Several weeks ago June and I went to O‘ahu to see the new Foodland Farms store in Aina Haina.

Tony the Tiger was in the house. Kids ran up to get hugs.

It’s a beautiful store. We were so impressed that they put the local produce front and center! And that they had photos of local farmers all around.

A couple of months earlier, June and I had lunch with Jenai Walls, President of Foodland; Abel Porter, Foodland’s CEO, and Simon Cutts, who is the produce buyer. Jenai asked us if we had tried the Hamakua Tomato Salsa and we had to admit that we didn’t know there was such a thing. Foodland produces it in their corporate kitchens and distributes it through its stores statewide.

Containers of Hamakua Tomato salsa in the foreground. In the background, photo of me and Chef Alan Wong.

We had to try it. It is really good! Way better than any tomato salsa I have ever had; I think because it is fresh, and made from vine-ripened tomatoes.

June with our friend, Jon Kawamura from Armstrong Produce. We enjoyed his company

We decided to demo the Hamakua Tomato Salsa with Tostido Scoops to demonstrate our tomatoes, and it went over really well. Many people bought the Hamakua Salsa as well as the fresh Hamakua Springs tomatoes.

The display was full of our beef tomatoes as well as our award winning cocktail tomatoes

A group of seven firefighters came by and tried the salsa. We all know that firefighters are all gourmet cooks, and we were happy to see one of the firefighters pick up a container.

For us, that was the ultimate validation of Hamakua Tomato Salsa.