Salt Bird Preservation — Ancient Protein Storage

Overview

Ancient Hawaiians preserved seabirds (particularly shearwaters/ʻuaʻu) by salting and drying. The birds were caught during nesting season, cleaned, heavily salted with paʻakai, and dried in the sun and wind. Like dried aku (HI-44), salt birds were shelf-stable protein for lean times. The technique was the same as fish preservation: salt + sun + wind = concentrated, preserved protein.

Key Principles

1. Seabirds cleaned, salt-cured, sun-dried. Stored for months.

Pro Tips

Seabirds cleaned, salt-cured, sun-dried. Stored for months.

Source

Pacific Migration Trail