Hawaii’s most popular staple, Spam, turned 86 on Wednesday, July 5th!  Spam was originally created by Minnesota’s Hormel Foods in 1937 as a way to help busy American housewives serve a quick and easy pork dish.  According to Spam’s website, there are 12.8 million cans of Spam products eaten every second – that’s a lot of Spam!

Introduced to Hawaii in the 1940’s to feed soldiers during World War II, Hawaii adopted this delicious treat into local cuisine.  In the US, Hawaii is the state with the highest per capita consumption of Spam with 7 million cans of Spam per year – that’s about 5 cans per person! Spam is actually a wonderful source of quick protein, often used in place of bacon or ham.

Did you know that there are 10 different varieties of Spam products? Do you have a favorite way to eat Spam?  My personal favorite is the Classic Spam musubi –   quick snack or lunch food composed of a slice of grilled Spam sandwiched either in between or on top of a block of rice, wrapped together with nori.   Spam is a versatile product and can be used in many recipes.