Surfing Goat Dairy in Maui’s Upcountry

Posted on October 13, 2013 by alohajournal

When we discovered that there was a dairy on the island of Maui, I could hardly believe our good fortune. After all, my favorite food groups are the three Cs: chocolate, cabernet and cheese. So, after a morning of watching the sunrise at Haleakala National Park, and a tour of a lavender farm, we drove to the Surfing Goat Dairy in Upcountry Maui.

Surfing Goat Dairy produces and sells award-winning cheeses and offers visitors on Maui a variety of tours. The people we met were welcoming and seemed to truly love their jobs.

We took a casual tour, which for a fee of $10 included a personalized tour of the entire operation. We were able to see the goats, feed them, view the milking and cheese-making areas and taste a variety of the gourmet goat cheeses.

The first impression of this dairy is how well these animals are lovingly cared for. The dairy is Certified Humane Raised & Handled, which means that they don’t use any pesticides or herbicides and the goats have resting areas, shelter and sufficient space to engage in natural goat behaviors. They also name each goat in the herd after birth. Plus, as a bonus these goats get to live on Maui. German expatriates Thomas and Eva Kafsack own and operate the dairy. We learned that they moved to Maui more than a decade ago after leaving their previous professions. He led a software company and she taught high-school German in Germany. They brought with them the knowledge gained from visiting dairies throughout Germany, Austria and France.

The goats are milked twice a day, and then the milk is immediately pasteurized at a temperature designed to ensure that the vitamins are not harmed. It is then cooled down quickly for the cheese making. After adding organic cheese cultures and a vegetable rennet, they produce three types of cheeses: soft cheese, fresh chevre and quark, which is a European-style cheese also known as fromage blanc and has a consistency between yogurt and cream cheese.

The chevre cheeses were delicious and we found these cheeses frequently on the menus of many Maui restaurants. The list of hotel customers is impressive and includes the Ritz Carlton Kapalua and the Four Seasons in Wailea on Maui, the Four Seasons Resort Hualalai on the Big Island and a number of mainland hotels such as the Peninsula Beverly Hills and the Arizona Biltmore Hotel. The best surprise was a gourmet chevre called Men’s Challenge, which won a second place National Award in 2004 and would be a perfect substitute for horseradish for a holiday meal. The fruit quark was made with fresh organic fruits such as Kula strawberries, lilikoi and apple bananas. The aged Maui gourmet goat cheese comes in tempting flavors such as Napa Wrap (fresh chevre wrapped in grape leaves), MacGoatNut, Swedish Heart (caraway seeds in black cheese wax) and French Dream (herbes de Provence, in white wax). Their feta, plain and ripened five months in brine and olive oil, won a first place National Award in 2006.

Oh, and did I mention that they also make gourmet goat cheese truffles in flavors like toasted coconut, lychee, lilikoi, Hawaiian chili pepper and lavender?

From Kula, Surfing Goat Dairy is located 3.6 miles down Highway 37.

West Maui: The road past Kapalua

Posted on October 11, 2013 by alohajournal

Maui’s most famous drive may be the Road to Hana, but the drive along the top of West Maui on highway 30 heading north also has its share of sights to take your breath away. If you’re lucky, you will be in the passenger’s seat so that you are able to take a photo of the road ahead. It is narrow and curvy and you do see netting above to stop the rocks from falling, but if you take it slowly and enjoy the journey, it’s full of places to stop and admire, or even spend the day. These include Dragon’s Teeth, the unfortunately named Slaughterhouse Beach, Honolua Bay, Punalau Beach, the Nakalele Blowhole, the Olivine Pools, Kahakuloa Village and some of the best banana bread on the planet. Enjoy the view!

Mahalo

Posted on October 10, 2013 by alohajournal

Mahalo–thank you–for reading.

Aloha Journal is now on Facebook. Please give it a “like” to celebrate the Islands of Hawaii. Aloha.

Kauai’s Wailua Falls

Posted on October 8, 2013 by alohajournal

Hawaii’s waterfalls are magical and diverse. Many of them are hidden treasures, off the beaten path and not visible without a hike. On Kauai, the beautiful Wailua Falls were made famous in the opening of the television series Fantasy Island, which aired from 1978 to 1984.

Starring Ricardo Montalbán as Mr. Roarke and Hervé Villechaize as Tattoo, the opening of each episode would include Tattoo running up the bell tower to ring the bell and rejoice at the arrival of new guests to the mysterious Fantasy Island. “Da plane! Da plane!” Mr. Roarke would always be dressed in a white suit with dark tie, curiously awaiting the guests for each episode.

The best was when Tattoo started to arrive at the bell tower in his own Tattoo-sized go-kart. Not that I ever watched it or anything.

In real life these waterfalls are impressive, beautiful, everything a waterfall should be. They are located off Highway 56 to Highway 583 (Ma’alo Road). Follow it to the end of the road to the viewing area.

A motto for Mondays

Posted on October 7, 2013 by alohajournal

Be prepared. You never know what the week might bring, especially if you are lucky enough to be in beautiful Hawaii. Aloha.

Fall colors in Maui?

Posted on October 6, 2013 by alohajournal

Autumn, with its spectacular fall colors in the Midwest, is my favorite season. But I don’t particularly care for what comes next. Okay, I could handle some snow and cold for about a month, but after late December, it could all go away and I would be pleased with the return of crocuses and tulips.

So, we often wonder if we would miss the seasons in we lived in Hawaii year-round—the snow melting away in the spring and the leaves changing to brilliant yellows, reds and oranges in the fall. And the answer is probably yes. Well, maybe a bit.

However, while visiting Maui in September, we were surprised that fall colors are actually everywhere. No, it’s not a typical New England or Midwest autumn, but there are subtle changes and the colors of fall are certainly on display.

And even though a monthly average temperature chart of Maui is pretty much a straight line with a little bit of an increase in the months of May through November, some plants and flowers do show seasonal changes. Others display the colors of fall year-round in Hawaii.

Below: The colors of fall in Kula, Maui

The colors of fall in West Maui in Kapalua

Yellow flowers in Hawaii

Posted on October 5, 2013 by alohajournal

Yellow flowers represent friendship and happiness. In contrast to the deep blues and greens of Hawaii, the yellow flowers easily catch your attention and make you want to stop and admire them. The first four are yellow flowers in Maui. The fifth photo is one of my favorite yellow flowers we saw in Lanai: the popcorn orchid.

Go bananas

Posted on October 4, 2013 by alohajournal

Bananas don’t grow on trees. They actually grow on the world’s largest herbaceous flowering plant and what appears to be the trunk is actually called a corm. So, it is actually a large perennial herb. This was news to me. This was a banana plant we admired in Maui last month.

My favorite bananas are the apple bananas, which are often found in the farmers’ markets in Hawaii. They are tiny, sweet and the perfect snack. We learned that the Big Island is actually the largest domestic producer of bananas in the United States.

Here’s a sample of what we might find at a visit to one of the wonderful farmers’ markets on the Big Island, including the candy-like apple bananas.

Earlier this year, I wrote about what is perhaps the best use of bananas I have ever witnessed: A bananarama smoothie from What’s Shakin’ on the Hilo side of the Big Island.

The flight to Hawaii

Posted on October 3, 2013 by alohajournal

There is no way around it. Hawaii is an isolated destination to reach if you are not lucky enough to live on one of the islands. It is, after all, the most remote island chain in the world.

The Hawaiian Islands are nearly 2,400 miles from California, nearly 3,900 miles from Japan and if you live in New York City, you are in for a nearly 5,000-mile flight.

Then there is the time zone change. From the U.S. Central Time Zone, Hawaii is either a four or five-hour time difference. (Hawaii doesn’t observe daylight saving time.) After the long flight over, my inner body clock has me up around 2 to 3 a.m. in the Hawaiian Time Zone for the first few days. So, yes, the time zone changes and distance are challenging. But then you might find yourself looking at this view in Upcountry Maui, complete with a rainbow in the distance.

Or, there is this view from the main road to West Maui. If you are visiting from a location with long, cold, snowy winters, the colors are a feast for your eyes.

And before you know it, your stay is over and you find yourself heading back to the airport for the return flight home, which is often an overnight flight if you live in the United States.

Is the long flight worth it? Absolutely. Bonus: Even the signs in the airports in Hawaii are charming.

Twin Falls on Maui’s Road to Hana

Posted on October 1, 2013 by alohajournal

If you take Maui’s famous road to Hana in a clockwise direction, one of the first stops you could make is at Twin Falls. Here, you’ll find hiking in the rainforest, swimming if you choose and a fruit stand. Look for the parked cars a little past the 2-mile marker.

The road to Hana is known for its waterfalls and you will find six or so at the Twin Falls location. No, they are not the most magnificent waterfalls on Maui, but the hike to get there is worthwhile.

A well-maintained path is about a mile and a half round-trip and you’ll see plenty of tropical flowers and jungle-like plants.

Since it’s the first stop on the right after the historic town of Paia, most people visit Twin Falls in the morning. We visited in afternoon and found the trees, flowers and wild vegetation as interesting as the falls.

If you looked and listened closely, you could almost see and hear the plants growing by the minute.

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