Talk:Haupia

Merge or not
When I think of Haupia, I think of coconut stuffings you put into cakes as a layer. Coconut bar IMHO is entirely different. Benjwong 18:18, 14 November 2007 (UTC)


 * The photo appears to show a coconut bar. Badagnani 18:35, 14 November 2007 (UTC)
 * Is the same problem with so many chinese food items. They look nearly identical but they taste entirely different.  Even if they are made of the same ingredients, is still different. Especially those sponge cakes.  Benjwong 18:49, 14 November 2007 (UTC)
 * Both the photo and description also seems to exactly represent a coconut bar. Badagnani 19:02, 14 November 2007 (UTC)
 * Tell me about it. Preferably if we can find someone from Hawaii who really knows their haupia and dim sum, they can tell us if it is really 100% identical. I believe coconut bar is far softer and has a standard taste.  Of course anything made with coconut has a coconut-flavor, which makes it even more confusing.  I like to think of coconut bar as like a big mac.  It is basically the same worldwide whereas haupia is not. Benjwong 19:07, 14 November 2007 (UTC)
 * Well, one major difference would be the use of Polynesian arrowroot (Tacca leontopetaloides) in traditional haupia. I can probably come up with a few more. &mdash;Viriditas | Talk 14:31, 31 January 2008 (UTC)

The two could be related but is definitely different
Hawaii has its own very long standing overseas Chinese communities that spring up largely independently from that of US mainland - even before it became a part of the US. For example, Dr Sun Yat-sen's brother was a farmer in Oahu and this is the place where Sun had first tasted Western-influenced civilization. I would like to think coconut bar is a dessert Hawaii's Chinese merchants brought back to China as a "foreign treat" based upon haupia. But this would constitute an original research.

On a practical level, I have tried coconut bar wherever I encountered it in restaurants or private homes, and I have tried making it myself many times, and I have also tried making haupia according to recipes found. Most common versions used agar agar and some others use gelatin or gelatin and agar agar, some would use agar agar and gelatin, with beaten egg whites added just before setting. The ones I like most use wheat starch (tang flour) and corn starch that gives you a type of creamy springy touch a little different from the jelly-like textures. Almost all common recipes use fresh milk or evaporated milk as well, which is never used in haupia. So I would say the two could be related, but definitely are different food now. --JNZ (talk) 07:56, 16 June 2009 (UTC)

Similar foods
There is an almost identical dish in the Philippines called "maja blanca". Pillsbury sells a "One Step Maja Blanca Mix" here, so it's fairly popular. It's considered a traditional dish, but looking at these other similar foods it's probably more a Austronesian/Polynesian(?) take on a Chinese original or the other way around.

Same basic recipe, but sometimes sweet corn kernels are added during the cooking for a bit of flavor. Also, instead of shredded coconut topping, some recipes use "latik", which is basically the crunchy coconut milk solids left after the extraction of the oil (sometimes this is sweetened with molasses).

Hmm... should there be another stub for "Maja blanca" or perhaps an umbrella category for these dishes? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Sideblues (talk • contribs) 15:17, 23 October 2009 (UTC)

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