Kulolo is a Hawaiian dessert made with taro, coconut milk, honey, and brown sugar. In the past Hawaiians cooked kulolo in an “imu”, an underground oven. These days you’ll find kulolo baked in kitchen ovens – read this post to for our easy kulolo recipe: How to Make Kulolo in a Crockpot!
What is Kulolo?
Kulolo is a traditional Hawaiian dessert made from grated taro (kalo in Hawaiian), coconut milk, brown sugar and honey. It’s steamed or baked for several hours – generally 8-12 hours – depending on the quantity. The dessert has a fudge-like consistency and is served by cutting the kulolo into squares.
You’ll find kulolo served at dessert tables at Hawaiian gatherings, and also for sale at grocery stores across the islands. Read more about Kulolo, the dessert staple in Kauai.
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Traditional Way of Making Kulolo
I used to eat kulolo at luaus many years ago. But as I grew older I noticed it was easily replaced with haupia and now more modern desserts like cupcakes, cakes and cookies. Making kulolo is a labor of love, and because of this, rarely makes an appearance at social gatherings. Because it’s so time-consuming to make, it has become somewhat of a lost art.
As a child, I remember watching just how tedious the process was to make kulolo from scratch. My uncles would start by grating fresh coconuts, then adding hot water to squeeze out the fresh coconut milk. They would peel and grate the taro, using their bare hands.
They’d use leftover coconut rind to rub their hands because taro has irritating, needle-like crystals (oxalic acid). Handling taro root and taro leaves can cause unpleasant itching, thank goodness today we have gloves to solve this problem. * Note: do not touch your mouth or eyes when handling raw taro, it will itch…badly.
Primarily steamed, kulolo has a solid consistency just like fudge and is often cut into squares before being served.
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The traditional way of baking kulolo would require the mixture to be placed in the imu alongside the pig that was just about to be cooked for a luau (kalua pig), allowing both the pig and dessert to be cooked nice and slow.
Modern recipes call for placing the mixture in a pan, covering it with aluminum foil and baking it in a standard oven for about 1–2 hours. My version involves a mixture of both, which you’ll find below.
How to Make Kulolo in a Crockpot
Usually, you would grate the taro, but I prefer putting it in a food processor to get uniform sized pieces.
There are only 4 ingredients to make kulolo; taro, honey, brown sugar, and coconut milk. Get the ingredients below!
It’s very hard for me to be exact with measurements because honestly, I do it all by sight. But the last batch I made sure to note the measurements so I could share this much-requested recipe with all of you!
Because I live in a condo in downtown Honolulu, and I don’t have access to an imu (which would be the ideal way to make kulolo) I created an “urban” version, using a crockpot, and managed to make the best Kulolo using it!
Looking for a crockpot? I used a 2 Qt Crockpot
to make the below recipe.
There are many versions of kulolo but here is a recipe my cousin Ana from the Big Island learned from our kupuna out there in Kalapana.
Crockpot Kulolo Ingredients
- 4 cups grated taro
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 3/4 cup honey
- 1 cup coconut milk
- 4 ti leaves
Instructions
Line crockpot with 3-4 ti leaf.
Mix all ingredients together with a large spoon or by hand (if you’re a real native) and you’re feeling adventurous and not afraid of getting itchy hands!
Pour taro mixture into crockpot and cover mixture with ti leaves. Leave in a crock pot for 10-12 hours on low heat.
Turn crockpot off, use a spatula to loosen up kulolo from crockpot wall.
Let cool completely. Remove from crockpot, disgard ti leaves and cut into desired pieces, share with your ohana!
Notes
Kulolo should look light brown on all sides, not dark brown (burnt) like my first batch because I put the crockpot on high for 10 hours. Don’t make the same mistake I did!
Easy Crockpot Kulolo
Ingredients
- 4 cups grated taro
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 3/4 cup honey
- 1 cup coconut milk
- 4 ti leaves
Instructions
-
Line crockpot with ti leaves.
-
Mix all ingredients - grated taro, brown sugar, honey, and coconut milk - together.
-
Pour taro mixture into crockpot and cover mixture with ti leaves. Leave in a crock pot for 10-12 hours on low heat.
-
Turn crockpot off, use spatula to loosen up kulolo from crockpot wall.
-
Let cool completely before removing. Cut into desired pieces, and share with your ohana!
Recipe Notes
Your kulolo should look light brown on all sides, not dark brown (burnt) like my first batch because I put the crockpot on high for 10 hours.
Have you tried making Kulolo before? Let me know in the comments below how you make kulolo!
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Want to learn how to make more Hawaiian food? Check out our easy, kid-friendly take on Malasadas – Easy Malasada Recipe, our Hawaii-style Macaroni Salad, and our favorite kid-friendly snack from Hawaii, Spam Musubi.