Barbara Santos - The Maui Onion Cookbook

Copyright 1996 by Barbara Santos. All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form,
except for brief review, without the express permission of
the publisher. For further information, you may write to: C ELESTIAL A RTS P UBLISHING
P.O. Box 7123
Berkeley, California 94707 Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 96-83235 eISBN: 978-0-307-81585-9 v3.1 For me, its hard to beat the aroma of onion cooking gently in a little olive oil. Onion provided the soul of Dads stew, Moms salads, Grandmas soup, and Aunties spaghetti sauce. But my favorite onion dish of all back then was a slice of crisp raw onion, sprinkled with salt and pepper, between two pieces of white Wonder Bread.

We regularly ran out of eggs or milk, but we always had an onion or two left in the net bag in the back of the pantry.Somewhere along the way, the too-obliging onion became boring. Worse yet, it was socially unacceptable to risk onion breath on a date. hold the onion, please. Then I grew up, moved to Maui, and found an onion I could love Transcending the lowly reputation of the typical onion, the sweet Maui onion is developing a fan club of onion aficionados. Local food festivals now feature the famous rotund root. It is happily sliced and diced by top chefs who know its subtle character so well.

Honored for its sheer beauty and size in agricultural shows, it even has its own event each August at Whalers Village in KaanapaliThe Maui Onion Festival. Meanwhile, cooking contests have inspired hundreds of wonderful recipes over the past few years. The Totally Maui Onion Cookbook features the best recipes from the finest chefs competing at the most popular food festivals on the island. Most of these recipes call for cooked onion but, remember, the Maui onion is wonderful raw and naked. In fact, that is the best way to appreciate its distinct flavor. The Kula Maui onion is being marketed as the sweetest onion of alland sweet it is! But the gentle nature of a good Maui onion is the real hook.

If you loved raw onions in your youth but cant take the gastro-intestinal repercussions any longer, the Maui onion can offer that aromatic crunch without the odorous backlash. Loyal food enthusiasts will search out the extraordinary onion that grows only on the slopes of the dormant volcano, Haleakala. Once impossibly rare and costly, Maui onions are now available almost year-round at reasonable prices. Visitors are able to take home as many Maui onions as they can stuff into their luggagejust as long as the onion is declared and goes through the agricultural inspection at the airport with the rest of the souvenirs. The Maui onion is a sweet mystery. What makes it such a mild and well-mannered vegetable? No one really knows for sure.

But here are some theories: SunshinePeople tend to think of Maui as a paradise of long sunny days. Wrong! Hawaiian days are surprisingly short when compared to the twilight until 9 p.m. summer days on the Mainland. Hawaii is closer to the equator so Maui days are about 12 hours long year-round. Upcountry Maui also has a natural cloud cover that tempers the blazing sun. AltitudeThe sweetest onions grown in Hawaii are planted on the slopes of Haleakala at 3,500 feet above the Pacific in an area called Kula, Maui. AltitudeThe sweetest onions grown in Hawaii are planted on the slopes of Haleakala at 3,500 feet above the Pacific in an area called Kula, Maui.

Temperatures hover here between 60 to 70 degrees F. Research done on Maui pineapples shows they can mature in about a year at sea level, but those grown up near Kula take 18 months to ripen. So, why do they still plant pineapple up the hill? It is the best and sweetest pineapple grown anywhere. Could there be a pineapple/onion correlation? Rich, Red EarthThe volcanic soil may be yet another piece of the Maui onion puzzle. Its full of minerals, but Mauians know there is more to the earth, or aina, than can be measured scientifically. Total Maui farm acreage devoted to onions is less than a single mega-farm anywhere on the Mainland! Still, nearly 900 tons are grown in Maui County and much of it is being exported.

Obviously, local farmers are experts at maximizing the yield while maintaining the land they cultivate. Since 1993 the farmers and wholesalers (on Maui they are one and the same; The Maui Farmers Cooperative Exchange) have produced an ample and steady supply of Maui onion, certainly enough for exporting on a regular basis. Since its reputation has won many loyal customers, farmers are devoting even more acreage as the demand steadily increases. Watch for even wider availability and lower prices as huge tracts of abandoned sugar cane land becomes available. Distribution is under control now, as well. The Maui Produce Exchange in Pleasant Hills, California acts as the bulk distributor of the Maui onion.

The recipes in this book were created using Maui Kula Sweet onion which is the sweetest of the sweet. Vidalia, Walla Walla, or any sweet type of onion will give similar results. If you are using a more pungent variety, a speck of sugar added to most dishes will give the sweet taste that the Maui onion would have naturally provided. Dont be shy about allowing regional varieties of onion to impart their own essential quality to these recipes. But check your grocery store. Maui onion is probably available.

No need to wait until your next trip to Maui. Aloha

This salsa is ready to serve in minutes. We eat lots of it with corn chips after a day at the beach while the Maui burgers are grilling. 1 (14 -ounce) can stewed tomatoes, drained, reserve the liquid 1 small Maui onion, quartered 1 small bunch fresh cilantro, leaves only 1 tablespoon Tiger Sauce or substitute 2 teaspoons sugar 1 teaspoons Tabasco 1 package Portuguese sweet rolls or similar bread Put all ingredients, except reserved liquid, into food processor bowl. Pulse until onion is chopped into small bits. Pour equal amounts into two bowls. Hint: For both a mild and spicy version from one batch, put all the reserved liquid into just one bowl of salsa. Hint: For both a mild and spicy version from one batch, put all the reserved liquid into just one bowl of salsa.

This will be the mild version. Label bowls. Makes about 1 quart

Chef Martina Hilldorfer prepares the menu for the exquisite Sound of the Falls restaurant at the Westin Maui. Although it looks elegant when prepared, this recipe is surprisingly easy. 8 rice paper wrappers 8 jumbo shrimp, cooked 8 opal basil leaves lime, juiced 1 carrot, julienned 8 lettuce leaves 1 small Maui onion, sliced 2 green onions, julienned 8 pieces fresh mint 2 ounces daikon sprouts or alfalfa sprouts dipping sauce (recipe follows) Soak rice paper in water until transparent. Divide ingredients equally onto each rice paper, keeping the fillings near the center. (Slice shrimp lengthwise, if desired.) Roll each rice paper like a burrito.