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1
Steam or bake the kalo in the imu — or, where an imu is unavailable, steam over boiling water — until the corms are completely soft throughout. There must be no raw core: insert a skewer to the centre of each corm; it must pass without resistance. Any underdone taro retains calcium oxalate crystals that produce an acrid, throat-irritating bite and render the poi inedible.
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2
Peel the corms while still warm. Place the peeled taro on the papa kuʻi ʻai — the hardwood pounding board. Begin working the pōhaku kuʻi ʻai — the basalt, calcite, or coral pestle — in a rhythmic pounding-and-turning motion. No water is added at this stage. The undiluted paste that forms is paʻi ʻai. It will be dense and difficult to work. The rhythmic sound of the stone on the board is the guide: it should be steady, unbroken.
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3
This is where the dish lives or dies. Continue pounding without interruption for twenty to forty-five minutes, adding water in the smallest possible increments — drops, not pours — as the paste develops. The water must be incorporated fully before more is introduced. The pounding must remain continuous and rhythmic throughout. It is this sustained, unbroken labour under the stone that builds the elastic starch network distinguishing poi from taro paste. A food processor can produce something that resembles poi; only the stone and the board and the sustained human work produce poi. When the poi is ready, it will stretch between the fingers like mozzarella before releasing cleanly, with no lumps, fibres, or dry patches visible.
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4
Assess consistency by the finger test. One-finger poi — the thickest — clings to a single finger lifted vertically from the bowl. Two-finger poi is moderately thinned. Three-finger poi is the thinnest, requiring three fingers to collect a useful scoop. Add water in increments and continue working briefly to reach the consistency preferred at table. The surface should carry a subtle sheen from the starch gel, and the colour — pale lavender-grey to deep amethyst depending on the kalo variety — should be uniform throughout.
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5
To serve fresh: the taste is mild, subtly sweet, and purely of cooked taro. To ferment: leave the poi at room temperature, loosely covered. After one day, a gentle lactic tang emerges behind the starch — clean and bright, like plain yogurt left open. After two days, the sourness deepens toward buttermilk and earth. The acidity must at all times be clean; any musty or alcoholic note signals a failed fermentation. Each family's preference for fermentation stage is its own.