Poi ʻAwaʻawa (Hawaiian Sour Poi)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Clean 1-quart glass, stainless, or wooden bowl with a loose lid or clean cloth
• •Wooden poi paddle or silicone spatula
• •Carved wooden ʻumeke for serving
• •Papa kuʻi ʻai and pōhaku kuʻi ʻai if starting from cooked kalo and pounding fresh

Instructions

1. 1

   Start clean

   Wash your hands well and set the fresh poi in a clean glass, stainless, or wooden bowl. It should smell earthy and sweet, like cooked kalo, with no sharp rot, fuzz, or strange color. If you're starting from paʻiʻai, the firm hand-pounded taro paste, work in cool water a little at a time until it becomes thick poi.

   Use poi that is only kalo and water. No sugar, milk, or mixed starches here, because you're asking the poi to ferment clean.
2. 2

   Set the texture

   Stir in enough cool water to make the poi smooth and glossy, thick enough to hold a spoon trail for a moment before it settles back. One-finger poi is thick, two-finger poi is the middle road, and three-finger poi is loose. For poi ʻawaʻawa, I like it in the two-finger place so it sours evenly but still has body.

3. 3

   Cover loosely

   Stir in the mature sour poi if you have it, then cover the bowl with a clean cloth or a loose lid. Do not seal it airtight. Leave it at cool room temperature, about 68 to 75F, for 24 hours. If your kitchen is hotter than 80F, let it sit only 12 to 18 hours, then move it to the fridge and give it more time there.

4. 4

   Stir and feed

   Once a day, stir the poi with a clean spoon and work in a tablespoon or two of cool water if the surface looks dry or the poi tightens up. Taste with a clean spoon. Day one is gentle, day two gets bright, and day three is where the ʻawaʻawa, the sourness, starts speaking up.

5. 5

   Know the sour

   The poi is ready when it smells clean and lactic, tangy like plain yogurt but still earthy from the kalo. The color should stay lavender-grey, beige, or pale tan, and the surface should look satin-smooth after stirring. If you see mold, fuzz, pink, orange, or black spots, or if it smells rotten, alcoholic, or harsh, throw it out. No shame. No blame the taro. Start again cleaner.

6. 6

   Serve or chill

   When the sourness tastes right to you, stir the poi smooth and adjust with a little water. Serve room temperature or cool, in an ʻumeke, a Hawaiian wooden bowl, with kālua puaʻa, laulau, poke, fried fish, chili pepper water, rice, or whatever the table has that day. Refrigerate the rest and eat within 5 days.

Chef Tips

• •Source first. Buy poi from somebody who can tell you where the kalo came from, or pound it from cooked kalo yourself if you have that path. ʻĀina, kānaka, meaʻai, land, people, food, they stay tied together.
• •Sourness is family preference. Some houses like poi one day old and barely tangy, some like it three or four days and bright enough to wake your jaw. Aunties will argue, and most of them are right.
• •If the poi gets too sour for your table, don't throw it out. Blend a spoonful into fresh poi and it settles down. We no waste good food.
• •Never rescue moldy poi. Scraping the top is not enough in a home kitchen. Clean sour is food. Fuzz and rotten smell are the batch telling you to let it go.
• •Poi ʻawaʻawa belongs beside ceremony food and everyday plates both. Deep food, not mission food, can still sit next to rice, canned fish, eggs, or a plate lunch, because that's how Hawaiʻi eats now.

Advance Preparation

• •Start the poi 2 to 3 days before you want to serve it, depending how sour your family likes it.
• •Once the poi reaches the tang you want, refrigerate it covered and eat within 5 days, stirring in a little clean water before serving.
• •Save 2 tablespoons of clean sour poi before the bowl is finished. That becomes the starter for the next batch.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 145g)