Mango Season in Waianae
By Candy Suiso
Editors note: This article was published in 2008. Since then, the Waianae market has moved to Waianae Comprehensive Health Center and is held every Saturday morning.
Every first and third Saturday this summer, Candy and Mark Suiso have set out boxes of mangoes at the Waianae Farmers’ Market.
Pirie, Rapoza, Gouveia, Momi K—the names fall on the ears of mango devotees like a melody of summer’s bursting promise.
Mark
and I are real workaholics in our regular jobs, and when summer comes
we put effort and energy into our mangoes as well. Just about every
day, before and after work, we’re picking, freezing or drying mangoes.
This is our first year at a farmers’ market. Now there’s a personal
touch: we meet people who enjoy the fruits of our labor. We get to see
how much they enjoy the mangoes. It’s given us a new burst of energy.
We need to cut back on our regular work!
The Waianae Farmer’s Market is young and small—it started in June with only a dozen vendors. Other farmers’ markets have a lot more produce, a lot more variety, but ours has the same kind of network that brings together the farm community and people who appreciate fresh local produce. We get tourists from Makaha Resort, vacationers who come to the Leeward Coast for the summer, and locals from Waianae and Kapolei. It’s a fun new energy to play with.
Mark always talks about how picking mangoes in the summer and sharing with your neighbors is one of the nice things about growing up in Hawaii. That’s not happening any more. People are cutting down the trees because they get too big or they don’t know how to take care of them. The other week five women from Kaimuki came specifically to buy Makaha mangoes. Now people are coming from Kailua and Waialua.
Even locals don’t realize how many kinds of mangoes there are. There’s more than just the Hayden. We tell them, this mango is really rich, this one melts in your mouth, this one is creamy, this one is sweet. People buy one or two, then two weeks later they come back and buy 10 or 15. I love it when they come back. To hear them say it was the best mango they ever tasted in their life makes us happy.
Other people have come for the Mapulehu, but we were out. Mapulehu comes early in season, in June and July. Toward the tail end of August, early September, we’ll have Gouveia, Keit and white Pirie. We might still have some Rapoza. Haydens, Pirie, Mapulehu are gone already.
Once mango season ends, we’ll sell our own Makaha Mango baked goods. That’s the plan. I’m working with Jennifer Sugahara, our culinary teacher at Waianae High School, which has a huge kitchen that’s in the process of being certified. Eventually we want to provide Jennifer with as much fresh mango as she wants to freeze, so that during the school year the kids can experiment with baked mango goods to sell at fund-raisers.
Down the road, our dream is to make Makaha Mango jellies, jams, T-shirts, towels, cards and stationery. And I have so many recipes I’ve perfected or added mango to, and some I created. One of my brothers likes trying different mango recipes, so we’ve experimented over the years with mango sauces, salsas, smoothies, margaritas and desserts.
These recipes are some of our best. I hope you’ll try them—but remember, mango season will end early this year. Get your mangoes now, and freeze some for later!
Candy Suiso is program director of Searider Productions, a multimedia company that grew out of the video classes she founded at Waianae High School in 1993. Mark Suiso is a financial planner at First Hawaiian Bank. Both hope to retire into a year-round Makaha Mangoes business.
The Waianae Farmer’s Market is young and small—it started in June with only a dozen vendors. Other farmers’ markets have a lot more produce, a lot more variety, but ours has the same kind of network that brings together the farm community and people who appreciate fresh local produce. We get tourists from Makaha Resort, vacationers who come to the Leeward Coast for the summer, and locals from Waianae and Kapolei. It’s a fun new energy to play with.
Mark always talks about how picking mangoes in the summer and sharing with your neighbors is one of the nice things about growing up in Hawaii. That’s not happening any more. People are cutting down the trees because they get too big or they don’t know how to take care of them. The other week five women from Kaimuki came specifically to buy Makaha mangoes. Now people are coming from Kailua and Waialua.
Even locals don’t realize how many kinds of mangoes there are. There’s more than just the Hayden. We tell them, this mango is really rich, this one melts in your mouth, this one is creamy, this one is sweet. People buy one or two, then two weeks later they come back and buy 10 or 15. I love it when they come back. To hear them say it was the best mango they ever tasted in their life makes us happy.
Other people have come for the Mapulehu, but we were out. Mapulehu comes early in season, in June and July. Toward the tail end of August, early September, we’ll have Gouveia, Keit and white Pirie. We might still have some Rapoza. Haydens, Pirie, Mapulehu are gone already.
Once mango season ends, we’ll sell our own Makaha Mango baked goods. That’s the plan. I’m working with Jennifer Sugahara, our culinary teacher at Waianae High School, which has a huge kitchen that’s in the process of being certified. Eventually we want to provide Jennifer with as much fresh mango as she wants to freeze, so that during the school year the kids can experiment with baked mango goods to sell at fund-raisers.
Down the road, our dream is to make Makaha Mango jellies, jams, T-shirts, towels, cards and stationery. And I have so many recipes I’ve perfected or added mango to, and some I created. One of my brothers likes trying different mango recipes, so we’ve experimented over the years with mango sauces, salsas, smoothies, margaritas and desserts.
These recipes are some of our best. I hope you’ll try them—but remember, mango season will end early this year. Get your mangoes now, and freeze some for later!
Candy Suiso is program director of Searider Productions, a multimedia company that grew out of the video classes she founded at Waianae High School in 1993. Mark Suiso is a financial planner at First Hawaiian Bank. Both hope to retire into a year-round Makaha Mangoes business.
Sweets
Makaha Mango Mochi
Sauces
Makaha Mango BBQ Sauce
Sauces
Makaha Mango Salsa
Sweets
Makaha Mango Scones
Breads, Sweets
Makaha Mango Bread
Comments from Readers
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Annette Kealoha-Park
Wow Candy & Mark, what a great website! I just tried Candy's Mango Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe for the first time....it's a winner! Everyone LOVES the cookies. I can't wait to try the other recipes....thanks for sharing :)
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