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Maui Attractions Newsletter
November 2003 Events
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Natural History
Breadfruit, 'Ulu
(Artocarpus spp.)
Breadfruit originated in Malaysia, probably New Guinea, and it has been eaten for more than 2,000 years. There are about 100 seedless varieties of breadfruit grown in Polynesia.
It was first seen by Europeans at the Marquesas in 1595, and each successive Pacific trip brought more information about breadfruit. Because the planters in the British West Indies wanted it as a cheap and nourishing food for their African laborers, they petitioned George III to bring breadfruit trees from Tahiti to the West Indies.
The British Admiralty chose Lieutenant William Bligh, who had sailed with Captain James Cook on the Resolution, to command the Bounty. Bligh sailed from England for Tahiti in December 1787. After 23 weeks of work, he left Tahiti with 1,015 breadfruit plants growing in tubs. In the succeeding mutiny, the precious breadfruit plants were thrown overboard.
After his miraculous return to England, Bligh was given command of the Providence and instructed to go a second time to Tahiti for breadfruit. He sailed in August 1791 and gathered 2,125 breadfruit plants, which grew in pots on the quarterdeck. They were covered by canvas to protect them from salt air and were tended by two skilled botanists, James Wiles and Christopher Smith. This "floating garden" arrived in Jamaica in February, 1793. Breadfruit is still grown extensively in the West Indies, Brazil, and most of Central America.
There is a legend that says the early Polynesians carried breadfruit plants from Tahiti to Hawaii centuries ago and supposedly planted them at Kualoa for an O'ahu chief. Research indicates the Hawaiians brought with them only one kind of breadfruit, and this type is also found in the Marquesas Islands, Tahiti, and throughout Polynesia.
Another Hawaiian legend, which probably originated in Tahiti, said the god Ku, to save his family from starvation during a time of famine, buried himself alive in the earth. A beautiful tree sprang up bearing fruits shaped like a man's head. Following Ku's instructions, his family roasted the fruit, soaked it, beat off the skin and ate the flesh inside. It is for this reason that the 'ulu was considered a manifestation of the god Ku.
In a legend from Lahaina, which is an area once famous for its breadfruit trees, the mischievous son of a ruling chief of Maui was banished to Lanai for pulling up young 'ulu trees around Lahaina. At that time Lanai was an island haunted by man-eating spirits. The young boy, whose name was Kaulula'au, tricked the spirits into destroying themselves and thus rid the island of them. After that, he was allowed to come home.
Although there are some seed-bearing breadfruit in Hawai'i, most island breadfruit is seedless. The traditional Hawaiian 'ulu does not have seeds and is cultivated by root shoots. It is likely that the sprouts were wrapped up and kept moist during the sea voyage.
The trees probably came to the islands later than the Hawaiian staple foods like taro and sweet potato and were not, therefore, not planted as extensively as these other crops. Also, the trees do not fruit as abundantly in Hawaii as they do in other parts of Polynesia. Groves of the trees were usually planted along the southern coasts of the islands. Less extensively, they were grown inland along windward coasts and up valleys in sheltered places.
The breadfruit is a tall, exquisite tree that can grow to sixty feet. Its foliage is luxuriant with leathery lobed leaves one to three feet long. The tree usually bear fruit within three to five years of planting if given good growing conditions and will continue to bear for 30 to 40 years.
The fruit is green, round or oblong and about 8 to 10 inches in diameter with a thin rough rind. The green rind turns to green brown or yellow as the fruit matures. Unlike most fruits, its main constituent is starch.
The breadfruit is a collective fruit made from many tiny flowers growing together to make slightly fibrous flesh around the tough core. The flesh is white, bland, and starchy in the green stage, becoming light yellow and sweet in the ripe stage. It can weigh as much as ten pounds, but usually weighs two to five pounds. It ripens mostly in the summer months, with a small winter crop.
Breadfruit contains about the same amount of carbohydrates (sugar and starch) as taro or sweet potato and the calcium content is higher than that of white potato. It is cooked by the same methods as white or sweet potato - boiled, steamed, baked, roasted, fried, mashed, creamed, pureed and used in soups, puddings and cakes. Some Polynesians used breadfruit as a staple in their diet, but the Hawaiians relied more on taro, sweet potatoes and bananas.
The ancient Hawaiians cooked their breadfruit whole over coals or in the imu or underground oven. The baked fruit was also mashed into poi 'ulu, but Hawaiians tended to prefer poi made from taro. (Poi 'ulu tends to produce gas in the stomach.) Piele 'ulu was a special pudding made by mashing very ripe fruit and mixing it with coconut cream. The fruit paste was wrapped in ti leaves and baked in the oven.
Hawaiians used the light wood of the breadfruit for drums, canoe hulls and surfboards. At one point 'ulu timber was in great demand.
The sap produced a gum used to fill canoe seams as caulking and as a waterproof glue. This gummy sap was also used to trap birds whose colorful feathers were made into capes and helmets. The leaves were used as a fine sandpaper to smooth and polish coconut bowls and kukui nuts. The male infloresences of the tree was used to make dyes for kapa. Colors produced were usually yellows, tans and browns, depending on the age of the "flowers" used.
It is said that slices of the fruit were used as the original discs for rolling between stakes in the game of 'ulu maika. Of course, the fruit got mashed very quickly and they were replaced by discs made of stone in the shape of a slice of a firm, half-grown breadfruit.
The breadfruit design, which was inspired by the bold shape of the leaves and its globular fruit, has been used for a number of patterns for Hawaiian quilts that remain popular today. In more modern times this design has been copied in textiles, jewelry, ceramics, glassware and carved wooden furniture. |
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| Arts & Culture
The Hill that Disappeared
On old maps of Waikapu, you may see a hill named "Pu'u Hele," The Moving Hill, drawn above Maalaea along Pohakea Gulch. This cinder cone was located where the roads from Lahaina, Wailuku and Kihei converge. At one time, the area was a puuhonua, a place of refuge, where sanctuary was given to those who had angered some chief or other official.
One collector of ancient place names recounted a game that involved the hill. Anyone who wanted to make the claim of having "made a circuit of Maui" had to circle Pu'u Hele, then climb to the summit and proclaim, "Ua puni o Maui ia'u." (I have covered Maui.)
The hill is no longer there.
According to the late Inez MacPhee Ashdown, noted Maui historian, the hill was the victim of the Second World War. During that war Maui's beaches, jungles and rugged terrain was used as training grounds for the U.S. military campaigns in the South Pacific. The Navy, the Army and the Marines had bases, camps and training facilities on the island.
In mid-1940, as the Germans swept through France, the U. S. Navy moved to strengthen its defenses in the Territory by establishing auxiliary bases on the islands outside of Oahu. In June of that year, Navy officers descended on the Maui County Board of Supervisors and asked to use as many County employees as necessary to begin construction of a base at Puunene airport.
Five days later Maui's first naval establishment was manned with the arrival of "planes and a tug towing a barge loaded with machinery and equipment and 80 officers and men" for the new utility base. With civilian help, the naval air base was completed in 90 days. The detachment stationed on Maui would be known s Utility Squadron 3, Utility Wing Base Force.
When the US Navy built Naval Air Station Puunene (near the current site of Maui Raceway Park), the construction crew demolished the hill by using all the cinders of Puu Hele for road-building, leaving behind a deep hole.
Ashdown claimed that a long-forgotten ancient prophecy said that the Moving Hill would "cover all Maui when the foreign tide envelopes our land and people."
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| Braddah-Nics Lexicon
STANDARD ENGLISH: Russell is upset and needs to adjust to this new situation.
BRADDAH-NICS: Russell stay all hemajang. He gotta adjustamacate 'em.
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STANDARD ENGLISH: Really, I didn't mean it.
BRADDAH-NICS: Nah, nah, nah....
* * * * * * * *
STANDARD ENGLISH: Carol and her friends went to the fair.
BRADDAH-NICS: Carol them went go fair.
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 Local Grinds
Lumpia w/ Dipping Sauce
Ingredients:
1 lb ground beef
2 cloves garlic
1 large onion
1 can (8 oz.) water chestnuts, slivered
2 pkgs. (10 oz. size) chop suey vegetables.
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper |
1 tablespoon patis
2 tablespoons flour
1/4 cup water
40 lumpia wrappers
deep fat for frying
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup vinegar
1/8 teaspoon salt |
Instructions:
Brown beef well. Stir in garlic and onion; sauté lightly. Add water chestnuts, vegetables and seasonings;
cook for about 2 minutes. Drain and cool thoroughly. Combine flour and water to form thin paste. To
make rolls, place 2 tablespoons filling on a lumpia wrapper. Fold neatly like an envelope. Seal with
paste. Heat deep fat to 375 degrees F. Combine remaining ingredients for sauce. Fry lumpia in hot fat
until golden brown. Serve hot with sauce. Makes 40 servings.
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| Spotlight On…
 Molokini
Just 2 1/2 miles off the coast of South Maui, lies a beautifully rare sight: Molokini. When viewed from shore, one may perceive Molokini to be a small, simple Hawaiian island; get closer however, and its true nature becomes apparent . . .
A volcanic crater formed ages ago, Molokini stands partially submerged beneath the pacific; shaped in a beautiful crescent form above water. This formation creates a buffer between the sometimes harsh movement of the Pacific, forming a protected bay within the crater area.
Accessible via boat, the Molokini bay is paradisiacal enclosure for both aquatic life and aquatic explorers alike. Home to more than 240 species of fish (many indigenous), sea turtles, shellfish, and even the occasional manta ray, all living amongst a sandy reef laden with an array of coral species. Such diversity makes for a wonderful diving view; so incredible in fact, that Molokini is considered to be one of the top ten diving destinations in the world.
While Molokini has much to offer in the way of sightseeing, ones adventures must be done from the waters offshore. Once a U.S. Military bombing target range, the crater has now been designated as a State Marine Life and Bird Conservation District: prohibiting entry onto the non submerged crater walls. Harvesting of sea life in and around the crater area is also prohibited for the most part, to ensure the many species of life may continue to call Molokini their home.
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Maui Horseback Tours
P.O. Box 536
Kula, HI 96790 |
Reservations: (808) 248-7799
Fax: (808) 878-3914
Email: Tours@MauiStables.com |
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