Versatile lilikoi in the spotlight at inaugural festival

Sandi Alstrand’s introduction to lilikoi was love at first bite.

Before she and her husband moved to Hawaii island from the San Francisco Bay Area in 2002, they vacationed there for two weeks to confirm they wanted to make that big of a lifestyle change. Her husband’s aunt and cousin, who were living on the island, took them to the Hilo Farmers Market and pointed out the bright yellow fruit.

"We bought a few, and Aunt Mabel cut one open," Alstrand recalled. "I was reluctant to try it because it looked slimy and it was filled with black seeds. But I was curious and it had a wonderful aroma, so I scooped up a little with a spoon and put it in my mouth. My first thought was I had never tasted anything so delicious in my life! I was immediately hooked!"

IF YOU GO… LILIKOI FESTIVAL >> Where: Hawaiian Paradise Park Activity Center, 15-1570 Makuu Drive, Keaau, Hawaii island >> Date: Nov. 2 >> Time: 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. >> Cost: Free. Scrip will be sold for purchases of food and participation in some of the children’s games. Among the other items for sale will be jewelry, lilikoi plants and “The Lilikoilicious Cookbook: 107 Ways to Add Passion to Your Life,” an additional fundraiser for the Center for Spiritual Living. The $20 book can also be ordered online at the center’s website, www.hawaiicsl.org. >> Phone: 808-965-1866 >> Email: lilikoifestival@gmail.com >> Website: www.lilikoifestival.com >> Notes: The weather is unpredictable in Keaau, so bring a jacket and umbrella. FESTIVAL BENEFICIARIES Rainbow Friends Animal Sanctuary: Founded in 2001 on 7 1/2 acres near Kurtistown, the agency arranges adoptions for abandoned and stray cats and dogs, and a permanent home for all animals that aren’t adopted; www.rainbowfriends.org. Hawaii Congregation of the Center for Spiritual Living: Organized in 1986 around the spiritual philosophy Science of Mind. Located in Keaau, the center holds services at 10 a.m. Sundays; hawaiicsl.org.

Since then, Alstrand has enjoyed lilikoi in numerous forms — from jams to pastries to margaritas. Lilikoi vines fringe her backyard in Pahoa, about 18 miles south of Hilo, and she has enjoyed experimenting with it.

"I’ve used lilikoi in cookies, iced tea and tabouli," Alstrand said. "You can substitute it for lemon in virtually any recipe."

In May 2012, Alstrand’s friend, Darla DeVille, approached her about putting on a lilikoi festival. Alstrand agreed to coordinate it.

Both women are longtime supporters of the Rainbow Friends Animal Sanctuary, and Alstrand is also an active member of the Center for Spiritual Living.

"When I asked the leaders of those two nonprofit organizations if they’d be interested in helping with the planning and being the beneficiaries of a lilikoi festival, they were really excited about it," Alstrand said. "In July 2012, we formed a committee, thinking we could do the festival that year, but we soon realized we needed more time. We brainstormed until January of this year, then started working on it in earnest."

Highlights of the inaugural Lilikoi Festival include cooking demonstrations, children’s activities, live music, food and craft booths, and a presentation on the fruit by Hilo resident Nick Sakovich, a retired professor from the University of California Cooperative Extension who writes "The Garden Guy," a weekly column in the Hawaii Tribune-Herald.

Alstrand is especially excited about the festival’s recipe contest. The deadline to enter is Oct. 28; find registration information at www.lilikoifestival.com.

"Lilikoi is so versatile, it will be fun to see what delicious recipes people come up with," Alstrand said. "The Lilikoi Festival will be an opportunity for visitors and kamaaina to learn about lilikoi and see it being used in ways they might not have envisioned before. Lilikoi pizza, anyone?"

ABOUT THE FRUIT

The tart, aromatic lilikoi is popular in Hawaii as an ingredient in sauces, dressings, jellies, desserts, beverages and more. At maturity, it is round or oval and yellow (Passiflora edulis f. flavicarpa) or dark purple (Passiflora edulis), with a pulpy interior filled with small, edible seeds.

Native to Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina, lilikoi received its common name — passion fruit — from Christian missionaries proselytizing there in the 19th century. They regarded the fruit’s showy flower as a symbol of the Passion of the Christ, with its 10 sepals and petals representing the disciples and the corona, the crown of thorns.

Travelers from Australia brought the purple passion fruit to Hawaii in 1880. It thrived in Lilikoi Valley in East Maui’s Haiku district, which is how the fruit got its Hawaiian name.

Yellow passion fruit, a mutant of the purple variety, arrived in Hawaii in 1923, also via Australia. The University of Hawaii’s Hawaii Agricultural Experiment Station deemed lilikoi a promising crop, and by 1958, primarily yellow lilikoi was growing on 1,200 acres throughout the islands.

Although it didn’t pan out as a commercial product, lilikoi flourishes today in forests and backyards. It is in season from June through January.

———

Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi is a Honolulu-based freelance writer whose travel features for the Star-Advertiser have won several Society of American Travel Writers awards.