Wild Foods Road to Hana – Eat Local Maui Challenge

Want to learn about edible invasive species along the Road to Hana?

Did you know inkberry (Ardisia elliptica) is edible?

How about false awa (Piper auritum), with its edible flowers and leaves?

What about the berries of Koster’s curse (Clidemia hirta)?

Costus (Costus woodsonii) flowers?

Honohono grass (Commelina diffusa)?

Yellow butterfly ginger (Hedychium flavescens) flowers, flower buds, and rhizomes?

Get a visual on identifying these abundance species, then see how I process some of them up in my kitchen once I get home. Like fermenting the false awa flowers into a bubbly drink, infusing the yellow butterfly ginger flowers into coconut milk, and making juice with the inkberries.

This is Day 21 of eating 100% foods grown, raised, foraged, or hunted in the Hawaiian Islands. It’s been a delicious journey you can follow on my previous blog posts and the Eat Local Maui Challenge with Project Locavore.

False awa (Piper auritum) flowers are mixed with honey and water to make a naturally carbonated fizzy soda through the wild yeasts they contain. See video above for recipe and instructions.

Inkberry (Ardisia elliptica) is an edible invasive species – abundance species – found on the windward side of Maui. Inkberry (Ardisia elliptica) is just beginning to peak, go get ’em!

#eatlocalmaui2020 #projectlocavore