Hawaii

Hawaiian Salt Makers Aim to Protect Tradition

Published

2 years ago

January 12, 2024

Hawaiian Salt Makers Aim to Protect Tradition

Last summer on the Hawaiian Island of Kauai, Tina Taniguchi was working close to the ground. Her coconut leaf hat covered most of her thick brown hair. Wet soil had gotten on her clothes and her smiling face.

Taniguchi smiles a lot while working on the Hanapepe salt patch on the west side of Kauai. It is a piece of land about half a hectare in size with pools of salty water. The salt becomes crystals as the water dries.

“It’s hard work, but for me it’s also play,” Taniguchi said with a laugh.

Spiritual tradition

Taniguchi’s family is one of 22 families who make “paakai,” the Hawaiian word for salt, following a cultural and spiritual tradition. Hanapepe is one of the last remaining salt patches in Hawaii. Its holy salt can be traded or given away but must never be sold. Hawaiians use it in cooking, healing, rituals and as protection.

Tina Taniguchi prepares one of her family’s many salt beds by rubbing it with a smooth river rock on July 10, 2023, in Hanapepe, Hawaii. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)

Taniguchi drives a car for about an hour to get to the salt patch. For her, it is like religion and play at the same time. It is the time when she makes a spiritual connection to the land.

“This would be a religious practice of mine for sure,” Taniguchi said. “My dad raised us saying that these mountains are his church, and the ocean is where you get cleansed.”

Malia Nobrega-Olivera is another salt maker. She is also an educator and activist who leads efforts to preserve this old tradition. Her grandfather helped form the group of salt-making families called Hui Hana Paakai. The organization’s goal, she said, is to communicate with the landowner, the state of Hawaii, whenever problems arise. Nobrega-Olivera said the salt patch is part of the lands taken away from Native Hawaiians after the U.S.-supported overthrow of Hawaii’s monarchy in 1893.

Salt crystals at the Hanapepe salt patch on Sunday, July 9, 2023, in Hanapepe, Hawaii. Each year, 22 Native Hawaiian families keep the tradition alive by tending to the salt ponds. The salt they make can only be traded or given away. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)

Native claims to the land

“Regardless of what a piece of paper might say, we are stewards of the area,” she said.

Over the past 10 years there have been several threats to this field. They include development, pollution from a neighboring airfield, damage to the sand from vehicle traffic and waste left by visitors to the nearby beach. In addition, rising sea levels and weather might stop the practice.

Nobrega-Olivera believes Western science and native knowledge can combine to combat the effects of climate change and save the salt patch. The steps she takes include building up the wells’ edges, so water won’t cover the salt beds. Another step is to prevent damage to the beach from vehicle traffic.

“Some ask us why we can’t move this practice to a different location,” she said. “That’s impossible because our cultural practice is particular to this land. There are elements here that make this place special for making this type of salt. You cannot find that anywhere else.”

Kekanemekala Taniguchi smooths wet black clay onto the wall of a salt bed in the Hanapepe salt patch on July 12, 2023, in Hanapepe, Hawaii. AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)

The process of making salt

The process of turning sea water into salt can be slow. The season begins once the rain stops, and water starts to disappear from the salt beds. Ocean water travels underground and enters the wells. Each family has their own well. As water enters the well, so do tiny, red brine shrimp. These small ocean animals give Hanapepe salt its unusual, sweet taste, said Nobrega-Olivera.

The families first clean the salt beds and line them with black clay. Then they move water from the wells into the beds. There, salt crystals form. The top level, or layer, is the whitest. It is used for table salt. The middle layer is pinkish and is used in cooking, while the bottom layer, which is a deep red color, is used in blessings and rituals.

Fires on the island of Maui in August claimed 100 lives. After the fires, salt makers began sending their salt to survivors, so they can “make their food delicious and bring some of that joy into their lives,” Nobrega-Olivera said.

From left, siblings Kekanemekala, Pi'ilani and Anali'a Taniguchi Butler use wet clay to make salt bedson July 12, 2023, in Hanapepe, Hawai. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski) — From left, siblings Kekanemekala, Pi’ilani and Anali’a Taniguchi Butler use wet clay to make salt bedson July 12, 2023, in Hanapepe, Hawai. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)

Keeping traditions alive

Interest in Hawaiian culture and language has recently grown on the islands, Nobrega-Olivera said. She now thinks about how to teach her knowledge to younger generations.

One way she honors the Hanapepe salt patch is by writing Hawaiian songs and chants. She recently taught some school children one of those chants using the words aloha aina, which means “love of the land.”

“Aloha aina captures our philosophy, the reason we do this,” Nobrega-Olivera said. “You take care of the land, and the land takes care of you.”

I’m Dan Friedell.

And I’m Jill Robbins.

Deepa Bharath reported on this story for the Associated Press. Jill Robbins adapted it for Learning English.

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Words in This Story

patch – n. a small area of land where a particular plant or crop grows or is produced

crystal – n. a small piece of a substance that has formed naturally into a regular symmetrical shape.

ritual – n. a religious service or other ceremony which involves a series of actions performed in a fixed order

cleanse – v. to make clean, pure

steward – n. someone who has the responsibility for looking after property

preserve – v. to save or protect something from damage or decay

clay – n. a kind of earth that is soft when it is wet and hard when it is dry

blessing – n. a prayer asking God to look kindly upon the people who are present or the event that is taking place

chant –n. to sing a word or phrase repeatedly usually in connection with prayers or a religious ceremony

philosophy –n. a system of ideas about truth and meaning

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Hawaii

Hawaii senator introduces bill to reunite, protect immigrant families

Published

8 hours ago

December 12, 2025

Press Room

Hawaii senator introduces bill to reunite, protect immigrant families

WASHINGTON, D.C. (HawaiiNewsNow) – U.S. Senators Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) and Tammy Duckworth (D-Illinois) reintroduced a piece of legislation on Thursday to strengthen protections for immigrant families and address long-standing problems in the family immigration system.

The Reuniting Families Act aims to reduce visa backlogs, boost efficiency across the immigration process, and ensure a fairer, more humane process for immigrant families.

“Immigrant families currently experience unnecessary obstacles and delays due to our country’s broken immigration system, keeping families separated for potentially long periods of time,” Hirono said. “By reducing family-based immigration backlogs and making common sense updates to how we treat families, the Reuniting Families Act will help take the first step in the right direction to keeping families together as they navigate our immigration system.”

According to the senators behind this bill, nearly four million people with approved visa applications are currently trapped in a massive immigration backlog, with many waiting more than a decade to reunite with their loved ones.

“As Donald Trump’s inhumane mass deportation campaign rips apart families and communities across the country, it’s paramount we address the unnecessary barriers in our immigration system that have created backlogs and kept families apart for years,” Duckworth said. “Our legislation would implement commonsense reforms to help end family-based backlogs, which keep too many with approved green card applications stuck in bureaucratic limbo, and help get more families where they belong—together.”

The Reuniting Families Act would shorten delays by recapturing unused visas, rolling them into future years, expanding who qualifies as a family member to include permanent partners, and increasing both the total number of available family preference visas and per-country limits.

The bill would also put a time limit on visa processing, so no applicant has to wait more than 10 years for a visa if they have an approved application.

Click here to read the full bill.

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Hawaii

Rouhliadeff scores 16, Hawaii beats D-II Hawaii Hilo 98-46

Published

20 hours ago

December 11, 2025

Press Room

Rouhliadeff scores 16, Hawaii beats D-II Hawaii Hilo 98-46

HONOLULU (AP) — Henry Rouhliadeff scored 16 points to lead six Hawaii players in double figures and the Rainbow Warriors beat Division-II Hawaii Hilo 98-46 on Wednesday night.

Rouhliadeff made 6 of 9 from the field and finished with nine rebounds and five assists. Dre Bullock scored 12 points for Hawaii (9-2) and Hunter Erickson, Aaron Hunkin-Claytor, Gytis Nemeiksa and Isaac Finlinson added 11 points apiece.

Jamal Entezami led Hawaii Hilo with 11 points and Jessiya Villa scored 10.

Hawaii shot 51% overall and made 13 3-pointers. The Rainbow Warriors, who went into the game averaging 13.4 assists per game, had a season-high 25 assists on 35 made field goals.

The 52-point margin of victory was Hawaii’s largest since a 106-49 win over Redlands on Jan. 28, 1972, and the third largest in program history. The Rainbow Warriors beat BYU Hawaii by 67 (106-49) in the 1962-63 season.

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Hawaii

Chef Sam Choy: America’s best poke not from Hawaii is a ‘slap in the face’

Published

1 day ago

December 11, 2025

Press Room

Chef Sam Choy: America’s best poke not from Hawaii is a ‘slap in the face’

HONOLULU (KHON2) — Poke is a dish created by Native Hawaiians and perfected by local immigrants. But according to online reviews, the best poke in the country is not from Hawaii. And one world-renowned chef who’s credited with poke’s popularity calls it a “slap in the face.”

People are willing to stand in long lines every day for poke. So to say the best in the country is not in Hawaii – that’s fighting words for some.

“So for you to say that, yeah, I kinda like scrap kine,” said Branden Machado, poke connoisseur.

“Nah, I laugh, I laugh,” said Mike Sablay, poke connoisseur.

The restaurant in Big Bear, California, is called Tropicali and was recently reported to have America’s best poke, based on Yelp.

“When I heard that, I was very upset, because I well know, and as you well know, and our millions of listeners and watchers of our station, they well know that the best poke is in Hawaii,” said Sam Choy, world-renowned celebrity chef/restaurateur.

“When I read that, I felt a little slighted,” said Chris Kam, Alicia’s Market. “Understandable, people from the mainland don’t really know what Hawaiian poke is about.”

With a large shark’s head as the front entrance, the decor – just like the menu – is said to be based on Hawaiian culture, but not to emulate it. So poke there – and elsewhere on the continent – looks much different from the poke bowls we’re used to seeing in Hawaii.

“It came with cucumbers, it came with won ton strips, I ordered the spicy one, so it came with the spicy sauce, and then I ordered unagi sauce on the side, and it tasted so good,” said one anonymous local who tried Tropicali and liked it. “It tasted so fresh, I was so surprised it was crazy.”

“That’s not poke, that’s like a salad,” said Kam.

“Nah, nothing can beat back home,” said Sablay. “Everything over here is like the best. Everything’s all local, everything’s all fresh.”

“Like on Oahu, we have the freshest fish, we have the best recipes, like and it’s not only us,” said Justin Tanioka, Tanioka’s Seafood & Catering. “It’s other companies around the island that have mastered poke.”

Since this is a Yelp award, having great Yelp reviews does help. Tropicali currently has more than 4,000 reviews and maintains a 4.9 Star rating. However, locals say to declare themselves the best in the country for a food that’s not only born in Hawaii, but beloved in Hawaii, is extremely bold.

“It’s definitely a slap in the face for all the poke makers in Hawaii who work unbelievably hard to create their magical dishes,” said Choy. “Two things. One, we use fresh fish. And the other one is tender loving care, TLC is in there. We’re putting our heart and soul in that. We’re representing our history, we’re representing our aina, we’re representing all the people in the past that made poke.”

“It’s all preference, and you know where you are,” said Tanioka. “But to me, the best poke in the world, honestly, is in Oahu.”

“Cuz check that out, Big Bear ain’t got nothing on this, my cuz,” said Machado. “We get the best poke in the world. Bumbye, we teach you.”

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