It’s most fitting that Donald Ikeda spends hour upon hour making jams, jellies and syrups. He’s a kind, generous, thoughtful man, everything one thinks of when pondering the definition of “sweet.” He’s unassuming and humble but also practical, his gentle wit a little dash of spice to go with his sweetness — just like his mango chutney.

For the past five years, Ikeda’s labors of love have had a perennial presence at Moiliili Community Center, where they help raise funds for the nonprofit organization. J&D Culinary Arts Shoppe preserves grace the shelves at the center’s thrift store year-round and take their place among other homemade boutique items at its annual fundraising event, Ignite the Aloha Spirit, which this year takes place on May 7. That totals some 650 jars sold annually.

And all of it is donated by Ikeda, who just turned 80.

Ikeda’s track record for raising funds with jelly goes back decades. He’s been donating his preserves to Nuuanu Congregational Church for 35 years and also helps out Makiki Christian Church and St. Ann’s Catholic Church.

“Sometimes people call; with others it’s understood I’ll do it,” says the Kaimuki resident. “I’m not a devoted Christian, but I think they do good work so I’m happy to help them.”

Making preserves requires effort and dedication on various levels.

First, there’s finding the fruit. Ikeda receives fresh fruit from friends and family and grows some of his own. He uses mangoes, guava, lilikoi, pineapple and calamandon. If there’s a bumper mango crop, he’s all over the mango chutney, his most popular item, and pineapple mango jam. Lilikoi jelly is another favorite. Ikeda also makes lilikoi syrup and calamandon, strawberry guava and guava ginger jams.

“A lot of times I get the fruit while it’s in season, and then I freeze it,” Ikeda says. “When I have lots of mangoes, I have them stored in five different places — I have two refrigerators, one freezer, and then my friends and relatives let me use their freezers.

“Moiliili’s fundraiser is in the spring. Nuuanu’s is in the fall and Makiki Christian’s is early fall, so I gotta have stuff stocked away. Mango season is May to July, and that’s it.”

Then there’s preparing the fruit, a lengthy proc­ess of washing, cutting, blending, boiling and straining.

For his chutney, Ikeda uses Chinese or common mango, cooked 1 to 2 hours with vinegar, sugar, onions, orange rind, slivered almonds, raisins and hot peppers.

Mangoes have natural pectin, a gelling agent, but guava and lilikoi do not and require pectin in the jam recipes.

Lilikoi and boiled guava are each  blended, then passed through a chinois. In cooking the jam, sequence is important, Ikeda says. He cooks the pectin and fruit together, bringing the mixture to a rolling boil, and waits for it to start foaming. Then he lowers the heat and cooks it for 1 minute. Next, he adds sugar and repeats the process.

“Many instructions talk about the roaring boil, but the signal for me is the foaming,” he says.

Equally important to proc­ess­ing and cooking is sterilizing empty jars and vacuum-sealing filled ones.

Ikeda’s medical career (he retired as a radiologist 15 years ago) informs his impeccable standards.

For sterilization he boils not only the bottles and lids for 20 minutes, but also the tongs he uses to grab the hot jars and the ladles and funnels he uses to fill the bottles with cooked preserves. 

His attention to vacuum-sealing is just as thorough. Ikeda seals his jars in a water bath, a proc­ess that’s more than 99 percent effective.

“You hear ‘pop, pop, pop’ when the jars are sealing,” he says.

A successfully sealed jar makes a high-pitched tinkling ring when you flick the lid with your fingernail, he says. A lid sealed incorrectly sounds like a dull thud.

Ikeda got started in making preserves after a visit back home to Puu­nene on Maui, where his mother continued to live. She had a common mango tree.

“All that fruit was going to waste,” he recalls. “Then I found a recipe I liked for chutney in a Maui Ag cookbook.”

On subsequent visits to Maui, he noticed lilikoi in Iao Valley — “There are none anymore, though” — and figured he could use those, too.

“It all evolved as other items became available,” he says.

Over at the community center, Sandy Mae­shiro can’t rave enough about Ikeda.

“He’s so generous,” says the program director. “If we let him know we’re running low on jellies at the thrift shop, within a week he’ll drop off a new batch.

“People come in for cases of the stuff to take on trips to the mainland to give as gifts. Regulars come in before the holidays. One woman comes in weekly for the chutney. She puts it on EVERYTHING.”

Maeshiro says Ikeda’s donations help fund the center’s various senior and children’s programs.

But his volunteer work doesn’t end in the kitchen.

Ikeda also makes washi jewelry (which he also sells at the center’s fundraiser) and does tax returns for seniors and the needy. 

“I’m thinking I’m getting too old for this. But I’ve been blessed with pretty good health,” he says.

“Once I was talking to my lawyer, and he said his wife told him it’s not right to do something good because it makes you feel good. You just do it to do good. I want to do things to help others, and I think it’s important. But I don’t go as far as my lawyer’s wife.

“It does make me feel good.”