Have you ever seen these before?
They are seed pods off Hawaii's kiawe trees (pronounced "kee-AH-vay"). As Alfred my bug man tells me, if you feed them to your beef cows, it will make the meat sweet. I'll have to take his word for that!
Kiawe trees were first brought to the Hawaiian islands in the 1820s. They are very drought resistant but will also grow in salty soil (even right next to the beach). The hillside above the Piilani Highway in Kihei is full of them. A week ago the hillside was completely brown, brown dirt, dry grass and dead-looking trees. Then we had a bit of rain, and within days you could see green leaves on the kiawe trees again (while everything else remains brown).
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| Looking past the Piilani up Haleakala. It's raining up the mountain, but very dry in Kihei |
Kiawe wood is often used for local barbecues, yes, that's the smell of huli huli chicken (they've been bbqing huli huli chicken at Kamaole Pointe on South Kihei Road the past two weekends!), or what you smell at Beach Bums Bar and Grill in Maalaea and the Monkey Pod Kitchen in Wailea.
As my brother-in-law can tell you, watch your bike tires if you go off-road biking near kiawe trees.... you WILL get a flat, or two.Labels: animals, Hawaiian food, Kihei, life on Maui
