STAPLE CROPS

KALO• Taro (Colocasia esculenta)• In Hawai i, taro has been the ʻ

staple from earliest times to the present, and here its culture developed greatly, including more than 300 forms.

• All parts of the plant are eaten, its starchy root principally as poi, and its leaves as l au. ūʻ

KALO: GROWING PRACTICES

Lo`i : Irrigated terrace, especially for taro

KALO: PREPARATION & CONSUMPTION

Pa`i `ai• Hard, pounded but undiluted

taro; heavy, as poorly made cake.

Poi• Poi, the Hawaiian staff of life,

made from cooked taro corms, or rarely breadfruit, pounded and thinned with water.

TOOLS

• Ku`i – to pound

• `Ai – food; often refers specifically to poi; to eat

• P haku ku`i `aiō• P haku ku`i `ai pukaō• Papa ku`i `ai

KALO: FOODS

• Kalo poi

• Cooked in an imu

• L `auū• Laulau

• K loloū• Kalo chips

` LELO NO`EAUŌ

• Pau `ole n ka `umeke ōi ke kahi, pau `ole n ōka lemu i ka h leu.āWhen one does not clean the sides of the poi bowl properly, he is not likely to wipe his backside clean after excreting.

` LELO NO`EAUŌ

• Ko ko uka, ko ko kaiā āThose of the upland, those of the shore

• I komo ka `ai i ka pa`akaiIt is the salt that makes the poi go in

`UALA

• The sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas), a perennial, wide-spreading vine, with heart-shaped, angled, or lobed leaves and pinkish-lavender flowers. The tuberous roots are a valuable food, and they vary greatly in many ways, as in color and shape.

`UALA: PLANTING PRACTICES

• E Kamapua`a,Eia ka m la a k uaā āMa `ane`i `oe e `eku ai

Mai k l k a k l kē ā ī ā ē ā ī āA hiki i k ia kuaiwiēMai hele aku `oe ma waho

O p `oe i ka p hakuā ō

`UALA: PREPARATION

• Cooked in an imu

• Poi `uala

• Piele– Pudding of grated taro, sweet

potato, yam, banana, or breadfruit, baked in ti leaves with coconut cream

• K `elep lauō ā– A pudding of sweet potatoes and

coconut cream

` LELO NO`EAUŌ

• He `uala ka `ai ho` la koke i ka wō īThe sweet potato is the food that ends famine quickly

• Ola n ka lawai`a i kahi k ` `ō ū ō ōA farmer can subsist on small, broken potatoes

`ULU

• Breadfruit (Artocarpus altilis)

• It belongs to the fig family, and is grown for its edible fruits, sometimes for ornament.

• The leaves are large, oblong, more or less lobed; fruits are round or oblong, weighing up to 4.5 kilos, when cooked tasting something like sweet potatoes

`ULU PREPARATION

• `Ulu poi

• Baked `ulu

• `Ulu chips

If you have any questions, please ask them on the

Discussion Board.

Mahalo!