Aloha kakou! Your friend Mahalo here and I have joined Steemit. I am from the island of Hawaii, where my window faces west into the cloudy sunset far above the ocean. It is 88 degrees, no rain today and the air is calm with little wind. If you learn two words in Hawaiian language, they should be aloha and mahalo!

My account name means many things in my culture. The word mahalo has great mana, spiritual power. You can say “mahalo” when you are grateful to someone for a kindness they have shown to you. Mahalo is thank you and it is being grateful. Mahalo is esteem also.

If I have esteem, I want to be like him from memegenerator.com.

Today I write about one of Hawaii’s fruits and it is familiar on the mainland and Asia as well. Mandarin Oranges have been in the markets. This is a sensual delicacy around Christmas each year. Mandarins are like small oranges and they peel better than tangerines. But Hawaiian citrus do not peel so easily because they get a tighter skin in the year-round tropical climate.

Growing them -- I have some experience growing citrus. There is a pomelo tree in the neighbor’s yard and a gnarled old lime tree in mine! Mandarin oranges I buy at market, but to grow citrus the varieties have similar needs. They do not like wet spots. Dry climates are best, so in the wet parts of the islands, citrus trees should have a home on high ground where the soil drains.

Mandarins can be juiced. The peel tastes great when grated into cakes. But Mahalo peels the fruits and eats the yummy juicy flesh!

This picture of fruits comes from Christie’s Hawaii: https://www.christiesrealestate.com
Hawaiian Dream Cake with Mandarin Oranges: Add at least 1 tsp grated peel to the cake batter as well for some bittersweet orange flavor! http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/hawaiian-dream-cake