Haupia is a traditional

Cuisine of Hawaii

Modern Hawaiian cuisine is a fusion of many cuisines brought by multiethnic immigrants to the Hawaiian Islands, particularly of American, Chinese, Filipino, Japanese, Korean, Polynesian and Portuguese origins, including plant and animal food sources imported from around the world for agricultural...

 coconut milk

Coconut milk

Coconut milk is the water that comes from the grated meat of a coconut. The colour and rich taste of the milk can be attributed to the high oil content. In many parts of the world, the term coconut milk is also used to refer to coconut water, the naturally occurring liquid found inside the hollow...

-based Hawaiian

Native Hawaiians

Native Hawaiians refers to the indigenous Polynesian people of the Hawaiian Islands or their descendants. Native Hawaiians trace their ancestry back to the original Polynesian settlers of Hawaii.According to the U.S...

 dessert often found at luau

Luau

A luau is a Hawaiian feast. It may feature food, such as poi, kalua pig, poke, lomi salmon, opihi, haupia, and beer; and entertainment, such as Hawaiian music and hula...

s and other local gatherings in Hawaii

Hawaii

Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...

. Since World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, it has become popular as a topping for white cake

Cake

Cake is a form of bread or bread-like food. In its modern forms, it is typically a sweet and enriched baked dessert. In its oldest forms, cakes were normally fried breads or cheesecakes, and normally had a disk shape...

, especially at wedding

Wedding

A wedding is the ceremony in which two people are united in marriage or a similar institution. Wedding traditions and customs vary greatly between cultures, ethnic groups, religions, countries, and social classes...

s. Although technically considered a pudding

Pudding

Pudding most often refers to a dessert, but it can also be a savory dish.In the United States, pudding characteristically denotes a sweet milk-based dessert similar in consistency to egg-based custards, though it may also refer to other types such as bread and rice pudding.In the United Kingdom and...

, the consistency of haupia closely approximates gelatin dessert

Gelatin dessert

Gelatin desserts are desserts made with sweetened and flavored gelatin. They can be made by combining plain gelatin with other ingredients or by using a premixed blend of gelatin with additives...

 and is usually served in blocks like gelatin.

History

The traditional Hawaiian recipe for haupia calls for heated coconut milk to be mixed with ground pia (Polynesian Arrowroot, Tacca leontopetaloides

Tacca leontopetaloides

Tacca leontopetaloides is a species of flowering plant in the yam family Dioscoreaceae, that is native to tropical Africa, South Asia, Southeast Asia, northern Australia, New Guinea, Samoa, Micronesia, and Fiji. It was intentionally brought to tropical Pacific Islands with early human migrations...

) until the mixture thickens. Due to the lack of availability of arrowroot starch, some modern recipes for haupia substitute cornstarch

Cornstarch

Corn starch, cornstarch, cornflour or maize starch is the starch of the corn grain obtained from the endosperm of the corn kernel.-History:...

.

Haupia is very similar to the Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

an dessert blancmange.

In the typical modern recipe, diluted coconut milk, sugar, and salt is mixed with arrowroot or cornstarch and heated until thickened and smooth, then poured into a rectangular pan and chilled as with gelatin. It is traditionally cut into small blocks and served on squares of ti leaf.

Some recipes for coconut desserts actually call for unflavored gelatin in place of the cornstarch, but it would be erroneous to call them haupia. Many local confections that contain coconut

Coconut

The coconut palm, Cocos nucifera, is a member of the family Arecaceae . It is the only accepted species in the genus Cocos. The term coconut can refer to the entire coconut palm, the seed, or the fruit, which is not a botanical nut. The spelling cocoanut is an old-fashioned form of the word...

or coconut flavoring are advertised as haupia flavored. Currently, McDonald's across Hawaii sell "Haupia Pies," similar to their better-known apple pies.

External links

• Three recipes for haupia from the Honolulu Star-Bulletin
• Kau Kau Kitchen column on Haupia