Poi is a unique Hawaiian staple food made from taro. Poi is made by mashing taro corms until they become a smooth, light purple paste. Poi is usually lightly fermented. It’s flavor is plain or slightly sour. Poi is traditionally eaten by hand with pork, fish, seaweed, or other Hawaiian foods.

Hawaiians traditionally grow dozens of types of taro. Certain varieties of taro, usually smaller ones, are used specifically for making poi. Their color is between white and purple.

To make poi the traditional way, Hawaiians first cook taro in an imu, or earth oven, for hours. They then place the cooked taro on boards called papa ku’i’ai and pound it with stones called pohaku ku’i’ai until it becomes thick taro paste(pa’i’ai).

The pa’i’ai can be stored for fermenting at this stage. Tightly wrap in ti leaves(ki) or place in a container with a thin layer of water on top to store. After two or three days at room temperature it should have a mild sourness. Depending on your climate and preference, you can check after one day or keep fermenting for a couple more days for stronger sour flavor.

When ready to serve, gradually add in water into the taro paste until it reaches the desired thickness and mix until smooth. Hawaiians generally rank poi as one-, two-, or three-finger poi based on how many fingers it takes to scoop.

Recipe

Ingredients

• 4 small taro(kalo) (1 lb)
• 1 – 2 cup water

Directions

• steam taro until tender, about 40 minutes
• peel
• pound until smooth and sticky
• wrap with ti leaf or place in container with a thin layer of water over and let sit 1 to 4 days (optional)
• gradually mix in water until the desired thickness is reached
• stir until smooth
• serve