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Global Gourmet
Discover the Big Island’s sweet and savory sides. BY CAROL PUCCI
PHOTOGRAPHY BY KEVIN J. MIYAZAKI
HAWAII
EILING FANS SPIN ABOVE TABLES
covered with mint-green cloths as
we settle in for lunch and a farm
tour at the Hawaiian Vanilla Com-
pany. Here in the rain-forest town of Paauilo,
an hour’s drive from the sunny Kohala Coast, jelly jars filled with
vanilla-scented iced tea and lemonade arrive, along with vanilla-
infused sautéed shrimp, grilled chicken in a bourbon-vanilla-citrus
marinade, and a salad tossed with a vanilla-spiked raspberry vinai-
grette. Any regrets I had about leaving the beach behind to explore
the agricultural side of an island normally associated with volcanoes
and lava-rock fields disappear as quickly as our dessert of vanilla ice
cream with passion-fruit curd. In business since 2000, Hawaiian
Vanilla is among a handful of Big Island microfarms and culinary en-
trepreneurs welcoming visitors for a look behind the scenes.
In 1988, when Peter Merriman, one of Hawaii’s best-known chefs
and a cofounder of its regional cuisine movement, opened his first
restaurant (Merriman’s Waimea) in the inland ranching town of
Waimea, the majority of agriculture was intended for export, and
it was mainly cattle, pineapple, and sugar. Like the rest of the state,
CLocal flavor:
Merriman’s Waimea
restaurant and (right)
Rare Hawaiian Honey
Company’s finest.
Taste of
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husband steers our rental car onto High-
way 19, the two-lane road that turns into
Highway 11 and circles the island. It’s just a
12-mile drive from the white-sand beaches
on the south Kohala Coast to Waimea, at an
elevation of 2,600 feet. First stop: the Rare
Hawaiian Honey Company. Without a
GPS or good directions, it would be easy to
miss the warehouse that doubles as a tasting
room for an organic white honey as precious
as fine perfume.
Michael Domeier, a marine scientist, and
his wife, Amy Grace, a jewelry designer,
raise bees that harvest nectar from a single
grove of kiawe trees, a type of mesquite
often used for firewood. The honey is put
through a natural crystallization process
that produces a creamy texture, more like
butter than traditional honey. The company
hopes to start tours soon. For now, tastings
are free, and visitors sample honey infused
with ginger and passion fruit, among others.
THIRTEEN MILES EAST OF WAIMEA, A
landscape lush with tropical foliage flanks
the highway as we approach the rainy Ha-
makua Coast. This is the start of a scenic 45-
mile drive ending in Hilo, the jumping-off
point for visits to the summit of the Mauna
Kea volcano, the highest point in Hawaii.
Big Island locavores. From the “dirt farm”
salads composed of tomatoes, roasted beets,
and papayas to the roasted mushrooms and
naturally raised lamb, 90 percent of what’s
served comes from the island. Tables fill
early, even on off-season weeknights, when
they’re often reserved by locals and afflu-
ent visitors from Honolulu who have second
homes in Waimea.
Visit a few of these new-school purveyors,
Merriman says, and “you’ll get close to the
heart and pulse of the real Hawaii.”
SHORELINES STREWN WITH LAVA ROCK
give way to green hills and forests as my
the Big Island imported much of what it
needed from the mainland. “There weren’t
enough people in Hawaii, and the tourism
industry wasn’t big enough yet to develop
supplies for the local market,” Merriman
says. “We literally had to run an ad in the
newspaper saying, ‘Hey, we want to buy
stuff that’s locally grown.’ ”
Sugar exports all but disappeared by the
mid-1990s, lost to countries with lower pro-
duction costs, but the island’s diverse mix of
microclimates and rich volcanic soil meant
almost anything could grow well. Today, the
menu at Merriman’s country-manor-style
restaurant reads like a guide to the best of
Global Gourmet
1-2. A vanilla plant and ice cream at Hawaiian
Vanilla Company. 3. Tending the hives under a
kiawe (mesquite) tree at Rare Hawaiian Honey
Company. 4. Busy bees. 5. Rare Hawaiian Honey
Company owners Amy Grace and Michael Do-
meier. 6-7. Long Ears Hawiian Coffee advertising
and owners Wendell and Netta Branco.
1
3
2
4
5
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hand-cranked pulping machine he bought for $500 and laughs at how he tried to dry his first batch of beans in a clothes dryer. The Brancos have since improved their equip-ment and techniques, but still do every-thing themselves by hand, from picking the bright-red coffee “cherries” from their trees to drying, aging, and roasting the beans.
LEAVING LONG EARS, WE DRIVE A FEW
more miles southeast on Highway 19, then detour onto a steep back road and across a one-lane bridge to the Hawaiian Vanilla
Company, in the hills overlooking the Pa-cific. An orchid enthusiast convinced Jim and Tracy Reddekopp that vanilla (the fruit of the planifolia orchid) could grow in Hawaii. They planted two acres on their high-elevation ranch and in 2000 became the first to grow vanilla beans commercially in the U.S.
Working in an abandoned coffee mill and slaughterhouse they converted into a kitch-en and country store, they and some of their five children cook for visitors and refine a
growing wild on his estate in the foothills of Mauna Kea.
Wendell and his wife, Netta, both 71, greet visitors with handshakes and hugs, and offer samples around a picnic table in a tasting room decorated with vintage coffee pots. Explaining the challenges of small-scale production, Wendell points to a
Coffee, cultivated today mainly on the dry Kona side of the island, thrived here too before sugarcane became the major crop. Today, a small group of artisan producers is leading a coffee-growing revival. Among them is Wendell Branco, a rugged former mule breeder who founded Long Ears
Hawaiian Coffee with coffee from trees
6 7
KEY WEST BIG P INE KEY & THE LOWER KEYSMARATHON
ISLAM
ORADA
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With its natural beauty, world-class fishing and diving, eco-adventures, rich history and fine island
cuisine, a week or more in The Florida Keys is exactly what your inner explorer needs.
For reservations, call your Virtuoso travel advisor. fl a-keys.com
For modern-day explorers, there’s no place like The Florida Keys.
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Global Gourmet
repertoire of 80 vanilla-infused products for sale. Lunches include a lesson on making ex-tract using vanilla beans and vodka, followed by a walk to the farm, where vines grow under black shade cloths to buffer the sun.
Growing and harvesting vanilla on a small scale is a labor-intensive business. Blossoms appear just one day a year for four hours and must be hand-pollinated in that brief win-dow of time – one reason why a single bean sells for $11.
OUR LAST STOP BEFORE HEADING BACK to Waimea for dinner at Merriman’s is the Onomea Tea Company, a 30-mile drive south along the coast’s most scenic stretch. Owners Rob Nunally and Mike Longo were sipping a cup of Earl Grey one day in 2003, thinking about a crop that would fit the ag-ricultural history of the former sugarcane fields they’d bought overlooking Onomea Bay, just north of Hilo. They found out that tea, part of the camellia family, had been grown in Hawaii in the late 1800s and ear-ly 1900s. Starting with 40 seeds planted
in pots on their front steps, they began a boutique business growing organic teas.
Tours start with a walk through the tea fields, where citrus and banana trees sur-round 2,500 plants spread out on land above rocky sea cliffs. Rob shows visitors how tea is picked by plucking the stem and top one or two leaves, and explains the different processing methods that result in organic green, oolong, or black varieties that sell for $15 to $20 per ounce.
When we return to Onomea’s outdoor deck, warm cranberry scones appear as Mike begins a Chinese-style tea ceremony. Filling a thimble-shaped “aroma cup,” then covering it with a larger sipping cup, he dem-onstrates how to quickly invert the two so as not to spill any liquid. We do the same, tilt-ing the aroma cup to inhale a fragrant mist. Then we slurp the tea, letting it hit the back of our throats, and savor yet another taste of Hawaii.
tip
“Stop at Island Gourmet Markets in
Waikoloa for specialty foods or a cup
of Kona coffee in the café. The store
has a bakery, meat and fish market,
deli, wine bar, and health and beauty
products. They also do catering.”
– Jill McGowan, travel advisor,
Maunaloa, HawaiiLocal brew: Chinese-
style service at Onomea
Tea Company.
With every spectacular sunrise, opportunity and adventure dawn across the picturesque Kenyan
landscape. Picture yourself traveling aside a thundering herd of wildebeest or encountering
unique cultures in a world of wonder. No other country offers the visitor as much to see and do;
much more than you would ever expect.
CONTACT YOUR VIRTUOSO TRAVEL ADVISOR TO PLAN YOUR NEXT VACATION.
59
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LE
IGH
WE
LL
S
STAY The 540-room
Fairmont Orchid, Hawaii
bloomed anew last year with
a comprehensive renova-
tion. The hotel offers guests
guided botanical tours,
“turtle talk” sessions, and
archaeological hikes to
nearby petroglyph fields.
Doubles from $299, includ-
ing breakfast daily and two
activity passes.
Four Seasons Resort Huala-
lai has 243 rooms and suites
and a family-friendly focus.
There’s a sand-bottomed
children’s pool, in-room
cookies and milk, and a kids’
program and babysitting on-
site (plus an adults-only pool).
Doubles from $645, including
breakfast daily and a $100
dining credit.
Many consider the white-
sand crescent beach at
the 252-room Mauna Kea
Beach Hotel to be the
island’s best. Soak up the
views from private lanais off
bedrooms and sign up for
the Saturday tours of found-
er Laurance Rockefeller’s
Asian art collection. A
renovated beachfront wing
includes 96 rooms ideal for
families. Doubles from $405,
including breakfast daily and
complimentary parking.
At Mauna Lani Bay Hotel
& Bungalows on the Kohala
Coast, 90 percent of the
341 rooms have ocean views.
Chef Allen Hess’ plantation-
style menu wins praise from
locals for its focus on fresh,
sustainable ingredients.
Doubles from $400, including
breakfast daily and a $100
dining, spa, or golf credit.
TASTE Long Ears Hawai-
ian Coffee Call ahead for
drop-in visits or tours ($35).
46-3689 Waipahi Place,
Honokaa; 808/775-0385;
www.longearscoffee.com.
Hawaiian Vanilla Compa-
ny Tastings, lunches, tours,
and teas ($25-$39)
by reservation. 43-2007
Paauilo Mauka Road,
Paauilo; 808/776-1771;
www.hawaiianvanilla.com.
Rare Hawaiian Honey
Company Tasting room
open Monday through
Friday, 9 AM to 4 PM. 66-
1250 Lalamilo Farm Road,
Waimea; 888/663-
6639; www.rare
hawaiianhoney.com.
Onomea Tea Company
Tours and tastings by
reservation ($30). 27-
604 Alakahi Place, Pa-
paikou; 808/964-3283;
www.onotea.com.
BIG-ISLAND BOUNTY Plush hotels and lush destinations around Hawaii.
MARCH | APRIL 2014
Four Seasons
Resort Hualalai
Mauna Lani Bay
Hotel & Bungalows
The Fairmont
Orchid, Hawaii
Mauna Kea
Beach Hotel
Rare Hawaiian
Honey Company
Merriman’s Waimea
Long Ears Hawaiian
Coffee
Hawaiian Vanilla Company
Onomea Tea Company