Category Archives: Lettuce

Company News, Lettuce

At The Mall

At the Ag Expo this past Saturday, at Hilo’s Prince Kuhio Plaza, one of the things we demonstrated was our “living lettuce.”

june-and-tracy

Richard’s wife June and their daughter Tracy set out a head of our lettuce, which we distribute with some of the roots still attached, in a “Hawaii Seal of Quality” mug filled with water—to show how you can keep Hamakua Springs lettuce fresher, for longer.

Here’s Richard with the lettuce.

richard-with-lettuce

It sat there from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Tracy says it looked great. “The lettuce stayed nice and perky the whole time we were there,” she says. Feel free to try this at home.

We also rolled out our new slogan: “Hydroponic: Clean and Green.” What do you think? We want to educate the public about the positives of growing food hydroponically, the way we grow everything at Hamakua Springs (except the bananas, of course).

If this is new to you, you can read more about the Clean and Green—such as why hydroponics is such a healthy choice (growing without soil means less need for chemicals and pesticides, as well as lower energy use because we don’t have to till the ground, etc.)—at our website.

We also sold our vegetables at the Ag Expo this year. While introducing people to our new products, we managed to move about 65 pounds of cucumbers, five cases of tomatoes (beefsteak, cocktail, mini Roma and heirlooms) and six cases of lettuce.

Have YOU tried Hamakua Springs? We’re at your supermarket (if you live here in the land of aloha, that is).

Ag Expo

If you don’t live here in the land of aloha—why not? Where do you live? Tell us something about it. Or tell us what your favorite Hamakua Springs product is. We’d love to hear from you.

Alan Wong, Company News, Lettuce

Living Lettuce

Richard Ha writes:

Our newest product here at Hamakua Springs Country Farms—our Chef’s Select baby lettuce, which we grow hydroponically under a rain shelter—breathes.

baby-lettuce

That’s why we call our new product “living lettuce”—because we leave some of the roots on when we send it out to the stores. This means the lettuce can take up water and oxygen, and gives it a longer shelf life. It also means one can actually keep it fresh on a kitchen counter for awhile, in a bowl of fresh water, provided some of the roots remain above the water so it can take in oxygen.

We developed the “Chef’s Select baby lettuce” product after learning about the finer points of lettuce from Chef Alan Wong, who provides much appreciated help and advice when we are developing new products.

We held a product development meeting at Chef Alan’s King Street Restaurant and I watched him evaluate several different varieties of lettuce. He removed each leaf, giving a running commentary of how each lettuce leaf could be used for salads, garnish and in other ways, depending on its size, texture, color.

Living Lettuce
I had no idea that lettuce was ever so closely scrutinized. He talked of loft, which is when a lettuce has characteristics enabling it to retain its shape and not go flat under the weight of different protein offerings as well as dressings. He said that he could use baby leaves as the baby lettuce leaves would be tender and retain their identifying shape in salads and garnishes.

That’s what led us to develop what we call Chef’s Select baby lettuce, a combination of three lettuces in each container. We chose a mini romaine for its crunchy texture, dark green color, loft and good taste. A butter lettuce is included for its light green color, buttery taste and round shaped leaves, and a lollo rosa is a part of the mix for its brilliant red color, frilly leaves and because its taste complements the other two.

If you try some of our new Chef’s Select baby lettuce you’ll know you are getting a lettuce with the characteristics that Hawai‘i’s finest chefs seek out.