Natural History

Persimmon, Kaki
(Diospyros kaki)

Right about now, the persimmons are turning ripe on the old trees above the 2,000-foot elevation in Kula. The sweet taste of a soft, juicy persimmon lingers on the tongue, calling up memories of other holiday seasons. Bowls of the fruits glow on the table and everyone who knows the good taste gently squeezes a fruit in passing, hoping to find at least one fruit that's soft enough to eat. One special treat is the dried persimmons that sometimes appear in one or two of the local markets. (They disappear so quickly off the store refrigerator shelf that they might as well be a dream.) Persimmons are good frozen and you could use them to make a spicy bread or cake, but nothing is quite as good a just-right, ripe persimmon that makes a juicy explosion in your mouth.

The persimmon tree is a handsome plant, grown for its delicious fruit. It can grow to 40 feet or more. It is a deciduous plant and sheds its glossy, dark green leaves early in the fall. The tree flowers in March and April. Like papayas, the persimmon has three kinds of flowers -- female, male and hermaphrodite -- sometimes on separate trees, sometimes all on one tree.

Persimmons are native to North America, China and the Himalayas. The round or plum-shaped varieties which are grown commercially originated in China and Japan. Kaki is the Japanese name for the plant and is used throughout Europe. It has become part of the scientific name for the plant. The name "persimmon" is a corruption of the Algonquin Indian name for the fruit.

The plump, sweet, red-orange fruits are borne late in the year, from October through December, often when the tree is bare. They grow best in a temperate climate well above sea level. (A high, dry climate like Kula is probably ideal. They don't fruit in the tropical lowlands.) They are grown commercially above the 2,000-foot elevation in the Kula district of Maui.

Persimmons are native to North America, China and the Himalayas. The round or plum-shaped varieties which are grown commercially originated in China and Japan and were introduced into the United States shortly after Commodore Perry's expedition to Japan in 1852. This species is now grown in California, Louisiana, Florida, Upcountry Maui, Chile, Israel, the Mediterranean area and North Africa.

The persimmon varieties grown in Hawaii are Fuyu, Maru and Hachiya. The Fuyu fruit is flat, the Maru is round and the Hachiya is heart-shaped and pointed on one end.

Persimmons are divided into two main groups: astringent and non-astringent. The astringent types cannot be eaten until fully ripe or they will be bitter. The non-astringent fruit (tannin free) like the Fuyu can be eaten at a firmer stage. Both Maru and Hachiya are astringent and need to be fully ripe, soft and orange. Fuyu is a lighter orange than the Hachiya when ripe.

Persimmons are best picked by clipping the stems to leave the calyx lobes attached to the fruit. They are customarily eaten unpeeled and sliced because the skin is thin. Some varieties have brown seeds that are easy to remove.

There's a native tree, called lama, that is a cousin to the persimmon. It looks very similar to the more familiar 'ohi'a lehua, with the same kind of small leaves, but no red flowers. The lama tree has a denser, more rounded crown than the scraggly 'ohi'a and bears inch-long persimmon-like red or orange fruit. It was used once used medicinally

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Arts & Culture

Haliimaile General Store

Just before the entrance into the old Hali'imaile pineapple plantation village, there is a large building that once housed the old Hali'imaile Plantation Store. It was a one of the gathering places for the residents of the plantation camp and was part of a company-built complex that included a gymnasium, a dispensary, a theater, a scout meeting hall, a garage for company vehicles and business offices. It is still very much alive today as the world-famous Hali'imaile General Store Restaurant.

According to a building account prepared for Maui Agricultural Company's Pineapple Department in 1931, the Hali'imaile Plantation Store was a branch office of the company's Pa'ia Store and was run by the company. It was built in 1925, after the workers' residences were completed. The store was enlarged and extended in 1927, using cinder blocks that were made by the pineapple company. The total cost of the building and its extension, including all of the fixtures, was less than $7,500. At its height, the store had a butcher shop, a fish market and the post office inside. Customers could buy clothes and household appliances in addition to groceries.

Eventually Maui Agricultural Company evolved into Maui Pineapple Company, which took over the operation on January 1, 1947. Nine years later, according to company records, Maui Pineapple Company, Ltd., entered into a ten-year lease with the Shimoda brothers. Rent for the store, the store porch, two warehouses (one of which was a Quonset hut-style structure), a shed and the garage was $300 for the first year. The price increased for the last nine years of the lease to $600 a year. They called it the "Hali'imaile Super Market" and the equipment list accompanying the lease indicate that the butcher shop and produce department were still a part of the operations. Some old timers called it "the Superette."

After the Shimoda brothers, several people tried to make a go of it, but were never as successful.  By then, the plantation camp had become a bedroom community where people who worked for the plantation lived in the homes they had bought from Maui Land and Pineapple. The residents tended to shop at the new stores in Central Maui bypassing the old store.

At some point, the name of the struggling store was changed to the Hali'imaile General Store. This store, which existed in the late 1970's and early 1980's, is remembered mostly as a minimally stocked convenience store where one could buy a six-pack of beer, a roll of toilet paper, some snacks, or a pack of cigarettes and not much more.

The post office was eventually discontinued and the wall of postal boxes and the service window was removed and the cinderblock extension demolished. Residents of the village were serviced by the post office in Makawao.

In 1988 the building re-opened as chef Beverly Gannon's restaurant, which continues to this day.

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Hawaiiana

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Braddah-Nics Lexicon

STANDARD:  Goodbye, brother.
BRADDAH-NICS:  Go good, mah braddah....

* * * * * *

STANDARD:  Oh, it's filthy!
BRADDAH-NICS:  Ai ka paneko!

* * * * * *

STANDARD:  The past has been difficult.
BRADDAH-NICS:  Old days was hard life!






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Local Grinds

Crock Pot Beef Stew

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 lb. stew beef
• 3 large potatoes
• 2 carrots
• 3 stalk celery
• 1 large onion
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 1/4 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1 cup condensed beef broth
• 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1/3 cup soy sauce
• 1 8-oz. can tomato sauce
  

Procedure:

Wash and cut potatoes into cubed pieces.
Wash, then peel and slice carrots into pieces.
Wash and cut celery into 1 inch pieces.
Minced 3 cloves of garlic.

Add cut stew beef into crock pot. Then add in potatoes and carrots. In separate bowl mix together the flower, soy sauce, salt, pepper, and paprika. Then pour over everything in crock pot. Add in the onion, celery, and minced garlic. Pour beef broth and tomato sauce over. Cook on high for about 6 - 7 hours, stirring occasionally if needed.

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