Award-winning Chef Mark Reinfeld treated visitors to a “Taste of the Islands” yesterday at the National Tropical Botanical Garden’s South Shore Visitors Center. More than 100 people eager to experience local cuisine sampled fresh ulu and okinawa — Hawaiian for
Award-winning Chef Mark Reinfeld treated visitors to a “Taste of the Islands” yesterday at the National Tropical Botanical Garden’s South Shore Visitors Center.
More than 100 people eager to experience local cuisine sampled fresh ulu and okinawa — Hawaiian for breadfruit — and purple sweet potato.
Reinfeld, a founding chef at the popular Blossoming Lotus restaurant in Kapa‘a, prepared the dishes only using ingredients grown on Kaua‘i.
Melissa Gregory, assistant to the National Tropical Botanical Garden’s Breadfruit Institute Director Dr. Diane Ragone, was also on hand at the free ‘Ohana Day event to promote the study and use of breadfruit for food and reforestation.
For more than 3,000 years, Pacific islanders have used these tall evergreen trees for food, canoes and homes, she said.
The Breadfruit Institute, partnering with Sustainable Harvest International, is working on a project to send 3,000 plantlets to farmers in Honduras to help end hunger there and in other tropical regions, Gregory said.
Blossoming Lotus uses the breadfruit in its dishes in a variety of ways, and Reinfeld shared a couple preparation tips with the crowd.
For example, he suggested quartering the melon-sized breadfruit, boiling it until a knife easily passes through it, cutting it into cutlet size and marinating it in soy sauce and maple syrup.
After 15 minutes, he said, grill the creamy white flesh and top it with basil and macadamia nut pesto.
“It didn’t look appetizing at start, but it’s absolutely delicious,” a visitor from Los Angeles said. “I’d like to eat this everyday.”
The versatile breadfruit can also be cooked over coals in a campfire, baked, fried or turned into a cake.
“Pretty much anything you can do with a potato you can do with ulu,” Reinfeld said.
A South African red tea called rooibos accompanied the chef’s samples.
Reinfeld said the best place to find breadfruit and purple sweet potatoes on Kaua‘i is at farmer’s markets.
Patti Pontone, a National Tropical Botanical Garden volunteer, said a steady stream of island visitors and local residents were taking advantage of the tasty treats before and after tours through gardens there.
For more information, visit breadfruit.org.
• Nathan Eagle, staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 224) or neagle@kauaipubco.com.
