Tasaka Guri-Guri is a shop located in

Kahului Kahului () is a census-designated place (CDP) in Maui County in the U.S. state of Hawaii. It hosts the county's main airport (Kahului Airport), deep-draft harbor, light industrial areas, and commercial shopping centers. The population was 26,337 ...

, Maui,

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only state ...

that specializes in a sherbet known as ''guri-guri''.

History

Jokichi Tasaka first made ''guri-guri'' in the early 1900s while living in Japan. Jokichi called the dessert "goodie-goodie," as in something "good" to eat. His son Gunji Tasaka came to realize that it was difficult for the older Japanese people to pronounce the name, so he began to call it "''guri-guri''". Gunji Tasaka later migrated to the United States and continued to run the family business. Tasaka Guri-Guri has operated for over 100 years. The Tasaka family's business started with a store in Kahului, Maui. It then moved to

Wailuku Wailuku is a census-designated place (CDP) in and county seat of Maui County, Hawaii, United States. The population was 17,697 at the 2020 census. Wailuku is located just west of Kahului, at the mouth of the Iao Valley. In the early 20th centur ...

for a year, before returning to Kahului to the former Kahului Shopping Center for a couple of decades. It finally relocated to the Maui Mall in Kahului, where it has been since 1973. Tasaka Guri-Guri was honored in 2009 by the

Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii The Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii (JCCH, ja, ハワイ日本文化センター, ''Hawai Nihon Bunka Sentā'') is a cultural center and history museum in Moiliili, Hawaii that focuses on the Japanese-American experience in Hawaii, especially ...

for being "one of five local businesses that have stood the test of time and become inspiring stories of success."

Recipe

The typical ingredients of ''guri-guri'' are a mixture of flavored juices, guava juice,

lemon-lime soda A lemon-lime soft drink or lemon-lime soda, also known colloquially as lemonade in the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand and as cider in Japan and Korea, is a carbonated soft drink with lemon and lime flavoring. Popular brands includ ...

, and condensed milk. Tasaka Guri-Guri is offered in two flavors, pineapple and strawberry. Tasaka Guri-Guri's recipe has been kept a secret for over a century. In the early 2000s only Henry Tasaka, who was retired from the shop, and his two daughters, Gail and Cindy Tasaka, who took over the family business, knew the recipe.

References

{{Reflist Food and drink companies based in Hawaii Frozen desserts Family-owned companies of the United States Hawaiian desserts