Now that I’ve figured out the delivery days that Taro Brand poi arrives at our nearby Times Supermarket and at Foodland in Aina Haina, I’m figuring out how to keep the refrigerator stocked.

I took this photo after adding two bags fresh bags yesterday (Friday), delivery day at Times.

The two bags at the top are easily identified as the fresh poi by their color, a dark gray. I’ll leave these on the kitchen counter at room temperature for a week or so, or until needed. I’m not sure of the right word. Leaving them out to ripen?

The third bag, closest to the camera, has been out at room temperature since Thursday of the prior week, and is ready to empty into a bowl, add water if necessary, and refrigerate until the next meal. Note this poi’s reddish color, indicating some fermentation has been taking place and it’s likely to be nice and tart. In other words, ready to eat!

I’ve been eating poi in place of rice and potato, although I still cook those for Meda. And I’ve been eating a couple of bags per week in the expectation that poi is going to improve my gut health and deliver needed nutrition.

I have always preferred sour poi since small kid time. So do many of my Hawaiian friends. That was the reason that I bristled years ago at Honolulu Magazine’s “Sour Poi Awards” given to the tongue-in-cheek awards that “poke fun at the dumb, the daft, and the deranged local news, political gaffes, and wacky mishaps that occurred over the previous twelve months.” It struck me as an admission of a subtle anti-Hawaiian bias or, perhaps, simple ignorance of the fact that sour poi is the preference of many in the islands. Unfortunate, but true.