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Stinky fruit & bitter roots

fait

Position 5 Hard Support
I haven't eaten durian, but I had a durian paste filled mochi dumpling and even that had that very peculiar gasoline-esque taste/smell. It's curious that the durian plants got mis-identified long after they arrived in Hawaii. At least the fruit is edible and the trees are producing, and keeping that kava nice and shaded!

This makes me want to visit the Big Island even more.
 

nabanga

Kava Enthusiast
Durian is one of the few foods I enjoy snacking on with kava during a session - the season here runs from about June to September with carts piled high with it for sale on all the main roads in town. It took a few years of trying it to finally get the attraction, but once you are hooked that's it. The idea of planting kava underneath Durian trees just seems to fit - both rare, both an aquired taste, and both something to look forward to.
 

kasa_balavu

Yaqona Dina
I've walked past durian stalls in Singapore and Malaysia, but haven't yet had the guts to try it. I regret that and will definitely give them a go the next time I'm in that part of the world.

That coastline looks so green and wet, I'm surprised sugarcane did so well there for so long. Here in Fiji sugarcane was tried in the wet parts of the country in the 1800's but that failed and since then, it's only ever been grown in the dry regions of the two main islands.
 

Alia

'Awa Grower/Collector
I've walked past durian stalls in Singapore and Malaysia, but haven't yet had the guts to try it. I regret that and will definitely give them a go the next time I'm in that part of the world.

That coastline looks so green and wet, I'm surprised sugarcane did so well there for so long. Here in Fiji sugarcane was tried in the wet parts of the country in the 1800's but that failed and since then, it's only ever been grown in the dry regions of the two main islands.
I wonder if Hawai'i had some different strain of cane than you all because basically when you look the 1st photo in the article - ALL the land you can see was in sugarcane to the mid-1990's when the houses started up after cane went pau. I had a tiny house in the midst of it all, even then, but now if you look to the right side about 2/3rds of the way across photo, the place with the solar panels is my larger house, now. The newly plowed field is going to be purple sweet potato of a neighbor. Our average rainfall is 130 inches. She wrote 84 inches as an average for the whole coast. I not longer eat durians . One tree however can gross $5,000, and has.
 

kasa_balavu

Yaqona Dina
Back in the colonial days we had the ability to very easily source cultivars of all the crops we grew from all across he empire, so I doubt that was a hurdle. Perhaps it's because there's less flat or gently sloping land in the wetter parts of the two main islands. I've never really had an interest in cane as a crop, so never really looked into it.

That's a beautiful spot you have there. Great views, close enough to the ocean, but not so close that the salt rusts everything in your home.

Is the kumala you're talking about the one with purple flesh but white skin? That's my favourite cultivar, and have a few mounds of them growing in my backyard. Delicious, and stunning on a plate next to some greens.
One tree however can gross $5,000, and has.
Incredible. I wonder how well they'd do in Fiji. I watched a video recently about the most expensive cultivar (Nonthaburi). Apparently a single fruit once sold at auction for $48k. There's massive demand from China.
 

Groggy

Kava aficionado
Admin
Wow that's a cool article, nice find @kasa_balavu . I grew up eating a variant of Durian fruit, in Brazil we call it Jaca or Jackfruit in English. As I read the article the land Ed bought in Hawaii caught my eye, and Alia river :), man what a lucky break! I had no idea it was originally sugarcane land. I really enjoyed the article
 

fait

Position 5 Hard Support
I'm jealous of all the really nice crops people in the tropics grow. All we have are corn and soy beans in my neck of the woods. Corn, especially sweet corn, is delicious. Soy beans have their many uses, but we can't grow very many exciting plants up here. Apples get boring after a while, but a good apple is still worth looking forward to.
 

Alia

'Awa Grower/Collector
Back in the colonial days we had the ability to very easily source cultivars of all the crops we grew from all across he empire, so I doubt that was a hurdle. Perhaps it's because there's less flat or gently sloping land in the wetter parts of the two main islands. I've never really had an interest in cane as a crop, so never really looked into it.

That's a beautiful spot you have there. Great views, close enough to the ocean, but not so close that the salt rusts everything in your home.

Is the kumala you're talking about the one with purple flesh but white skin? That's my favourite cultivar, and have a few mounds of them growing in my backyard. Delicious, and stunning on a plate next to some greens.

Incredible. I wonder how well they'd do in Fiji. I watched a video recently about the most expensive cultivar (Nonthaburi). Apparently a single fruit once sold at auction for $48k. There's massive demand from China.
'Uala in Hawaiian, these sweet potatoes are deep purple with the white skin. The low growing kava in the picture in the "A Passion for 'Awa" portion is originally from Queen Lu'ukia's private 'awa fields deep in Waipi'o Valley. Back in the day--1985-- I could walk down in to the valley and meet up with old Hawaiian men with the truer, now mostly lost Aloha, and they showed me how to find that patch to get just cuttings and offer plants to others.
 
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