The Story Behind POG in Hawaiʻi
Enjoy this local flavor made in Hawai‘i and beyond from equal parts passion fruit, orange and guava juice.
If the mai tai is Hawai‘i’s official cocktail, then POG is its official juice.
Unlike Green River or Melona—flavors revered in Hawai‘i but not from Hawai‘i—POG was created on Maui at Haleākala Dairy (now Meadow Gold) in 1971. If you grew up here in the ’70s and ’80s you probably lived on the stuff. In 2001, Hawaiian Sun introduced its version: Pass-O-Guava. Both are sold in grocery stores statewide.
POG is an acronym for passion fruit (or liliko‘i), orange and guava, all fruits grown in Hawai‘i. The drink is a perfect combination of the three.
Today, you can find POG in everything from mimosas to shave ice. Monkeypod Kitchen, famous for its mai tai, makes a nonalcoholic version using POG instead of rum. Asato Family Shop on O‘ahu makes a sorbet fusing POG and condensed milk. Farm Link Hawai‘i, an online store that connects farmers with customers, carries four POG products: POG Pono Pie by Maui Breadfruit Co., POG hard seltzer by Maui Brewing Co., POG chocolate by Onomea Chocolate and POG culinary syrup by Slow Island.
View this post on Instagram
POG has caught on with the rest of the country, too. Bloggers incorporate it into cake and cocktail recipes. Even Disney has adopted POG. But no worries if it hasn’t come to your town yet—Meadow Gold and Hawaiian Sun sell their versions online, and Hawaiian Airlines may serve you a cup next time you visit the Islands.
Did You Know?
Remember playing with pogs in the 1990s and collecting all those branded cardboard discs? The game is a riff on the Japanese game Menko; an elementary school teacher on O‘ahu taught her students to play it using classic POG bottle caps, turning POG into a household name.
This story was originally published in our Summer 2024 issue, which you can buy here. Better yet, subscribe and get HAWAIʻI Magazine delivered to right to your mailbox.
