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How salt is made by Native Hawaiians at Kauai salt patches

Native Hawaiian salt has been hand made for generations. And as a part of the culture and spiritual practice, it has always been given away or traded, but never sold.

By Associated Press

Jan. 7, 2024

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ASSOCIATED PRESS

Kurt Kuali'i, father of Elijah Kuali'i and Arianna Kuali'i, stands with his fellow salt makers, Ivan Kaneko, Tanya Kaneko and their son Taivan Kaneko, for a portrait in front of the Hanapepe salt patch in Hanapepe, Hawaii.
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Pi'ilani Taniguchi Butler carries a bucket of wet clay to her family's salt beds.
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Kane Turalde reaches into a salt bed to examine the salt crystals.
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Kane Turalde digs dark, wet clay into buckets to rebuild his family's salt beds at the Hanapepe salt patch.
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A sign and large boulders mark the edge of the Hanapepe salt patch near Salt Pond Beach Park.
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From left, siblings Kekanemekala Taniguchi Butler, Pi'ilani Taniguchi Butler, and Anali'a Taniguchi Butler use dark, wet clay to reconstruct salt beds used in making traditional Hawaiian salt.
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Malia Nobrega-Olivera, a Native Hawaiian salt maker, holds Hawaiian salt, or "paakai."
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Malia Nobrega-Olivera shows a photo of her grandparents making Hawaiian salt, or "paakai," while sitting at Salt Pond Beach Park in Hanapepe, Hawaii.
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Native Hawaiian salt from years past lay dried in the Hanapepe salt patch.
10/16
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Sonia Topenio stands for a portrait, her legs covered in mud after working in the Hanapepe salt patch.
11/16
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Salt water evaporates in the mid-summer sun leaving behind layers of salt crystals at the Hanapepe salt patch.
12/16
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Kanani Santos stands for a portrait near his family's salt beds used in making Native Hawaiian salt.
13/16
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Tina Taniguchi prepares one of her family's many salt beds by rubbing it with a smooth river rock.
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Salt begins to form in one of the dozens of salt beds in the Hanapepe salt patch on Kauai Island.
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Roz Choi, left, and friend Eddie Topenio, tend to Choi's family salt beds in Hanapepe, Hawaii. The Choi family is one of 22 who over generations have dedicated themselves to the cultural and spiritual practice of "paakai," or Hawaiian salt.
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Kekanemekala Taniguchi, son of Tina Taniguchi, smooths wet black clay onto the wall of a salt bed in the Hanapepe salt patch.

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