Single Varietal Poi Tasting (& Chocolate Pairing)
Everyone knows I love poi and chocolate together, but this tasting surprised me! Follow my experience and look for the malasada at the end.
The Locavore Store is awesome, hosting only foods and gifts made in Hawai‘i. I can say I knew the owners Catarina and Arthur way back in the beginning, when they started implementing the brilliant idea to sell extra produce from their neighbors on Papaya Farms Road at Space Market in Puna. Now their idea and hard work have blossomed into a gorgeous shop in Hilo. Last week I was compelled to stop by for the single varietal poi they featured on Instagram. And then, because I see the world as one big tasting event, of course a poi tasting happened.
I purchased two Hilo-grown heirloom varieties of poi at Locavore: polou and ‘ele‘ele makoko. I already had poi from an unknown variety of kalo in my refrigerator from Island Naturals. This turned out to be a beautiful trio. The colors were distinct: I’ll call them light purple, hummus, and fudgsicle.
I noticed a difference in texture while scooping out samples. More care was put into the processing of the Locavore poi, which were both creamy and almost fluffy. The Island Naturals (light purple) variety was crumbly and had bits of unprocessed kalo. I should say that I buy poi from Island Naturals all the time and like it a lot. But the texture from Locavore felt much more luxe.
Before I continue, I’d like to share some news. I appreciate my paid subscribers so much! Really so, so much! I post content regularly to not let them down. To give extra value to paid subscribers, I am trying a new perk. I will host office hours on Zoom twice a month. Come with any questions about processing cacao, making chocolate, processing food, growing food, ideas, philosophical musings, or anything else. If you don’t have questions or a topic for discussion, I’ll have a topic prepared. The first one will be on Saturday August 3. If you are a paid subscriber, watch for an email with details! If you have questions, comments, or suggestions, let me know.
I started by tasting each poi on its own. Honestly, I was a bit disappointed that the differences were so subtle. As I searched for mild flavor differences, I noticed that words coming to mind had more to due with the color than the flavor: malty, caramel, butterscotch. They all tasted fresh and cool and lightly starchy, with perhaps a tinge of lemony sour and what I think of as “cotton,” flavors hinting at fermentation.
I next tried the poi with 86% chocolate. I just dipped homegrown & homemade 86% chocolate into the poi like dipping a chip. This was not the best way to taste. The favors did not intertwine but remained separate. The poi flavors were subtle in comparison to the chocolate making detecting anything of interest difficult. I thought: well, glad I tried but I guess I won’t be writing about this.
Yet I am writing about this because of the next taste challenge. I tried each poi mixed into drinking chocolate. I was shocked. The different poi types noticeably affected the chocolate flavor! The chocolate with the poi from Island Naturals tasted lemony, the one with the polou variety tasted more deeply chocolaty, and one with the ‘ele‘ele makoko variety tasted more strongly of kalo. It is striking that an ingredient that has such subtle differences when tasted on its own can have such a huge impact in combination. I will carry this lesson with me.
This is not my only poi-themed experiment this week. I finally got up to Honoka‘a to buy some malasadas at famous Tex’s to try an idea. I wrote in my book about thickening chocolate with poi to make a consistency perfect for dipping, similar to the chocolate used for dipping churros in Barcelona. In Europe, often corn starch is used as the thickener, but poi works and is local and healthier. I imagined a Hawai‘i version where we dipped the Chinese pretzels ubiquitous at markets and roadside stands. But in a conversation with Greg and Will of Hawaii Chocolate and Cacao Association, we mused that the official item to dip into chocolate for Hawai‘i just might need to be the malasada. So, I tried it. Yes, it is delicious. Of course it is.
Have you tried poi & chocolate? Have you had an unexpected tasting experience? Let us know in the comments!