The best souvenirs from Hawaii are those that will remind you of your time in this remarkable island paradise. You might find yourself drawn to a printed Aloha shirt, or perhaps a handcrafted ukulele to strum back home. Gourmands will want to stock up on fragrant passion fruit jam, chocolate-covered macadamia nuts, and luscious local honey.
Those looking for something truly luxurious may find themselves drawn to jewelry crafted from locally harvested pearls.
If you’re wondering what to buy in Hawaii, there’s no end of crafts, snacks, spirits, and other souvenirs that will fit in your suitcase. While you may not be able to quite bring the Aloha spirit home, you can always pack a small reminder to tide you over until you return.
Kona Coffee
Kona coffee
While coffee beans are grown in more than 70 countries around the world, few are as prized as those grown in Hawaii’s Kona Coffee Belt. There are a few factors as to why these beans are so highly sought-after. For starters, Hawaii’s mineral-rich, volcanic soil is exceptionally fertile and perfect for growing coffee. The level of rainfall, amount of sunlight, and overall climate also make for ideal growing conditions.
Perhaps almost as important is the way that Kona coffee is grown and produced. In contrast to much of the mass-produced coffee, these beans are almost entirely grown by small farms. That means workers tend to be paid a living wage. Because this is an American product, Kona coffee cannot be fair trade-certified. It is, however, generally ethically produced.
Kona coffee
Since these are small businesses that care about quantity over volume, every step of production is carefully controlled. Only the very best coffee cherries make the cut here and roasting is done almost entirely by hand in small batches. The result is an incomparably smooth, balanced cup.
Macadamia Nuts
Macadamia nuts
Like coffee beans, pineapples, and sugarcane, macadamia nuts are not native to Hawaii, but have become a major crop here over the last century. William Purvis first brought over trees from Australia in 1881. The trees thrive there and many now believe that Hawaii produces the finest macadamia nuts in the world.
Macadamia nuts boast an exceptionally rich, buttery flavor profile. They’re delicious simply roasted and salted, although they take plenty of other forms here. Consider picking up macadamia nut chocolates, macadamia nut spreads, or other treats to take home.
For travelers, macadamia nuts carry the added bonus of being highly portable. They’re easy to pack into a carry-on. And unlike many agricultural products, they’re legal to bring through customs in many countries.
Read: What to Pack for Hawaii
Hawaiian Sea Salt
Hawaiian sea salt
As chefs will eagerly tell you, salt has terroir just like many other food products. In few places is this more true than in Hawaii. The archipelago’s volcanoes lend a distinctive flavor to various kinds of sea salt harvested here.
Black lava sea salt, sometimes referred to as Uahi, makes for a particularly striking addition to any dish. As the name implies, this unique salt is jet-black, although the distinctive coloring is not actually the result of any lava flows. Instead, producers naturally tint the locally harvested sea salt with activated charcoal made from coconut shells.
Similarly, Hawaiian red sea salt, or Alaea salt, gets its rust-colored tint by being mixed with Hawaiian volcanic clay high in iron oxide. The result looks like something harvested from the surface of Mars. Native Hawaiians have used this particular seasoning in dishes such as pipikaula, a kind of jerky used for sea voyages, and Kalua pig for generations.
Koa Wood Crafts
Koa wood crafts
In ancient times, Native Hawaiians carved Acacia koa wood into outrigger canoes sturdy enough to brave the waters of the Pacific Ocean. The wood of this endemic Hawaiian tree is renowned for being both especially hard and remarkably beautiful.
Nowadays, harvesting of koa wood is extremely tightly regulated in Hawaii in order to ensure the continued survival of these forests. These trees are an important part of the archipelago’s ecosystems and can live for more than a century. Much of the wood harvested comes from fallen trees or regular pruning to maintain the health of the forest.
As a result, authentic products made from koa wood tend to be on the expensive side, but they’re very much worth the investment. Whether you pick up an acoustic guitar or a charcuterie board made of koa wood, you can bet it will stay in your family for generations.
Hawaiian Spirits
Whiskey
Travelers looking for a boozy souvenir to take home have plenty of ways to bring back a touch of the tropics to their home bars. There are a number of craft distilleries in Hawaii making rum, whiskey, and other spirits. There are also several producers making amaros using Hawaiian fruits and botanicals.
You can even find gin made with local Hawaiian botanicals, which add a tropical touch to a martini or G&T. Fid Street Gin, for instance, is produced in Maui and tastes distinctly of the Hawaiian pineapples used in its production.
For a truly unique addition, keep an eye out for Okolehao, a distinctly Hawaiian spirit distilled from the root of the ti plant. This potent elixir often hovers around 50% ABV, so it’s definitely a slow sipper. It has notes of caramelized sugar, along with hints of tropical fruits like pineapples and bananas.
Pearl Jewelry
Akoya pearls
If you’re wondering what to buy in Hawaii for a special someone, it’s hard to imagine anything better than pearl necklaces, earrings, and bracelets. Pearls were highly valued in Hawaii long before pearl farming began in the 1920s. Historically, they were associated with Hawaiian royalty and considered one of the highest status symbols.
One of the most common varieties of pearls you’ll find here are Akoya pearls. These lustrous, salt-water cultured pearls are known for their symmetry and shine. Many are produced right here in the archipelago.
Tahitian pearls
Another one of the most sought-after pearls here are black pearls, also known as Tahitian pearls. These stunning jewels mostly hail from French Polynesia, but are also associated with Hawaii. When shopping for black pearls in Hawaii, you may notice that most of them aren’t entirely black, but tinged with greens, blues, and other shades.
Beyond their beauty, there are a number of reasons why true black pearls are so rare and coveted. Pinctada margaritifera, the Tahitian pearl oyster, can grow up to a foot in diameter and weigh as much as 10 pounds, meaning their pearls tend to be large. Coaxing these bivalves to grow black pearls requires years of work on the part of humans.
Read: Why a Cruise Is the Best Way to See Hawaii
Aloha Shirts
Aloha shirts
From the moment you arrive in Hawaii, you’ll notice that the colorful, floral-printed shirts sometimes called Hawaiian shirts are indeed all over the place. These distinctive garments first cropped up around the late 1920s and early 1930s. They may have been influenced by Japanese prints, although they typically sported Hawaiian flowers and motifs.
After World War II, Aloha shirts became popular all over the United States, thanks to the military men who had spent time on Hawaii’s bases. In the 1960s, the Hawaii Fashion Guild promoted the concept of “Aloha Fridays” or “casual Fridays” in order to sell more shirts. Comfortable, breezy aloha shirts came to stand for a laid-back, relaxed attitude in pop culture.
Finding Aloha shirts in Hawaii is easy—just about every shopping center has plenty of them—but finding good quality ones can take a bit more work. The best examples of the genre are made of natural, breathable fabrics and sport gorgeously designed prints.
Flower Leis
Leis
Floral leis have been worn by Polynesian people since ancient times. Different colors of flowers and different styles of braids carry different symbolic meanings. To this day, many visitors to the island receive one of these beautiful garlands on arrival.
As with any floral arrangement, part of the beauty of leis lies in their ephemeral nature. A fresh flower lei will generally last less than a week. Still, you can generally take your lei with you as a memorable, if impermanent, souvenir. If you’re planning on traveling to the continental United States next, just be sure to ask the merchant if your lei contains fruits or banned flora.
Pineapple Products
Pineapples
The history of Hawaii is strongly intertwined with a certain spiky Central American fruit. In 1922, American entrepreneur James Dole purchased the entire island of Lanai to grow pineapples. Although Hawaii produces fewer pineapples these days, it’s still well-known for them.
There are several varieties of pineapples to look out for while in Hawaii. Smooth Cayenne is by far the most common variety, although Maui Gold is sweeter and more balanced. For a real treat, look for Sugarloaf pineapples. This rare, delicious variety seldom makes it outside of Hawaii.
Fresh pineapples are, of course, tricky to take away as souvenirs from Hawaii. For a carry-on-friendly gift, consider picking up dried pineapples or pineapple jam. You can also often find chocolate-covered dried pineapple, which makes for a lovely snack.
Ukulele
Ukulele
This four-stringed instrument may hail from Portugal, but it’s almost universally associated with Hawaii these days. Considered part of the lute family of instruments, the ukulele is relatively easy to learn to play. They make a terrific souvenir or gift for the musically inclined friend or family member in your life.
The ukulele became popular in Hawaii in the late 1800s, right around the time a group of musicians from the Portuguese island of Madeira arrived. King Kalākaua, the last king of Hawaii, was partial to the sounds of the ukulele. He began having musicians play it at official royal parties and soon it was everywhere.
Hawaiian Quilts
Hawaiian quilt
Handmade Hawaiian quilts make for a lovely, long-lasting souvenir back home. The art form is thought to date back to the early 1800s. Although the fabrics used may have initially come from missionaries, Hawaiians soon made the craft their own.
True Hawaiian quilts typically feature intricate, symmetrical designs all stitched by hand. Because of the level of skill and the amount of labor required to produce one, the finer examples of the genre are often hundreds or even thousands of dollars. This is one case where it’s worth splashing out in order to support local artisans.
White Kiawe Honey
Hawaiian honey
Honey is one of those gifts that always carries a sense of place. Whatever flowers the bees decide to pollinate will ultimately determine the flavor profile of the honey. Buckwheat honey is dark brown with molasses-like notes. Clover honey is pale gold with delicate floral notes. So naturally, the unique flora of Hawaii produces honey unlike any other in the world.
While any locally produced Hawaiian honey is bound to be special, there is one exceptionally rare variety worth seeking out. Kiawe honey comes from the flowers of a desert mesquite tree, which missionaries brought to the islands in the 19th century. Today, Hawaii is one of the only places left in the world where they grow.
White kiawe honey has an ethereal floral fragrance and notes of almond and vanilla. It also has a remarkable creamy texture, which makes it perfect for spreading like jam on toast. Because production is so low, white kiawe honey is nearly impossible to find outside of Hawaii. Pick up a few jars, which will last for several months, especially if refrigerated.
Lilikoi Jelly
Lilikoi jelly
Passion fruit, which is known as lilikoi in Hawaii, was introduced to Hawaii in the 1920s. The trees flourished and their sweet, tart fruits quickly became part of Hawaiian cuisine. While travelers are generally not allowed to bring fresh fruit through customs, there’s a loophole here.
Lilikoi jams and jellies are legal to transport internationally and can preserve that brilliant tropical flavor for months. These fruit jams typically have a wonderfully sunny golden color and bring a touch of brightness to any breakfast spread. They also make for a wonderful, unconventional twist on Linzer cookies and other festive baked goods.
Oahu
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