| Natural History
MACADAMIA NUT, MAKEKOMIA
(Macadamia integrifolia)
 One of the world's finest nutmeats, macadamia is indigenous to the northeastern Australia rain forests of Queensland and northern New South Wales. It is named for John Macadam, the Australian chemist. (Yes, he was the same guy who developed the modern macadam for roadways.)
The macadamia nut tree came to Hawaii in 1882 when William Purvis brought seeds from Australia and eventually planted seedling trees at Kukuihaele above Waipi'o Valley on the Big Island. (One of those trees is 100 years old, still alive, and bearing.)
In 1890 E. W. Jordan planted macadamia in Nu'uanu. Shortly afterwards he planted 2,000 more trees on Tantalus. Other trees were planted in Kona, on Kauai and on Maui. In 1918, the macadamia industry in Hawaii began when Pierre Naquin, manager of Honoka'a Sugar Company used seed from the Purvis trees to develop and plant 18,000 macadamia seedlings on Honoka'a land. At first nuts were husked with a makeshift device utilizing a car's rear wheel. Later modified pecan-cracking devises were used.
The macadamia is actually a member of the protea and silky oak family (Proteaceae). It is a beautiful tree with long clusters of tiny, creamy white flowers and holly-like, lustrous green, spiny leaves. The tree can reach from 35 to 60 feet with a spread of up to 40 feet. While it is upright in growth, the tree can be made to spread by proper pruning during its first year.
The trees grow in wet or dry areas and they are wind-resistant, but they do prefer cooler climates and rich soil. They must have well-drained soil to grow well and the seeds germinate easily. However, the resultant seedling trees vary considerably so it is better to have good, grafted varieties for the best results. Grafted trees bear in three or four years, but seedling trees take at least seven years.
The fruit has a green, fleshy husk that splits open when the nuts are ripe. Inside is a hard-shelled, round seed enclosing a delectable kernel, the macadamia nut. There are both rough- and smooth-shelled types but the smooth-shelled macadamia is the one in production in Hawaii. Usually the nuts take six to seven months to mature.
Macadamia trees produce nuts for 65 years or longer. They reach full production at 14 years. In Hawaii, typical yields are 100 to 107 pounds of nuts per trees. The yield per tree increases yearly, with trees bearing as much as 150 pounds per year. Experts say it takes 10 to 12 years to recapture the original costs of starting a commercial orchard, which may partially explain the expensive price of macadamia nuts.
 The nut crop in Hawaii can ripen in both autumn and spring or throughout the year. When the nuts are ripe, they fall to the ground. Their shells are extremely hard to crack. It has been found that it takes 300 pounds per square inch of pressure to break the shell. (Funny, as kids, we always just positioned the nuts on a bit of concrete that had a nut-sized dip in it that just fit the nut and whaled at each one with a dense rock. If you caught the nut just right, you could break the shell neatly in half with one blow without damaging the nut. It took practice...but, then, there were a lot of nuts.)
The nuts are a great dessert nut and are especially desirable for candy-making.
Macadamia nut oil is valuable as a cholesterol-free vegetable oil. The uniquely nutty richly flavored oil has 120 calories per tablespoon and is 80 percent monounsaturated. Its high smoke point makes it desirable for use in stir-frying and it does not lose flavor at a high temperature. Macadamia nut oil is also used extensively as a moisturizer in natural cosmetics and soaps.
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| Arts & Culture
DREAM CITY
On July 25, 1950, Masaru Omuri carried his wife Evelyn over the threshold of their new home. It made the headlines in the local paper. The Omuris were the first of many residents to move into the "new Kahului." They were followed, over the next 30 years, by more than 3,200 families who bought house and lot packages in the 14 "increments" that expanded the tiny old port town of Kahului and turned it into the island's population and business center.
 The hoopla began in 1948, with the announcement over KMVI radio by Hawaiian Commercial and Sugar Company manager Asa Baldwin that a new city, a "dream city," would be built in Central Maui. The timing coincided with the closing of the plantation camps. The old paternal system of plantation-provided shelter for the immigrants who had come to work in the fields was gradually phased out. No longer would the companies provide the structure (and direction) for the lives of their workers.
The plantation workers strike in 1946 had made it clear that that they were not happy with the housing the plantation had provided for decades. It was all getting old and maintenance of the worker housing was getting more and more difficult and costly to the company. It was time for something new.
Two years after the strike, a bold new plan which had been put together by brothers Harry and Frank Baldwin was announced. They would build a model town according to a master plan put together by a Missouri city planning team, Harland Bartholomew and Associates, and, for the first time, ordinary laborers could actually buy homes of their own. The new master plan included places for businesses, schools, churches and parks and the workers and their unions cooperated to get government approval and support for the project. Harry had died in 1946, so the implementation of the goal fell to Frank and his son Asa.
As the development proceeded, the plantation villages were closed down, one by one, according to a definitive schedule that gave the workers and the workers unions ten years' advance notice. It was announced that the plantation planned to be out of the housing business within ten years of the start of the project, and February 1, 1963, was the date it was all supposed to shut down. It took a little longer than that, but the schedule was implemented pretty much as planned.
The planners expected that about 700 homes on 315 acres would be built during the first five years of a 25-year plan. By January 1949, 1,300 buyers had signed up for the homes. Many of these prospective buyers had waited in line all night before a sale day for the first opportunity. Dream City was an immediate success.
 The developers were clear that the project was not just for plantation employees. Herbert C. Jackson, the general manager of the newly formed Kahului Development Co., Ltd. (the predecessor of A&B Properties, Inc.), assured the community that "anyone could buy fee simple home sites and homes regardless of their business or trade, their affiliations, nationality and creed." The first homes were built along each side of Puunene Avenue on lots between 9,000 and 10,000 square feet.
The average price of these homes, as announced in July, 1949, was $7,250 each. For a down-payment of $725, residents could obtain a lot and three-bedroom house with a dining room. Mortgage payments were approximately $47 per month, including principal, interest, fire insurance and real property taxes. Applicants for the new homes could choose from among 17 different styles of houses, each a little over 1,000 square feet, with a garage and three bedrooms.
Concrete-block homes and the wide streets of the new dream replaced the tree-lined narrow roads and small wooden houses and overflowing gardens of the camps.
The development outpaced all of the planners' expectations. At its peak, it was reported, houses and lots were being sold every two minutes. In 1960, more than 950 people had signed up for lots in the sixth increment, 528 of them living in HC&S company housing. Frank Baldwin died that year, at the age of 81, even as his Dream City continued to grow -- An era had come to an end.
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 Local Grinds
Pupu-Style Spareribs
Ingredients:
5 lb spareribs
4 cloves garlic
1 large piece of ginger root, crushed
1 teaspoon salt
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1 cup sugar
1 cup soy sauce
1 cup catsup
1/3 cup oyster sauce |
Instructions:
Cut spareribs into 1 1/2 inch pieces. In a large saucepot, combine ribs, garlic, ginger, and salt. Add water to cover ribs, bring to a boil, lower heat, and simmer until ribs are tender, about 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Drain. Combine remaining ingredients and marinate ribs in sauce overnight in the refrigerator. Place ribs on rack of broiler pan and broil 3 inches from unit for 7-10 minutes, basting with remaining sauce. Turn and broil for 5-7 more minutes. Makes 15-20 servings.
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Harold Rice Park 
