FOREWORD 



Many inquiries have come to the home economics department of the 

 University of Hawaii and to the nutrition laboratory of the Hawaii 

 Agricultural Experiment Station regarding the use and the nutritive 

 value of local fruits. The information previously available has been 

 difficult of access or data have been lacking. 



This bulletin aims to supply information on the most important and 

 widely used Hawaiian fruits. 1 Many of the data have been obtained as 

 a result of work done in the household science laboratory of the Uni- 

 versity of Hawaii and the nutrition laboratory of the Hawaii Agricul- 

 tural Experiment station, but some data have been taken from other 

 sources. Pages 5 to 102 contain non-technical information regarding 

 the various fruits studied and recipes for their use. Pages 103 to 128 

 contain technical statements of the methods used in chemical analyses 

 and vitamin determinations. 



Fruits and vegetables make similar contributions to the diet, although 

 as a group, vegetables probably contribute more of the three essential 

 minerals — calcium, phosphorus, and iron — than do fruits. Fruits, though 

 low in protein and in fat (with the exception of avocados), contain 

 sufficient quantities of sugars to make them of considerable importance 

 calorically. Of greater importance than their energy value, however, 

 is their value as sources of minerals, vitamins, organic acids, and as 

 roughage. The experimental work of recent years has served to em- 

 phasize these values for normal nutrition and to point out that fruits 

 should not be classed as luxuries but should be classed with vegetables 

 as essentials for a good diet. 



The diet of many people in Hawaii is unsatisfactory and should be 

 improved by the addition of fruits, vegetables and milk. With the 

 opportunity of purchasing fruits at low cost and the possibility of rais- 

 ing them in home gardens, greater use should be made of local fruits by 

 all economic classes in Hawaii. 



Analyses of local fruits show them to be similar in composition to 

 the same varieties of fruits grown elsewhere. The food value of some 

 fruits is greater than that of others but attention should be called to the 

 high nutritive value of some of our most important, widely grown and 

 generally available fruits — namely, the avocado, the banana, the papaya, 

 the pineapple and the guava. 



It is hoped that this bulletin may stimulate the greater use of these 

 excellent fruits. 



1 Other fruits grown to some extent in Hawaii which have not yet been studied in the nutrition 

 laboratory of the Hawaii Experiment Station but which have possibilities in this country as small 

 industries are the lemon, lime, pomelo, cherimoya, sugar-apple, custard-apple, cantaloupe, persimmon 

 and date. 



