Ti plants blooming like crazy

[Chunkster]

The translation of okolehao I found said "iron butt" because of the look of the pots the plantation workers used to make it.

Getting back on topic, has anyone else experienced fragrant ti plants?

[Radiopeg]

I have no sense of smell, but even my green ti plants have flowers. Way more that I have seen. I'm looking forward to the bright berries that they have.

Peace and long life

[ElysianWort]

Yeah mine have a faint smell. I have good sniffer.
And I thought we were right on topic with the grog from the plant. [8D]

[terracore]

I don't know if the Hawaiians did this, but you can make a crude but effective pot still with just three bowls and fire. You simmer the fermented beverage in the first bowl over the fire, keeping it JUST below boiling if possible. (boiling point of ethanol is about 39 degrees lower than water, if you stay in that magic zone of about 174-211F the alcohol will begin to boil out with little water). A second bowl floats inside the first bowl (like a double boiler). A third bowl with a convex shape (or a standard pot lid placed upside down) is placed over the bowl with the simmering mash, preferably with cold water in third convex top bowl. Ice water works better but cold water will do.

The simmering heat causes the alcohol to evaporate out of the mash and it condenses on the bottom of the top convex bowl, eventually dripping into the floating bowl that captures the distillate. As the top convex bowl's water begins to warm, it can be ladled out and replaced with more cold water to maintain a good rate of alcohol condensation.

The resulting distillate can be distilled again to increase potency by repeating the process but using the distillate from the first run in place of the fermented mash.

Yes you can do this at home. Yes, it is illegal.

ETA: clarity

[ElysianWort]

Why terracore, you moonshine bootlegger you.

[Peter Epperson]

The term okolehao originated because the first distillation happened on a whaling ship using one of their tripots designed for rendering whale oil. An escaped prisoner from Australia caught a ride on a whaler headed for Hawaii. When he arrived he observed the Hawaiians enjoying a fermented beverage made from ti root. He told the Hawaiians that he could super charge that beer to something special and fermented it on board in their iron bottom kettle. Iron bottom=Okolehao. It became the kings favorite beverage. In 1920 okolehao won first place at the distillers convention in San Francisco.During prohibition the prime bootleg area of Hawaii was Waipio Valley. From the lookout today, you can still see the opposite side of the valley covered with ti plants.
Surprisingly, very surprisingly, the ti plant is related to agave. Agave is where tequila comes from.
Cooked ti roots are amazing sweet and delicious. Huge amounts of sugar there. Some roots weigh over 300 pounds!
Curious about okolehao, but unable to fins any real okolehao available to purchase, I started to make my own. Home distiller https://homedistiller.org/forum/index.php
can explain the basics but finding a recipe is not easy. Technically illegal but ignored by law enforcement these days just as beer brewing was a few years ago.

[ElysianWort]

https://kegnbottle.com/hawaiian-moonshine?utm_source=google_shopping&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI9P3vyquo3gIVkq_sCh3h3w0_EAYYASABEgKTsPD_BwE

I checked the "where we deliver button and Hawaii was lit up."

[Peter Epperson]

Sorry, but Hawaiian Moonshine is a poor representation of okolehao. In fact, it really sucks

[bananahead]

Yes, I even have cultivars Ive never seen bloom that are in full bloom right now...

fyi, Ki/Ti is in the Onion/Asparagus Family,
the Green one with no flowers is the 'canoe plant' thats been here for ca1500 yrs (they are all sterile male)... if your green Ki shows flowers its not the canoe plant, it is a cultivar brought to Hawaii far later, like the red etc ones...

the roots are high in sugar thus the roots were used to make candy, pre-contact,... and alcohol, post-contact... the alcohol was called 'Okolehao'
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Okolehao

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save our indigenous and endemic Hawaiian Plants... learn about them, grow them, and plant them on your property, ....instead of all that invasive non-native garbage I see in most yards... aloha