Hawaiʻi public schools pilot new banana bread recipe featuring local ʻulu flour

Participating Hawaiʻi public schools, including Helemano Elementary, served ʻulu (breadfruit) banana bread for breakfast this month using local ʻulu flour, supplied by the Hawaiʻi ʻUlu Cooperative.

This is the first time that ʻulu flour is being incorporated into school meals. An estimated 240 pounds of ʻulu flour grown by local Hawaiʻi farmers was distributed to 90 participating schools, serving over 11,000 students. Local bananas, as available, were also used in the recipe. The Department is determining how local ‘ulu flour can be incorporated as a regular ingredient for future school meals.  

The effort is part of the Department’s farm-to-school initiative which aims to enhance food sustainability in Hawai‘i and aligns with Act 175, which focuses on improving the health of students while supporting local farmers.

Throughout the month of April, Hawaiʻi public school cafeterias statewide — like Helemano Elementary — were offered the opportunity to serve ʻulu (breadfruit) banana bread for breakfast using local ʻulu flour, supplied by the Hawaiʻi ʻUlu Cooperative.

This is the first time that ʻulu flour is being incorporated into school meals. 

An estimated 240 pounds of ʻulu flour grown by local Hawaiʻi farmers was distributed to 90 participating schools, serving over 11,000 students. Local bananas, as available, were also used in the recipe. 

The ʻulu banana bread recipe was developed and finalized by Kaiser High School’s school food services manager, Christian Lee-Tomita, and baker, Edison Ching. 

ʻUlu — in its fruit form — debuted in Hawaiʻi public school meals during the 2017-18 school year in a local-style kalua pork burrito and was also featured during the 2019-20 school year with ʻulu beef stew.

The fruit is naturally gluten-free, low fat, and contains all of the essential amino acids, fiber, vitamins A, B, and C, as well as phosphorus and iron. 

In addition to being dried and milled into flour — a potential substitute for all-purpose wheat flour — the versatile fruit can also be baked, boiled, roasted or fried to substitute potatoes, which are often imported to Hawai’i. 

Substituting ingredients with ʻulu not only has health and economic benefits, but it also helps the local environment and community. ʻUlu is one of the only staple foods that grows on trees so additional planted trees help boost reforestation efforts in Hawaiʻi. One tree produces about 450 pounds of fruit each growing season.

The Department is determining how local ‘ulu flour can be incorporated as a regular ingredient for future school meals. 

Hawaiʻi public schools are the state’s largest institutional consumer of food products, serving over 100,000 student meals a day. The Department continues to work closely with local vendors statewide to see how fresh local produce can be scaled across all schools in the future on a regular basis.