Thread: Hawaiian snacks
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Travis McGee[_2_] Travis McGee[_2_] is offline
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Default Hawaiian snacks

I used to spend a lot of time in Hawaii, and one of the more interesting
stores there was Crack Seed Center, in the Ala Moana shopping center.
They sell a variety of interesting Hawaiian and Oriental snacks,
including dried and pickled fruits, macadamia nuts in various forms,
rice crackers, fish jerky, and so on. Back in the 80s and 90s, when I
traveled to Hawaii frequently, they made a lot of the items on the
premises; if you asked, they would take you into the back and show you
the barrels of fruits and such marinating in all of the mysterious
liquids that they use.

I haven't been there since the mid-90s, but I still order from their
website once every couple of years when they send me a promotional
email. I am partial to their various forms of mango (wet, dry, li hing,
and so on), but I usually order some of their other items just to get a
taste. The selection changes from year to year; they used to have an
eclectic assortment of rice crackers, for instance, but nowadays they
don't have much that you wouldn't find in your local Oriental market, or
even at Walmart in the Oriental foods section. Many of the Hawaiian
foods, though, I have never seen anywhere else but in Hawaii.

If you know a bit about Hawaiian food, or are curious about some of the
local treats, this is not a bad place to investigate. Prices are not too
steep, considering, and the service has been good (at least to me) over
the years.

www.crackseed.com

Li Hing, by the way, is a local Hawaiian way of seasoning all sorts of
things, including fruits and candy, with Li Hing Mui powder. They put it
on all sorts of surprising things, such as dried and pickled fruit, sour
gummi candy, gummi worms, and whatever else seems to strike their fancy.
It's pretty good, even though I am not usually a fan of licorice.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li_hing_mui