Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 15, Number 7, 1 July 1998 — E lawe i ke ō, he hinana ka iʻa kuhi lima ʻŌlelo Noʻeau [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

E lawe i ke ō, he hinana ka iʻa kuhi lima ʻŌlelo Noʻeau

By Claire Hughes. Nutritionist Hawai'i Department Of Health Take vegetable food; the hinartafish ean be caught in the hanā. Take taro, poi, potato or breadfruit along

on the journey and don t worry about meats whieh ean be found along the way. MANY HAWAIIANS have never tasted the 'ulu, breadfiuit. Others have forgotten how to prepare it for eating. The early variety of 'ulu that was introduced by the first Hawaiians was seedless and had to be propagated by shoots that grow out of the root of the parent tree. 'Ulu bears fruit in about three to five years and will continue to bear fiuit for more than 35 years. Canoes or surfboards could be made ffom the strong, straight trunk of the 'ulu tree. In Hawai'i, 'ulu is not as abundant as it is in the rest of Polynesia. 'Ulu is helieved to contain the strenpth ^

and mana of Kū, the god of war, who is the protector of all plants in the forest and is embodied in tall trees. The mo'olelo about the origin of the 'ulu tree relates how Kū married a woman from Puna. The two had children together. During a long famine, Kū was saddened to see his children starving. He asked his wife to eome with him to the garden, and after saying farewell to her, he stood on his head. Slowly, he sank into the ground until he disappeared. His wife lamented and cried over the spot, watering it with her tears. Soon, a sprout appeared. The sprout grew into a tree and bore great ffuit, the breadfruit. KĒ's wife and children ate to their heart's content. Later on, when more seedlings appeared,they were given to others to plant. With this gift of nourishment, Kū saved his people ffom starving. This explains why, although the 'ulu is considered a kinolau form of Kū it is not kapu to women, unlike other Kū foods. Malo says the 'ulu or breadffuit was very mueh used as a food by the natives, after being oven-cooked or roasted. Overripe 'ulu ean be peeled, pounded into a delicious poi, mixed with coconut milk, wrapped in ti leaves and imu baked or placed in the oven. This could be preserved for a season. More recently, John Wise tells of cooking breadfruit, sweet potato, kalo and banana by placing them on a bed of honohono grass laid on hot imu stones, covered with a think blanket of ti leaves and the whole covered with mats and old kapa. The eooking of the kalo and lū'au leaves required three to four hours. Sweet potatoes, breadfruit and bananas were cooked more iyThe best-eating 'ulu is picked from the tree when it is mature, when the light green skin turns a whitish grey. Hawaiians did not eat 'ulu that had fallen on the ground, because it would have been smashed if was iipe. Today, 'ulu is prepared many different ways. However, still the most eommon preparation is steaming in the imu, oven-baking or steaming on top of the stove. 'Ulu cooked pūlehu style - on hot coals of an open fire - is eaten in chunks and is absolutely dehcious. Cooked 'ulu ean be made into poi, pounded and mixed with water similar to kalo. Poi 'ulu and poi 'uala are both easier to make than poi kalo because they require less pounding. This was eaten when poi kalo was not available in the coastal areas where poi kalo was offen in short supply. Some still enjoy it today. ■

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