We’re home, we’re hungry and local entrepreneurs are not about to let us perish.
Products newly made in Hawaii range from oversized lilikoi cookies and custom snacks mixes crafted by a one-woman baking operation, to a pineapple-peach pie from a long-established Big Island sweet shop.
Think of it as sweet, salty, crunchy, chewy snack sustenance: a little relief from the relentless dismal news of the day.
“So good a mongoose stole it.”
That’s Ashley Watts’ best endorsement of Fish Crack, the popular packages of dried fish she sells through her seafood distribution business, Local I‘a.
“One of my customers is a golfer. He said he left it in his golf cart and a mongoose stole it. He said, ‘Don’t leave it unattended.’”
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The addictive sticks of dehydrated fresh island fish make handy snacks for on-the-go people, like Watts. She said she named the product, created by one of Local I‘a’s longtime suppliers, after trying it for the first time while driving around the island to pick up and drop off fish.
“I took out a piece and closed the bag. Then I ate it and reopened the bag and ate another piece. Then I opened the bag again and ate another piece. This went on and on,” she recalled. “I like that it has a crunchy texture and lots of flavor.”
Fish Crack is the work of Waianae fisherman Joshua Soares, who’s involved in every step of the process, from catching the fish to packing the finished product into resealable bags.
“It takes quite a bit of labor. Catching ’em takes all day,” Soares said. “Then you cube ’em, then you slice ’em, then you strip ’em — all by hand with a knife.”
After half a day at the cutting board, he lines up the strips in a dehydrator, where they dry for eight to 12 hours.
Soares said he uses just three seasoning ingredients: salt, black pepper and, for a spicy version, chile pepper. The seasoning process is proprietary — “I got the recipe from an old-timer, another Waianae fisherman.”
A hundred pounds of fish makes just nine or 10 pounds of Fish Crack, as Soares’ drying process removes all the water, leaving the product shelf stable. (Watts got it tested.) He uses ahi, aku and marlin interchangeably. “You really cannot tell the difference when it’s dry like that,” he said.
Soares attributes the crispness of Fish Crack to an important step: draining the blood, which also tones down its fishiness.
Watts said she believes its texture and flavor make it appealing to a wider audience.
“It helps people who don’t like fish but want to eat more of it, because it’s not overly fishy,” she said. “But fish lovers will like it too.”
Soares agrees. In fact, his own anecdote ups the ante on the allure of Fish Crack, particularly for parents.
“Honestly, it replaces candy in my house,” he insisted. “I have kids in my household from ages 1 to 18, and if they’re left alone with it, they will eat it all ’til there’s none left.”
Find Fish Crack (about $13 for a 4-ounce bag) at the Local I‘a booth at FarmLovers Kaka‘ako Farmers Market (8 a.m. to noon Saturdays) and Mililani Farmers Market (8 to 11 a.m. Sundays); Kokua Market; and Kalapawai Market locations.
