Rebekah’s Kaʻaʻawa Mountain Apple Pie

My mountain apple pies

Okay, okay, here’s the recipe. Jeez. I must say, it’s too good to not share. When there was a mountain apple tree outside the studio — Hawaiians call the fruit ʻōhiʻa ʻai (Eugenia malaccensis) — I made these pies every summer, one after another, so many that I froze them to eat later.

One year I was too late, and I could only watch the bulbul birds eat the entire crop in 20 minutes. “Hey fellas, come on over: breakfast!” Another year afterwards, the fruit was just not edible anymore. I think the tree was just old, so we cut it down.

This past Friday, I went to Candy’s house to catch a ride to our art show reception at 1132 Bishop Street in Honolulu. But first she pressed me into service to help pick the mountain apples from her tree for the refreshment table.

Oh, my gosh, I have never seen more beautiful mountain apples!  Candy and her husband had found from a garden shop a solution that repelled the pesky fruit flies that love to sting the fruit (causing the fruit to become wormy. Yecch!)

Clearly, Candy and Ken have a harvest they cannot possibly eat by themselves alone, and I was overjoyed when they offered me the surplus. Thinking about our family potluck gathering the next day, I thought, I’ll make pie!

This recipe has already been published in Everyone, Eat Slowly: The Chong Family Food Book (Kaaawa: Chong Hee Books, 1999). I adapted it from a formula a chef at the Kahala Hilton gave me many years ago when I worked for Sunset. For my recipe, the Betty Crocker brand mix is a must. Yesterday I used 15 very large mountain apples for one 9″ pie. I substituted 3 tablespoons fresh calamansi juice for the lemon juice, and I brushed the top with half-and-half cream for a golden brown finish.

Gorgeous mountain apples, freshly picked and washed. The foreground shows the apples pitted, trimmed, and cut into chunks with a paring knife.

REBEKAH’S KAʻAʻAWA MOUNTAIN APPLE PIE

In Kaʻaʻawa the season for ʻōhiʻa-ʻai (mountain apples) is in June, usually, and it last for about two weeks. The challenge is to harvest them before the birds do. And then, what do you do with them? There are only so many fresh mountain apples one can eat. Now you can try them in a pie! The flavor is a cross between apple and rhubarb.

Betty Crocker Pie Crust Mix

5 cups sliced fresh mountain apples

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

3/4 cup sugar

3 tablespoons butter, cut up in pieces

Juice of 1 lemon, or equivalent in lime juice

3 tablespoons tapioca OR 1/4 cup flour

Prepare Betty Crocker Pie Crust Mix for a double-crusted pie.

Combine the mountain apples, salt, cinnamon, sugar, butter, and lemon juice. Cook until the mountain apples are half done, about 10 minutes in the microwave on full power. Remove from heat.

Gradually stir in tapioca or flour. Cool mixture. (Place the mixture in its container in the freezer to cool down fast; be careful not to freeze). Pour into unbaked pie shell. Cut a vent in the top crust and place over pie. Seal the top crust to the bottom crust.

Bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 45 minutes. Remove from oven and cool before slicing. The filling sets as it cools.

Rebekah Luke

Ready to bake. I decided to make a pretty lattice top like the picture on the box of the Betty Crocker Pie Crust Mix.

Copyright 2011 Rebekah Luke

Calamansi marmalade

Calamansi tree with ripe fruit

Calamansi tree

flowering and bearing both.

Let’s make marmalade!

My father’s former caregivers grow a calamansi tree outside their back porch in Kahuku, Oahu, and they use the juice of this fruit in their Filipino cooking to season meats, fish, and noodles.

I was so happy to learn about it, I planted a tree of our own several years ago in the garden where it gets full sun and good drainage. Growing food is so satisfying!

The botanical name is Citrofortunella microcarpa, sort of a cross between a kumquat and a mandarin orange, and it is native to the Philippines, according to my reading. The average diameter is slightly bigger than a quarter dollar. The flesh is tart, and the skin is sweet and thin.

Calamansi is believed to be a hybrid of a kumquat and a mandarin orange.

You can use it in cocktails in place of lime or lemon, and as the acid in a vinaigrette dressing. Yet, there are only so many cocktails one can drink and only so many salads one can dress.

When our tree starts bearing and the fruit begins to ripen, I make calamansi marmalade in the microwave, one small batch at a time.

I like marmalade with a lot of bitter peel, and I can’t always find it in the market. Calamansi preserves has the right amount of that flavor for me. It’s wonderful on toasted English muffins or on pancakes.

Here is my easy recipe, basically one part fruit to one part sugar. How sad that sugar is bad for our health. Calamansi marmalade is so delicious!

1 cup sugar + 1 cup calamansi

CALAMANSI MARMALADE

Have ready a clean glass jelly jar and lid. Either run them through the dishwasher or under hottest tap water and allow to drip dry. Wash and scrub 1 cup of whole ripe calamansi fruit with orange skin. Cut each fruit into fourths and remove seeds with the tip of the knife. Combine with 1 cup granulated sugar in a 4-quart glass measuring cup or similar microwave-safe container. Cover loosely with plastic wrap to catch splatters, leaving a vent so it won’t boil over into a mess. Place container in a larger dish to collect any syrup that does boil over. Cook in the microwave on full power for 7 to 10 minutes, stirring half way through to blend, until the calamansi appears cooked and shriveled, and until the mixture thickens but is still liquid. The mixture will be very hot. Using hot pads, carefully pour into the jelly jar. Put on the lid securely and refrigerate. As the marmalade cools, it will further thicken and gel into jelly and cause the lid to seal tightly. Keep stored in the refrigerator. Makes 1 cup.

Beautiful homemade marmalade!

Copyright 2011 Rebekah Luke

August means avocado

Luscious avocados

Hi Everybody,

Our 2010 avocado season is one of the better. These luscious gems are overhanging the healing space near the studio right now.

It’s an awesome sight to me. I can just reach up and pluck them to eat, in about 7-10 days. They will be so yummy. This year there are twice as many than years past.

Who knows why, but I’m not complaining. Is the big old rusting anchor next to the tree finally providing enough iron? Or ditto the VW bug left there by DH 20 odd years ago? Did my cleaning out the heliconia patch allow it to breathe more? Or did the March winds blow off fewer flowers? Perhaps the tree liked the fertilizer left by the chickens and the peacocks.

My neighbors have beaucoup limes on their tree, so likely we will trade and make guacamole. But most of the time I prefer eating avocados with a spoon plain, in their own natural bowl, all the way to skin, with just a little salt and pepper.

Prayerfully in gratitude we await

Copyright 2010 Rebekah Luke

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Avos and cocos October 11, 2009

Gratitude for my abundant garden September 8, 2009

Avos and cocos

Morning light bathes tree

of avos sunny yellow

against blue-gray sky.

Like miniature

candied eggs hanging from tree

our avocados.

Through second-story

window kukui and avo

part for coco trees.

Fuzzy lollipops

wave in the gusty trade winds

two coconut palms.

As long as the tree

avocado grows and grows

birds will have a home.

Avocado Pear

I offer a haiku and a painting to honor and thank the avocado tree.

This year it produced 15-20 fruit, judging by the number of sprouting seeds on the kitchen counter. That’s a bumper crop. Usually we  gather just six, but each weighs three pounds. They’re super good, and I try to reserve a couple for the previous homeowner, Linda, who was a good steward of the aina (land) and planted the tree.

The season is over, and we’re enjoying the last of the fresh guacamole.

If you would like a little avocado tree from ours to plant in your garden, and you live in Hawaii, let me know.

Copyright 2009 Rebekah Luke

“Avos and Cocos” is from my book From My Window Seat: Views and Song. —RL

Gratitude for my abundant garden

You can tell how healthy people are by looking at their gardens. Not just their physical health, but their mental, spiritual, and emotional health too. If they’re flourishing, maikai (good)! If they are weedy, drying, or less neat, then perhaps something is out of balance.*  Whenever I pay attention to my garden and take care of the aina (land), my family is rewarded with an abundance of food and beauty. Tending my garden is a way I meditate.

My family is committed to growing some food, eating healthier, and living well. This year we invested in good soil mix, planter boxes, bird netting, a worm farm, and natural slug repellent. The late summer months into September have yielded a small but satisfying crop by the studio. We were blessed with Manoa lettuce, bok choy, long squash, sweet potato, papaya, mango, avocado, noni, basil, garlic chives, rosemary, olena (turmeric), calamondin, mint, dill and cilantro.

Avocado

Bok Choy

Eggplant

Hayden Mango

He'e (Octopus)

To Native Hawaiians, the aina includes the sea. One recent morning while walking along Kaaawa beach, I saw this bounty of freshly caught octopus hanging out to dry. Wow!

Mahalo e ke Akua!

Copyright 2009 Rebekah Luke

* Reiki can be a powerful way to bring things back into balance. Click on REIKI HEALING BY OELEN on the menu bar for more information.

Milestones to celebrate

I turned 60 this year and must say I like it up here! Today darling husband and I complete 25 years of marital success. We welcomed our first grandchild, a girl, in May. What fascination! My puppy dog whose job is to give everyone joy turned 6 and technically she’s not a puppy anymore, so it’s probably okay that she’s upstaged by the baby. The raised garden beds were put in at last and yielded wholesome food. The eggplant, Manoa lettuce, and bok choy did great. A section of our home was dedicated and transformed into a wonderful healing space. We had a proper Hawaiian blessing for the entire property, and I resumed my Reiki practice. Equally satisfying has been my return to painting. When I remember to be mindful of the present, keep my intentions correct, and relax, I am shown that life is abundant and all is well.

Thanks to Alice Brown, Pete & Ayla