Kualoa Private Nature Reserve is taking the concept of farm-to-fork dining one step further — literally.

On the 2-1/2-hour Taste of Kualoa tour, visitors go on short walks to get firsthand looks at the aquaculture, agriculture and ranching operations of the 4,000-acre property, which traces its beginnings to 1850 and encompasses three lush valleys on Oahu’s Windward side. Hands-on activities, “talk story” time with the people who are doing the work, and tastings of fresh seafood, beef and produce prepared by the guide on-site add to the experience.

“Taste of Kualoa was developed as a team effort,” said John Morgan, Kualoa’s president, owner and sixth-generation descendant of the original landowner, Dr. Gerrit P. Judd, a trusted adviser of King Kamehameha III. “We’re an agriculture- based company that evolved into a visitor attraction, so we wanted to offer a tour that goes back to our roots, pun intended. It gives guests a glimpse of all of our valleys and generous samples of the delicious products that we grow.”

The tour begins at the visitor center in Kualoa Valley. From there it’s a five-minute drive to the first stop: nine earthen ponds, which were built in the 1970s on the makai (ocean) side of Hakipuu Valley. Lessees, including the University of Hawaii at Manoa, used the ponds for research and commercial seafood production until 2010, when Kualoa took over operations.

Shrimp and tilapia are being cultivated in the ponds, which occupy half of the 10-acre parcel. “Kamaaina used to think of tilapia as a rubbish fish, but that perception is changing,” Morgan said. “It’s appearing on the menus of upscale restaurants, and our tilapia is high-quality, with a mild flavor and moist, tender flesh.”

It takes more than a year for the tilapia to grow to the marketable size of 2 pounds and five months for the shrimp to reach the desirable weight of 20 grams (three-fourths of an ounce). After participants practice throwing nets like the Hawaiians of old did to catch fish (it’s a lot trickier than it looks), they savor tilapia cakes with aioli, grilled pesto shrimp and coconut-and-papaya smoothies — a hint of the delectables to come.

Dating back 800 to 1,000 years, 125-acre Molii Fishpond in Hakipuu Valley is the next stop. The Hawaiians were the only people in Polynesia to practice walled aquaculture, and when European explorers arrived in the late 1700s, there were more than 400 fishponds throughout the islands.

The concept was simple: Small fish entered the ponds through openings in the makaha (sluice gates), fed on algae and grew too big to return to the ocean. Thus, the ponds provided a ready source of food.

Today only about 40 traditional fishponds statewide are in restorable condition; of those, just seven have intact walls and working makaha. With three working makaha and 4,000 feet of double rock walls, Molii is an archaeological treasure that’s on both the state and national registers of historic places and home to barracuda, oio (bonefish), pualu (surgeonfish), papio (young trevally), toua (blacktail snapper) and oysters.

“We started experimenting with oysters in 2010 to filter phytoplankton that had accumulated in the pond,” Morgan said. “One oyster can filter 50 gallons of phytoplankton every day. Oysters have become a great success story for us: They provide an ecological benefit, and they’re a delicious commercial product that’s in high demand.”

Buoys mark the 20 acres of the pond reserved for oyster production; suspended there are 200 1-by-4-foot baskets containing 100,000 oysters in various stages of growth. After they’re harvested, the oysters go through a 48-hour purging process that yields meat with a clean flavor and smooth texture.

Guests watch the guide deftly shuck oysters, then try them with cocktail, ponzu and Sriracha sauces. For many people all the oysters need is a squirt of lemon juice; they’re that ono!

From Molii the tour goes to Kaaawa Valley, where Kualoa’s ranching and agricultural operations are based. Thriving on 20 acres of orchards and gardens are 36 varieties of fruits and vegetables, including avocado, papaya, mango, apple banana, taro, tomato, eggplant and kale.

About half of Kualoa’s 500 head of Charolais and Black Angus cattle roam Kaaawa Valley, and it’s not unusual to find some lazing right beside the road that the tour van traverses. They’re solely grass-fed without the use of artificial hormones, antibiotics or steroids, which results in beef with less fat and more antioxidant vitamins and heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids than beef from grain-fed cattle.

Grilled beef chunks on a rosemary skewer, sauteed mixed vegetables, and strawberry-and-apple-banana smoothies are offered after participants learn how cattle are roped and test their own lassoing skills.

“Our vision is to be a good steward by preserving, protecting and enhancing the environment while developing recreational activities and agricultural enterprises that are compatible with it,” Morgan said. “Taste of Kualoa immerses guests in real, sustainable agricultural operations where they learn where and how food is produced and meet the people who are charged with that responsibility. The tour’s name says it all: You’ll enjoy a taste of Kualoa’s beauty and the amazing bounty that the land shares with us.”

Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi is a Honolulu-based freelance writer whose travel features for the Star-Advertiser have won several Society of American Travel Writers awards.