By Joan Namkoong
Advertiser Food Editor
 Fiery Hawaiian chili peppers are the key to the piquant flavor of Hawaiian Sensations hot pepper jelly. Be warned, the hot is hot. It’s excellent over cream cheese with crackers or spread on a sandwich to perk up turkey or ham.
Ohana Plantation of Honoka‘a, Hawai‘i, makes this jelly, as well as a mild green version. The company is expanding its distribution to Honolulu supermarkets. Foodland, Times, Daiei, some Longs stores and military commissaries are carrying this product. It is also marketed under the Ohana Plantation label at stores, including The Compleat Kitchen, Executive Chef and Liberty House.
"Essentially it’s the same product," said Barbara Simmons one of the four partners in Ohana Plantation.
Dave Pettus and his wife, Sherry, began making chili pepper jelly several years ago. Along with Simmons and Sharron Weaver, they began commercial production in incubator kitchens in Hilo and Honoka‘a.
The real mirin
Mirin, frequently called for in Japanese recipes (including our sukiyaki recipe today), is a sweet liquid flavoring made by mixing steamed glutinous rice with a special mold and with shochu or distilled spirits. A sweet liquid results, with an alcohol content of 14 percent.
Mirin is used for its sweet flavor rather than its alcoholic content, according to Richard Hosking in "A Dictionary of Japanese Food" (Charles E. Tuttle Co.). What we find on supermarket shelves is usually low-alcohol imitation mirin. The real thing, hon mirin, is harder to find.
But reader Nanette Keller of Manoa called to alert us to a recent shipment of Takara Masamune, a hon mirin made in California. The 375 milliliter bottle (a little more than 12 ounces) is $3.99 at Safeway Manoa.
Send shopping queries and new product information to: Market Basket, The Honolulu Advertiser, P.O. Box 3110, Honolulu, HI 96802. E-mail: jnamkoong@honoluluadvertiser.com
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