field crops such as rice, maize, potatoes, and sweet potatoes.

Despite all the starch, breadfruit definitely doesn't lack in nutrients. A single cup of breadfruit has more potassium than three bananas. Other cultivars boast further health claims, like having high levels of fiber and beta-carotene; the latter of which prevents vitamin A deficiency and thus night blindness.

Besides being an untapped source of nutrition, breadfruits growing conditions make it an ideal candidate for feeding the world's hungry. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, tropical and subtropical regions, ripe for growing breadfruit, are host to the vast majority of the world's poor and hungry. What makes these trees even more appealing is that they are low-maintenance and highly productive. Trees begin bearing fruit in 3 to 5 years and are known to be productive for many decades. They don't require yearly replanting, unlike other staple food crops, which reduces the amount of topsoil loss and overall labor involved to produce a crop of breadfruit.

The one downfall of breadfruit is its lack of taste. Diane Ragone, Hawaiian horticulturist and Director of the Breadfruit Institute at the National Tropical Botanical Garden, likened breadfruit's taste to that of "undercooked potatoes". However, entrepreneurs and food scientists are exploring ways to overcome this lack of flavor.

The fruit can be cooked and eaten at all stages of growth, making it extremely versatile. Besides being eaten raw, breadfruit can be frozen, sliced, dried, or even ground into flour. This allows it to be turned into value-added products like chips, crackers, and bread. The fruit can also be boiled, roasted, or steamed, which makes it a nutritious substitute for starchy root crops like potatoes.

With a world population rapidly approaching 9 billion, new avenues of providing nutritious and sustainable food must be considered. Untapped resources, like breadfruit, may just hold the key to alleviating hunger and feeding our growing world.

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References:
Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations - Hunger Map: http://www.fao.org/fileadmin/templates/ess/foodsecurity/poster_web_001_MDG.jpg

US Department of Agriculture - MyPlate: http://www.choosemyplate.gov/food-groups/fruits.html

National Tropical Botanical Garden - Profile: http://ntbg.org/breadfruit/breadfruit/

TIME - Three real superfoods: http://time.com/3544425/superfoods-moringa-tree-breadfruit-prickly-pear-cactus/

National Geographic - Breadfruit: http://voices.nationalgeographic.com/2014/09/12/breadfruit-could-be-vital-food-source-in-extreme-climate/

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By: Elizabeth Clark Since childhood, most of us have heard our parents preach about the benefits of eating fruit. Fruits are, by definition, (usually) the edible reproductive body of a seed plant. And fruit is an essential part of a healthy diet, and the USDA MyPlate platform advocates that adults consume at least 2 cups of fruit a day.