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Featured Properties

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500 Koheo Rd., Kula (Keokea)

KULA/KEOKEA: Charming house and separate cottage on 16.9 acres. Property is gated, has 360 degree views and is extremely private. $1,900,000

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2670 Lia Place, Haiku

HAIKU - Equestrian property! This 3-bedroom, 2-bath, single story home with high ceilings, hardwood floors and an open floor plan flows nicely out to a covered deck. There is aslo a 3-stall barn with tack room, arena and paddocks and a large 2-car garage with attached workshop. All this on 2 very private acres for $795,000.

223 Middle Rd., Kula (Keokea)

KULA/KEOKEA: This large 5-bedroom, 3.5 bath hamoe with detached 3-bedroom, 1.5-bath cottage is on 1+ acres. GREAT views! Very private. And a bargain at $625,000

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16441 Crater Road, Kula

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Spectacular 6.7 oceanfront acres in Kaupo

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119 Pea Place

119 Pea Place, Kula: This quality home has high, open-beam ceilings, hardwood floors, huge windows facing the deck (with hot tub), gorgeous bathrooms and a fabulous ocean view. It is uniquely designed and includes two living suites, both with gourmet kitchens with top of the line appliances (Kitchen Aid and Thermador). All this on 2 acres in one of Maui's most prestigious areas, Kula Glen. Great location. Very private. $795,000

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535 Kualoa Street, Wailuku

Wailuku Heights! Fabulous 4 bedroom, 2.5 bath home with huge family room, high, open-beam ceilings and front row location with one of the most amazing views you've ever seen! Look for my Virtual Tour coming soon or e-mail or call me for more information. $563,000

Call or e-mail me if you have any questions or I can help you with any of your real estate needs.
Aloha,
deb

KALO, TARO
(Colocasia esculenta)

Hawaiian “wetland taro” culture was probably the most advanced in Polynesia. Certainly, the terraces, aqueducts, and rock walls of the taro paddies that are still standing in lonely highlands and valleys remain today as enduring testimony to a people who loved the land and farmed it with great skill and devotion.

The perennial herb consists of a cluster of smooth, heart-shaped leaves, rising about a foot or more from an underground stem, botanically known as a corm. The flesh of the corm is dense and ranges in color from white, yellow, lilac-purple and pink to reddish.

A ready producer of mutants, taro naturally developed more than 300 varieties over many centuries, with a great variety of leaf forms and colors and adaptations to every type of soil, terrain, and moisture condition. About 80 of these varieties are still extant today. All take about six months to a year to mature. Some people say that the pinkish-white taro root, which is recognized by the ring of color at the base of the stem, probably has the best flavor and texture.

Because the cells of the taro corms and leaves contain calcium oxalate crystals that are irritating to the tender tissues of the mouth, they must be cooked until the crystals break down. Apparently some varieties of taro have very little of these calcium oxalate crystals while others have a great deal. Hawaiians call the itching sensation in the mouth and throat caused by eating raw or undercooked leaves and corms “mane’o.”

In the ancient Hawaiian story of creation, taro was the “older brother” of man, the first-born of Wakea and Papa, the Sky-Father and Earth-Mother. In the Hawaiian scheme of things, the older sibling feeds and nurtures his or her younger siblings and the young ones honor and tend to the needs of the older. This relationship is maintained throughout their lives. Among the taro farming families, an old belief is that they are caring for Haloa-naka, their oldest brother, who, in turn, nourishes them.

The plant also served as a metaphor for relationships. The parent taro plant, like the human parent, is called makua. The taro sprouts, like human offspring, are ‘oha, out of which comes ‘ohana, the extended family. The word ‘ohana was a originally a term relating to the group of tightly knit bulblets growing in concentric rings around the parent plant, each eventually budding off to live an independent life. And the taro’s piko, a small rounded depression where the taro stalk meets the leaf surface, is also the word used for the human belly button.

Taro is still cultivated by both “wet-land” and “dry-land” methods today, especially since the reawakening of interest in Hawaiian culture that dates from the 1970’s. While all taro can be planted in non-flooded fields, not all taro do well in the flooded taro paddies. As was done in the past, the land is terraced and irrigated wherever water can be brought from springs or streams. Virgin or “rested” (green-manured) lo’i, paddies surrounded by solid earth embankments, are flooded and then softened with the ‘o’o or digging stick. Then the grass and weeds are pulled up and stamped with bare feet deep into the mud. (This is also done at each weeding and when old leaves were pulled off the plants.)

In the old days, if the soil was pahulu, exhausted, large amounts of hau and kukui branches and leaves were pressed into the mud and allowed to decay before final digging and leveling. Animal or human manures were never used and neither were seaweed or fish.

Dry-land taro was often planted up to the forest zone under mulches of grass, ti leaves and other organic material heaped up in the soil. Another technique was to cut down kukui trees, allow them to decay and then plant in the rich humus formed – a method which “brought the trees to great size.” Still another method was to dig large holes in the ground, fill them with kukui leaves, dried ama’u ferns or other plants, allow these to decay, and then plant from cuttings started in plain soil. This too was said to bring corms to great size.

A. Menzies, a horticulturist in the early 20th century, said that the thick grass mulches of long, course grass or tops of sugar cane that were heaped around the taro plants planted in the dry and scorching land in Kona helped preserve moisture. The plants, he said, ”rear up these roots to very great perfection, even on a dry and elevated situation.” On the stone rows between the dry-land fields, there were cane, ti and bananas planted as well, so the space was not wasted.

Taro was generally planted from huli (plant bulblets) from the planter’s own crop, but occasionally wild taro was taken from the forest zone. It was the custom, though, not to take all, or to replenish with later plantings. Mary Kawena Pukui wrote, “One thing our old folks taught us was that wild food plants did not belong to us but to the gods. My people were always strict about observing this law of the forest: Always replant.”

As a manifestation or kino lau of the god Kane, the life-giver, taro represented prosperity, long life, fertility and the fulfillment of all hopes and desires. Prayers and offerings were an important part of all phases of taro cultivation. Prayers were offered when the huli were pulled up for planting. They were offered again when the huli were growing strong and when the patch was weeded for the last time. After that no one was allowed to enter the lo’i until the harvesting. At that time, there were more rituals, prayers and a feast for all those who helped with the work.
During the monarchy, the taro leaf was an important design motif in Hawaiian art and was restricted to royalty. Kamehameha’s vest was heavily embroidered with wires of gold bullion in the taro leaf design and later the collars and cuffs of the court uniforms were embellished in the same design. A finely engraved scroll of taro leaves runs along the gilt sheath of Kalakaua’s court sword, his belt is encircled with taro leaves and the coronation crown bears a circlet of taro leaves. Panels in the glass door of the Iolani Palace were etched with the taro leaf design and one of the original palace sofas features a taro leaf design as well.

As food, taro is very nourishing. Studies have shown that it supplies many of the ingredients necessary for normal growth and health (iron, calcium, phosphorus, vitamins A and C) that are generally supplied by fruits and vegetables. (Scurvy, a condition that results from a lack of Vitamin C, was not a problem for the Hawaiians. In fact, the only ones who had scurvy were the sailors on the Western ships.)

Taro was the all-important staple crop of the ancient Hawaiians. As the adventurous 19th-century traveler Isabella Bird said, “A Hawaiian cannot exist without is calabash of poi. The root is an object of the tender solicitude, from the day it is planted to the hour when it is lovingly eaten. The eating of poi seems a ceremony of profound meaning; it is like the eating of salt with the Arab, or a Masonic sign.”

It has been said that poi is an honor to share, for it forms a living link with the past when we partake of it. Poi and taro have always been a part of Hawaiian hospitality. There is a proverb, “Ono kahi ao lu’au me ke aloha pu kekahi.” (A single roll of taro top is delicious if seasoned with affection.) It says that it is not the gift that is prized, but the way it is given.

Poi was never served in small individual bowls. This was considered a sign of stinginess and meant that guests were not welcome. Everyone dipped into a large calabash placed in the middle of the table. In older Hawaiian family homes, where the old ways are maintained, one way to end an escalating argument is to uncover the ever-present poi bowl. No arguments are allowed to continue when the poi is uncovered for to raise one’s voice angrily in the presence of the kalo is disrespectful.
In ancient times only the men were allowed to handle the taro and make the poi. When Christianity and other Western ideas were introduced, women were allowed to prepare the poi as well. Peeling the corm (root) with a large ‘opihi (limpet) shell, steaming it in an imu (underground oven), then pounding it with a heavy rounded stone and fermenting the resulting paste were the main steps in this process. One needed to know exactly how much water to add so that it would not become soft and mushy. It should not be too hard either, or it would turn lumpy and grainy.

Old-timers complain that the poi available in stores today is nowhere near the consistency of the olden days. When you only had your fingers to lift the poi from the calabash, the poi had to be fairly thick so it didn’t dribble off. Now, the poi from the bag is so thin that trying to gauge how much water is needed for a proper mixture is a no-brainer. Says columnist Maile Yardley, “Mixing poi today doesn’t really take any time at all, as you have to mix in so little water...unless you want soup.”
In some regions ehu (red) poi that was bubbling with fermented gases was considered a delicacy. Old-timers who have enjoyed this type of poi complain that when the modern, commercial poi is fermented it does not turn sour in quite the same, tasty way.

Latter-day culinary experiments with taro have included taro breads and cream pies, “poi cocktails” (actually poi milkshakes with ice cream and vanilla), taro chips, and poi mochi (a Japanese-style confection that mixes poi with rice flour). Somehow, though, they seem frivolous when compared to the weight of meaning in a simple bowl of poi.

Every portion of the taro plant was used; nothing was wasted. The corm was made into poi or sliced and roasted; the leaves cooked like spinach. The outer skin went for plant fertilizer, the scrapings were used as chicken and hog feed and the watery residue from the process was used to massage babies. Many babies who are allergic to milk have grown up on taro poi.

As a medicine the raw corm rubbed on wounds stopped bleeding and the cut stem of a leaf rubbed on an insect bite prevented swelling and pain while it was said that infected wounds were helped by an application of fermented poi. A 1927 newspaper article detailed the use of taro leaves as a relief for back pain. (One tied four or five taro leaves against the affected place for four or five nights.)

Several other varieties of taro have made their way to Hawaii, brought by immigrants. The cylindrical Chinese taro, called bun long woo, has a corm with purple flecks running through the gray flesh. It is an excellent table taro and makes superior chips. The Japanese variety or dasheen is the smallest of the taros, about the size of an egg. The flesh is more like a potato with a dry and mealy texture. It is boiled, fried, creamed, added to soups and stews, but never mashed. Tahitian taro’s spear-shaped leaves are cooked like spinach.

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KANAHA POND
State Wildlife Sanctuary

Kanaha Pond was declared a state wildlife refuge in 1952. The 41-acre pond was once a royal fishpond until it was choked up by mud dredged up from the Kahului Harbor. It is 1-1/2 miles southwest of the airport, and planes fly over the area constantly. It’s on the migratory route of various ducks and Canadian geese, and is the home or stopping-place for some fifty species of birds.

The sanctuary is best known as the part-time residence of the migratory ae’o, or Hawaiian black-necked stilt. The ‘alae keokeo, Hawaiian coot, and the ‘auku’u, night heron, have also been spotted in the area. The stilt is a slender wading bird that stands 16 inches tall and has a black back, white belly and stick-like pink legs. It feeds along the marshy edges of the pond and is a graceful bird in flight. The coot is a gray-black duck-like bird that builds large floating nests. The heron is a handsome, black-crowned large bird that stands up to two feet tall and frequents ponds, streams, marshes and tide pools hunting for frogs, fish and shellfish which are a large part of its diet. (Aquaculture farmers consider the heron a threat to their shrimp and small fish.)

Access to the pond is from the Haleakala Highway near the junction of Hana Highway. There’s an open-sided, windy observation deck just beyond the parking lot. This observatory was dedicated in May, 1955.

Kanaha Pond was declared a Registered National History Landmark in 1971. At one time the pond and its twin which lay right beside it were among Kahului’s most important resources. The pond was huge, covering much of what is now the Kahului Industrial Area. Old-timers remember when the area was a swamp.

One story says that about 250 years ago a Hawaiian chief named Kapi’ioho’okalani, a beloved king of Oahu and half of Molokai, began the construction of two ponds separated by a stone wall. One pond was named Kanaha and the other Mau’oni, and together they were known as “the twin ponds of Kapi’ioho.”

This chief, it is said, used men from Oahu and Molokai as well as those of Maui under his aunt Papaikaniau. These laborers stood so close together that they passed the shoreline rocks from Kahului bay from hand to hand. It is said there were so many men that the only thing plentiful enough to feed them was the small nehu fish that is used for bait by deep-sea fishermen and the opae shrimp. At times the workers received only one nehu each for a meal and had to fill up on seaweed and salt.

Before he could finish his pond project, Kapi’ioho’okalani was killed in a battle at Kawela, Molokai, by Alapainui of the Big Island. In this story, the ponds were completed by Kapi’ioho’s cousin, Kamehamehanui, the king of Maui.

Another story says the ponds were built by another Maui high chief, Kiha-a-Pi’ilani, who lived in Kahului. In 1884, the story published in the Hawaiian Newspaper, Ka Nupepa Kuokoa, said of Kihapi’ilani, “He is the one who separated the water of the pond giving it two names. This wall remains to this day. Its greater part has disappeared, having been covered over by sand blown by the wind.”

Whoever built them, these two ponds supplied mullet for the high chiefs during the kapu season, when fishing mullet from the sea was forbidden. There was once an access from the sea into the pond. Up to the early 1900s, mullet still flourished there in the spring-fed brackish water ponds.
During the late 1800’s when Kahului Harbor was dredged deeper to accommodate the shipping of cane and pineapple from the Central and East Maui plantations, the muck had to go somewhere. The pond, by then known simply as “Kanaha”, was handy. Eventually large sections of the pond, as well as the pond outlet to the sea was blocked.

Today, a modern waste treatment plant stands adjacent to the pond on the seashore. It was noted, some years after the plant was built, that the water in the pond had developed a greenish, scummy tinge that had not been there previously. Officials say there couldn’t possibly be any connection.

The adjacent 66-acre Kanaha Beach Park was named after the pond and is a popular gathering place and windsurf site. The long white sand beach is a traditional seaweed-gathering site.

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Standard English: I think the referee was partial to the other team.
Braddah-nics: Ho....only juice the referee!

Standard English: Taking out the garbage is your responsibility!
Braddah-nics: Trow the rubbish! 'As your kuleana!

Standard English: What do you mean, there's another one?
Braddah-nics: Not! Get one noddah oddah one?

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Lemon Chicken

Ingredients:

Instructions:

In large bowl, combine the chicken with the sherry, soy sauce and 1/2 teaspoon of the salt; let stand for 15 minutes. In small bowl, beat eggs; beat in the 1/4 cup cornstarch and the baking powder to form smooth batter. In wok or large skillet, heat the 2 cups oil to 350 degrees F. Coat chicken with batter; fry until browned. Cut into 1 1/2 X 1 inch pieces. Combine sugar, the one tablespoon cornstarch, broth, lemon juice and remaining 1 teaspoon salt. Cut lemon into thin slices. In wok or skillet, heat the two tablespoons oil; add lemon slices and stir fry for 30 seconds. Slowly stir in cornstarch mixture. Cook, stirring constantly, until sauce is clear. Pour over chicken. Makes six servings.

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KAHULUI

Kahului began as a fishing village and a harbor port town and is now a major residential area and business district as well as the supply depot of Maui. Goods flow in on a constant stream of barges through the harbor where cruise ships dock and Japanese fishing vessels refuel, as small fishing boats are launched and the canoe clubs hold their practice sessions. Maui's main airport is also located here.

Travelers coming from the airport pass through an industrial area full of factory outlets, car dealerships, commercial buildings, warehouses and storage tanks and silos that obscure the presence of Kanaha Pond, a designated wild-life sanctuary that was once a royal fish pond. A refuge for the migratory Hawaiian stilt or ae'o and other water birds, this marsh has been slowly getting silted over and the algae growth has been difficult to control.

Hana Highway becomes Kaahumanu Avenue after a bend in the roadway. This is the main drag through the town and is named after Kamehameha the Great's favorite wife. It heads on through Wailuku towards Iao Valley, past three shopping malls: the Maui Mall, the Kahului Shopping Center and the Kaahumanu Center.  

The Kahului Shopping Center is the oldest, featuring an open courtyard and parking lot covered over by the arching branches of old monkeypod trees that shelter the oldsters playing cards and the weekly farmer's market. This shopping center is said to be the oldest shopping mall in the United States. It was built as part of a planned community which began as a dream to offer sugar plantation workers the chance to own their own homes.  

Starting in the late 50's, the old plantation camps began closing down as the pineapple and sugar plantations moved away from their traditional patriarchal role towards their workers. The advent of the labor unions had shifted the balance of power and the old ways were changing. Also, many of the young people were leaving the camps and moving on to other dreams besides working in the fields. At the end of World War II, the boys who went for soldiers very often had their eyes opened to other opportunities. They did not come back. The camp houses were getting old by then and harder to maintain. So were the old attitudes of plantation life. The times surely were a-changing.

The first subdivision in Kahului was called "Dream City." Old-timers still remember it by that name. The homes in the "increments" of this ever-growing subdivision spread over the plain, eventually pushing towards old Wailuku until the two towns pretty much merged.

The industrial and commercial areas grew up around the residential sections of the town and they each fed off each other. For many people, living "in town" means living in Kahului and it is a very convenient arrangement.

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