Fewer Farmers Are Growing Hawaii’s ‘Miracle Food’ Taro Despite Growing Demand…Growing, cultivating and cooking the starchy root vegetable, which is used to make poi, is hard work that’s not always profitable.
HANALEI, Kauai — The poi pounding begins early on Thursday mornings at Waipa Foundation on the Garden Island’s North Shore.
The kamaaina here know — Thursdays are Poi Day at the local nonprofit, which stewards the ahupuaa, or land division, near the river while teaching Hawaiian values and culture.
It produces about 800 pounds per week of poi, a traditional Hawaiian dish made by pounding cooked taro roots into a purple paste that’s then allowed to ferment. Some of the taro comes from its own farm and the rest from neighboring ones.
