About Us
Our Purpose
Is to enable members of the community throughout Hawaiʻi to safely develop, prepare, package and market value added products through education. Hawaiʻi Master Food Preservers and its partner and affiliate organizations will work with individual students to ensure their endeavors are successful and can make an impact on Island sustainability.
What we do
We teach all those interested how to process and preserve locally grown fruit, produce and locally raised proteins. Hawaiʻi Master Food Preservers will help you to develop value added products and offer tips on packaging, understanding cost of production and current cottage industry rules . We will offer tips on marketing the safe shelf stable products you worked so hard to prepare.
Meet Our Board Members
Ken Love
Ken first started canning in the mid 1950s under the guidance of his Aunt Lucille who preserved the produce from her farm in Indiana. As long time Executive Director of Hawai'i Tropical Fruit Growers (HTFG) he heard from many growers and producers on all Hawai'i Islands about the need to preserve. Ken decided to go back to the University of California and train as a Master Food Preserver educator under Pat Malone and Chef Ernie Miller. Bringing the program to Hawai'i, he found funding unavailable with the University of Hawai'i Hilo's extension service and decided in 2012 to develop the program through HTFG. In 2020 HFMP was able to form its own 501c3 and develop its own certified kitchen in Kona. Ken is the primary instructor for the HMFP certification class and is President of the organization.
Jane Tai
Jane is the creator and "alchemist" of Hawaiian Goodness, LLC, a boutique farmers market outlet for gourmet dehydrated fruit and fruit products using locally grown produce. Both Jane and her assistant, Nicole Tai, are certified by Hawai'i Master Food Preservers and conjure up dehydrated fruit recipes for unique island flavors with a local flair. Her aim is to support the local agricultural industry by showcasing a variety of tropical and exotic fruits through fun and healthy value added products. Jane is currently a co-instructor for HMFP Certification and Vice President for the organization bringing you the methodology, art and science behind food preservation.
Paul De Filippi
Paul De Filippi is a food industry researcher, regulatory specialist and entrepreneur. He has managed Mauka Vista Farms LLC, a small scale fruit business on the Island of Maui, since 2015. He became certified with the Hawaii Master Food Preservers in order to create value-added food products from the fruit produced at the farm. He loves to make preserved fruit products.
Mark Suiso
Mark Suiso is President of Hawaii Tropical Fruit Growers and owner of Makaha Mangoes. He believes that food can be produced at every location in Hawaii. It’s just a matter of what grows best in a microclimate. Then it is a matter of making the best use of that production be it fresh or in value added products.
Chris Speere
Chris Speere’s experience includes 38 years of culinary industry expertise, food product and recipe development, curriculum development and grant management. Mr. Speere's most recent accomplishment (2015 – 2020) was the development of University of Hawai'i Maui College’s Maui Food Innovation Center (MFIC) which became the first institution in the state of Hawai’i to provide food manufacturing facilities, consultation services and educational training to local food entrepreneurs.
Yoshito L`Hote
Yoshito L`Hote is the CEO for 'Aina Ho'okupu o Kilauea (AHK). He lives in Kalihiwai, Kaua'i and is a graduate of the food preserver class that took place at Waipa, in 2014. AHK is currently developing a 75 acre parcel in Kilauea Kaua'i where the first Ag Center in the state is being created. Yoshito has a passion for the development of the food system to provide more resilience and sustainability.
Eric Faivre
Chef Eric Faivre was born and raised in France and has been calling Hawaii home for the past 30 years. He has been a Chef since the age of 18 and strongly supports the farming community on his island of Maui. From his early childhood, he experienced the art of food preserving with his family and is a firm believer in the benefits of continuing the process here in Hawaii.