LIHUE — Learn how to make mic-dropping mango jam from Waipa Foundation’s Kalen Kelekoma during the Kauai County Farm Bureau Fair on Saturday night.

Kelekoma brought a guava-jelly class to the 2017 fair and said he’s looking forward to bringing another solid classic demo to the table using an in-season fruit like mangoes.

“I wanted to do pineapple at first, but I decided to keep it more old school with the mango,” Kelekoma said. “Also, because of the rain, everything’s kind of off-season, so the mangoes are really starting to come on right now.”

April’s torrential rains knocked many mango trees back in their production, and he pointed out his own tree as an example — it’s tried producing fruit twice already this season and the flowers were knocked off both times.

“It’s the third time now and it’s trying to produce mango,” he said.

Kelekoma has been at the Waipa Foundation for 10 years and has been teaching home canning and fermenting classes there, as well as taking up a position as an instructor for University of Hawaii’s College of Continuing Education.

The master canning class with UH finished in June, but Kelekoma said he’s far from done teaching people how to properly and safely can and ferment foods from their own kitchens.

“I’ve taught students here on Kauai including kids, and I’ve done it on Hawaii Island and on Oahu, and I am going to offer smaller classes here on the island,” he said. “It’s something fun to do.”

The group that watched his 2017 guava jelly demonstration was mixed with keiki and kupuna, and Kelekoma said it was particularly interesting to chat with kupuna who had a history of canning in their families.

“They’d stick around and talk because their moms or grandmas would do this and they were only allowed to clean and prep the fruit,” he said. “They were chased out of the kitchen after a while, so they never got to see the whole process.”

They were especially excited about the recipes and instructions that they got during the demonstration, and that information will also be available at Kelekoma’s mango jam demonstration.

“So I’m doing a jam instead of a jelly, and last year I showed people how to preserve with liquid pectin. This year I’m using powdered pectin and making jam, where you’re using pieces of fruit and sugar, and cooking it to get it to set up,” he said.

Kelekoma will be in the 4-H area at the fair Saturday at 6 p.m. for the demonstration.

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Jessica Else, environment writer, can be reached at 245-0452 or at jelse@thegardenisland.com.