Kauai Spam Musubis
Nowadays no one would believe there would be a Hawaii without any spam let alone think that it could be made on an island other than Oahu. However, there is another story to the tale of spam that is not as often told, which is the Spam Musubi that is in beween shaped rice and a larger wrapping of nori and a strong salty flavor of the rice. This would be a secret for many years as the clock of time would move on with only those who lived on the island of Kauai would know between themselves. Triangle Musubis with Spam Triangle musubis had numerous varieties and were made with mixed rice that had all types of ingredients. In the 1980s, the jumbo sized rice balls "onigiri" that were shockingly big to Japan visitors would be added with the local favorite of Spam. A triangle musubi would be made with a piece of spam in the middle sticking out as it was wrapped with seaweed. Barbara Funamura In 1980's, Barbara Funamura used a plywood box from Matsuno Matsumoto-Kaohi to form the rice to its familiar shape. Later her husband would create a box made of koa wood with a cover press, which is a unique wood mold from Kauai. She would go on later to develop "Musuburrito" of rice-and-chorizo which was inspired by Stanley Funamura her son's suggestion. The Spam Musubi would be overshadowed at the time for the lesser known Gotenburg Sausage Musubi as it was an island delicacy. Spam Musubi would continue to other islands as construction workers were brought by plane as well as bank workers who would visit the island from time to time for business. It would not be long until there would be an almost confusing amount of varieties of Spam musubi on the island of Oahu. Hawaiian Wood Musubi Molds In Hawaii, making musubi was just making a food in the kitchen that just anyone could do from trying to replicate the dish that came from Kauai. However, what had happened from the popularity of the spam musubi and understanding of the Funamura family legacy would be a road for those who wanted more musubis. It would leave a spam musubi legacy for those who lived in Po'ipu and inspire some of the first Musubi Masters. Plastic presses would be bought from islanders at markets, but many would look to create their own traditional koa wood molds as a high quality mold to create more authentic Hawaii-style musubis. They would come from those who grew up eating at Okazuya and family restaurants and train in cooking many local foods. They would grow old and consider themselves Musubi makers, but later referred to as Musubi Masters. While many are gone there are still those who seek out working at local establishments to gain skills in the arts of quickly and effectly making a delicious Musubi. Po'ipu Spam Musubi Joni-Hana at Kukui Grove Center, sold commercial Spam Musubi for the first time. This would be known as an origins story to spam musubi on Kauai and debatably the origins of spam musubi, but what it does show is that it was the first spam musubi to have the spam placed in between two rice formed rectangles. There is not too much triangle musubis to the size of the way they were made before, but if you look for them a few grandma's out in Po'ipu may still be making it the old fashion way. Lihue Spam Musubi As Spam musubi became popular as a snack and lunch food it started to be seen closer to the city area. It is closer to what we see today as the sandwiched grilled spam in between a block of rice which is wrapped together with nori that has only the ends exposed. The Lihue Spam also is known to have furikake sprinkles that are spread on each rice block that is surrounding the spam. In Lihue it can be found all over the place these days and is just labeled as "Spam Musubi" or referred to as a sandwiched spam musubi. Koloa Spam Musubi There were a number of immigrants who had come from industries of pineapple, coffee, and sugar. After the war the land development for farming and the old industries were not as reliant of a business platform. For years families would survive on affordable foods like bags of rice. It would later be mixed thoroughly with furikake and sometimes shoyu to extend the flavor. This would later be applied to Spam Musubis as an option to use "furikake rice" which would be inspired from Gotenburg Sausage UFOs in the 90s. Waimea Spam Musubi As a hotbed of fishing in the 70s there were families who would travel to Waimea for its fish. They would dry out their fish or cook it enough that it could be mixed with rice. This would be the precursor to Kauai people who moved to oahu for better opportunities and took these same techniques with them. Later on they would use dry boxes, dried fish, sesame seeds, hanapepe salt, chopped seaweed, and ajinomoto and make furikake. In the 80s they would call it "Furikake Spam Musubi" from Kauai.
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