Why Keiki Steps Matter: What the ʻUlu Animal Cracker Really Represents for Hawaiʻi’s Local Food Movement

Last summer, we announced our partnership with Diamond Bakery to develop and launch the new ʻUlu Blueberry Animal Crackers for Hawaiʻi schools, and we were met with a wide range of reactions: many enthusiastic, some less so.

The most common concern we heard was: “If ʻulu flour is such a powerful local ingredient, why is it only a small percentage of the recipe?” It’s a fair question that deserves a thoughtful and transparent answer.

It’s also important to share how this product came to be in the first place. The ʻUlu Blueberry Animal Cracker was initiated through Kamehameha Schools (KS) in an effort to intentionally connect local producers with established manufacturers to develop value-added snacks crafted specifically for KS preschool students.

Today, these crackers are served across all three KS campuses, as well as other schools including Hawaiʻi Preparatory Academy and Hawaiʻi Baptist Academy. From the beginning, this product was envisioned as a keiki-centered entry point for local ingredients into institutional food systems.

The Power of Getting a Foot in the Door
For our farmer-owned cooperative, this partnership is about more than a single product or a single recipe: it’s about small producers gaining access to big markets.

Large, established manufacturers like Diamond Bakery operate at a scale that most local farmers and food producers in Hawaiʻi simply cannot access on their own, especially when it comes to supplying large volume institutional markets like schools. These companies already have the infrastructure, food safety systems, distribution networks, and longstanding relationships needed to feed thousands of keiki every day. 

When a local, Hawaiʻi-grown ingredient like ʻulu enters that system, it sets important precedents: proving that local ingredients – aggregated by a farmer-owned cooperative from small and mid-sized growers – can work at scale, that farmers can meet the standards of major producers, and that imported ingredients don’t have to be the default forever. As of this writing, Diamond Bakery has routed 1,000 pounds of Hawai‘i-grown ‘ulu into their factory, with more orders on the horizon.

This is how doors open… and once open, they tend to open wider.

ʻUlu Flour Is Not a Wheat Substitute
Anyone who has baked with ʻulu flour knows this truth instantly: it is not a one-to-one replacement for wheat flour.

ʻUlu flour behaves differently. This gluten-free product absorbs more moisture, imparts a non-neutral flavor, and gives body to baked goods. It impacts texture, structure, and shelf life in unique ways. For a bakery like Diamond, whose production lines have been refined over the span of 100 years to work seamlessly with wheat, introducing a new ingredient is not as simple as swapping one bag of flour for another.

Adaptations to bring in a novel ingredient like ‘ulu flour take time, resources, and a willingness to experiment. Starting with a smaller percentage of ʻulu flour is the practical first step toward integration, and we’re deeply grateful for Diamond Bakery’s interest in paving the way for other local manufacturers to take note. They’re helping us prove that consumers want local ingredients in their food, and that even the big guys can pull it off.

Baby Steps Build Entire Systems
Think of this moment like laying the first stone of a foundation. On its own, that stone may look insignificant. You can’t live in it. You can’t see the house yet. But without it, nothing else can stand. In nature, massive structures are built this way all the time: Coral reefs begin with tiny polyps, forests begin with a single seed, canoes begin with one careful cut into a log. 

Our food system is no different.

Rebuilding a local, resilient food economy after generations of import dependence does not happen overnight. It emerges from consistent effort towards building relationships and trust, with incremental wins that prove what’s possible.

Why This Partnership Matters (especially for keiki)
Diamond Bakery’s production of ‘Ulu Blueberry Animal Crackers means thousands of students are being introduced (often for the first time) to ʻulu as a modern, familiar food. Not as an abstract concept. Not as a history lesson. But as something delicious that they recognize and enjoy. That cultural and sensory connection matters. It plants awareness and relationship alongside nourishment.

And for local farmers, it signals something just as important: There is a future where Hawaiʻi-grown staples are part of everyday foods, not just for niche products or farmers markets – but the foods our institutions rely on.

Don’t Worry, We’re Just Getting Started!
We don’t see this cracker as the final expression of ʻulu’s potential. We see it as one of many starting points that open doors to deeper inclusion, higher percentages, new products, and bigger partnerships. Progress in local food systems is rarely loud. It’s steady and relational, and it often starts with baby steps that only reveal their full importance in hindsight.

We’re grateful to Diamond Bakery for taking this step with us and we’re committed to continuing the work, step by step, toward a food system rooted in Hawaiʻi-grown abundance.