LIHUE — Marlena Bunao said she will have an assistant to help with the orders this morning. Anticipating the rush from customers indulging on Malasada Tuesday, Bunao said she plans to be busy. Maladadas, a doughy sweet morsel, are most
LIHUE — Marlena Bunao said she will have an assistant to help with the orders this morning.
Anticipating the rush from customers indulging on Malasada Tuesday, Bunao said she plans to be busy.
Maladadas, a doughy sweet morsel, are most faithfully eaten on what is known as Shrove Tuesday, or Fat Tuesday, in the United States, online sources state.
Malasada Tuesday, as the holiday is known in Hawai‘i, is the day before the beginning of Lent starts on Ash Wednesday. The website states that since many people “give up” something they truly enjoy for the holy season before Easter, such as sweets and pastries, malasadas have long been a standard on Shrove Tuesday as a way to have one final hurrah before Lent arrives.
“I will be making malasadas on Tuesday,” said Leah Scovel in an e-mail. “I’ll be up really early making them ‘The Old Fashion Way.’”
Scovel, whose roots are planted in Kalaheo and the malasadas of the Portuguese camps, has traditionally created the morsels from a family recipe handed down over the generations.
Malasadas, once traditionally spelled malassadas, originated on the small island known as Sao Miguel, which is the most populated of the Azore Islands, a Portuguese archipelago of nine islands nestled together in the Atlantic Ocean, states the How to Make Malasadas website.
These treats are still enjoyed in Sao Miguel and arrived in Hawai‘i through the immigration of Portuguese workers in the late-1800s.
Today malasadas in Hawai‘i have become a well-known tradition to the island’s residents and are a regular part of feasts and celebrations which feature a variety of foods and desserts.
Catholic Charities recently sold out of their offering during the Hanama‘ulu Community Association swap meet, and the West Kaua‘i Methodist Church pumped out bag after bag during the two-day Waimea Town Celebration as a fundraiser for its weekend feeding program.
On Malasada Tuesday, Bunao’s booth fronting the Big Kmart store will be joined by other malasada outlets including Kaua‘i Bakery in the Kukui Grove Center as well as the Menehune Food Mart in Lawa‘i, in trying to satisfy the appetites of malasada aficionados on Kaua‘i.
Visit www.howtomakemalasadas.com for recipes and more information on the treat.
