Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Tropical apples?


The Malay apple known as a mountain apple in modern Hawaii and as ‘ohi‘a ai or  ‘ohi‘a lehue in the Hawaiian language.  It was an important fruit of the Polynesians, and was later distributed to the America's on one of Captain Bligh's voyages. The fruit is pink to deep rose in color and has a texture similar to a pear or apple, it is incredibly juicy, hydrating and high in Niacin.
We discovered a cache of mountain apples at the Maui Swap Meet.   This being our first season we are preserving fruits in their season on Maui we took a simple approach to our first preparation.   We really like the texture of mountain apples and find it to be one of the most unique traits it has, for a tropical fruit.  It's not that we can't find apples or pears on island but when it comes to island grown produce this is a rare find.   To keep this in tact we simply preserved slices of fresh mountain apple in vanilla cane syrup.  We are always happy when we can make anything that is 100% island grown ingredients and this one fits the bill.  Hmmmmmm..... what can we use these with; ice cream, pancakes, fruit salad, cocktails, crepes, cheese pairing.  That's all for right now; we'd love to know what you do with them!

5 comments:

  1. I would ferment it and make pickles out of it.

    Or with your preserved ones, I'd make chips out of them. How did you preserve them? Whole, with skin on?
    Curious...

    Excited that you've got a blog on Maui produce!

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  2. Actually since they are hydrating, I'd make a delicious slaw out of it!

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  3. That's an idea; sounds like we need a bbq at your place sister betty! Mountain apple slaw! We peeled some of the skin off but left the best of it on. Mountain apples don't hang from the tree they grow on the branch and as a result it's normal to have blemishes on the skin.

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  4. Congratulations on your first blog post! I look forward to many more.

    P.S. I just found you via Twitter while doing a search on Maui...I miss it there so much!

    Nicky @DirtandMartinis

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  5. In The Olden Days, Europeans called any new fruit some kind of 'apple.' 'Apple' was basically a generic synonym for 'fruit' and did not refer to the specific apple we think of now.

    And while I'm nerding out,
    ‘ohi‘a lehua is Metrosideros polymorpha, while ohi‘a 'ai is Syzygium malaccense.

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