Step Up Your Kitchen Game with Locally Grown and Milled Flour Power
Local grinds.
Photo: Christine Labrador
‘Ulu
The Hawai‘i ‘Ulu Cooperative offers whole and peeled ‘ulu flour—the whole, which includes skin and all, is slightly darker in appearance and has more of ‘ulu’s sweet, fruity fragrance with a hint of roasted banana.
How to use it: Replace up to half of all-purpose flour in banana bread, pancakes and steamed bao.
$50 for 5 pounds of whole flour, $75 for peeled flour from eatbreadfruit.com. (Also available in smaller quantities at Kōkua Market.)
SEE ALSO: We Tried It: Recipes for Baking with Local Cornmeal, Kiawe and ‘Ulu Flour
Photo: Christine Labrador
Cornmeal
Nalo Orange corn, developed in—where else—Waimānalo, was bred for disease resistance and the darkest orange kernels. What that means for your kitchen: a coarse cornmeal with a sunny marigold hue, nutty notes and more intense corn flavor than your average supermarket brands.
How to use it: Replace up to half of the flour in waffles, scones and citrus cakes. Also, the higher oil content in Nalo Orange makes for excellent polenta (and polenta fritters!), grits and cornbread.
About $8 for 1 pound, available at farmlinkhawaii.com, Kōkua Market, and Roots Café and Market.
SEE ALSO: Meal Kits to Grocery Delivery: How to Eat the Best Local Food at Home
Photo: Christine Labrador
Kiawe
Wai‘anae Gold’s flour is milled from whole, dried kiawe pods collected in the summer in Wai‘anae, resulting in a deeply fragrant and sweet flour that tastes and smells of molasses, toasted coconut and graham crackers. It adds an extra crispness and warmth to baked goods.
How to use it: Replace up to a quarter of the flour in streusel and fruit crisp toppings, chocolate chip cookies and brownies.
About $16 for 1 pound, available at farmlinkhawaii.com and Kōkua Market.
