2012 Breadfruit Festival Goes Bananas - 'Ulu (Breadfruit) Gnocchi with Hamakua Mushroom Ragout

 

The 2nd Annual Breadfruit Fest held on Saturday, September 29th at the Amy B. H. Greenwell Ethnobotanical Gardens in Captain Cook on the Big Island of Hawai'i showed that breadfruit can be a versatile source of food.

Photo:  Assorted varieties of breadfruit in different stages of ripeness.

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Breadfruit has been feeding Pacific Islanders for milennia and although at one time it was found growing in prolific forests in Hawai'i and can be boiled, steamed, fried, mashed and made into flour, through the years it lost popularity to the introduced potatoes and yams.

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The resurgence of this valued crop can be the answer to food scarcity in the future. Although our islands can grow almost anything that grows anywhere else in the world, our dependence on imports runs at between 80 to 95% depending on the sources checked.

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Breadfruit is so versatile that it could fill a major gap in our islands' food supplies.  At each the three different festival we have held to date (*) hundreds of little breadfruit trees have been sold, giving hope that eventually the trees will be again found throughout the areas where it grows to best advantage.

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Who says breadfruit can't go "international" or "gourmet"?  Look at one of the winning recipes below.

 

Second Place Winner in the Entrée Category garnered enough judge points in healthy ingredients to also win the Healthiest Choice Award.

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Entry by Gwen Edwards of Kailua-Kona

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'Ulu (Breadfruit) Gnocchi with Hamakua Mushroom Ragout
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Breadfruit Festival Goes Bananas is a project of Ho'oulu ka 'Ulu and is presented by Hawai'i Homegrown Food Network, the Breadfruit Institute of the National Tropical Botanical Garden and Amy B. H. Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden. The Breadfruit Festival Goes Bananas is sponsored by the Hawai‘i Tourism Authority’s K?kulu Ola—Living Hawaiian Culture Program administered by the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement, Kamehameha Schools, Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Hawai'i Community Foundation—Doc Buyers Fund, Kamehameha Investment Corporation, Ke Ola Magazine, Ho‘oulu L?hui, Kua O Ka L? Public Charter School, West Hawai‘i Community College Culinary Arts Program, and Big Island Resource Conservation and Development.

For more information, please visit www.breadfruit.info.


Original article