TURMERIC – OLENA Ahhh, turmeric! It’s the gold treasure of the food system. It’s the rhizome that has been used for centuries across cultures for everything from spicing up dinner to healing medical ailments. But what makes this plant so beneficial? Why are we at Kauai Juice Co so in...
Kauai's "Compost King" is the Unlikeliest of Tomato Farmers
Growing up on his parents’ tropical fruit farm in Kilauea, Dylan Strong refused to eat tomatoes. Luckily, his parents didn’t grow them. But the small, juicy orbs were nevertheless a staple in nearly every salad bowl. At 18, Strong decided to flee the nest of Kauai’s north shore for San...
KJC's Bottle Buy-Back Program: Discounts for You, a Lighter Load for the Landfill
It’s 8 a.m. on a Tuesday and Juice Hines, power drill in hand, has assumed position at the commercial sink inside Kauai Juice Company’s Kapaa production facility. Of course, his task for the next three hours has nothing to do with drilling. Affixed to the end of the appliance held...
The Coconut Man
Standing in the cool shadow of a crown of palm fronds, Zolsti Csillag slips into a harness and dons a pair of protective gloves. He secures a tree stand at the base of a coconut tree and hops onto the platform. Like a giant inch worm, he wriggles his long,...
At Wootens' Farm, the Produce Thrives on Love and Country Music
John Wooten was nine when he planted his first garden.
It was 1958, and Wooten, under the encouragement of his grandfather, took a packet of seeds and some simple gardening tools to the vacant half-acre lot behind his family’s home in Ventura County, Calif. Without quite knowing what he was doing, he emptied the contents of the seed packet into a hole in the soil. Vigilantly, he waited for something edible to sprout.