Oahu folks in pursuit of hee, or octopus, know that Kane­ohe Bay is the site of choice. The bay has long been renowned for its hee fishery.

For eight generations, members of the Kawelo family of Kane­ohe have fished Kane­ohe Bay, and they’ve become experts in catching and preparing hee. Gabby Kawelo and his daughter, Hi‘i­lei, will share some of the family’s knowledge at Bishop Museum’s "The Lure and Lore of He‘e: Fishing Traditions of the Kawelo Family," a program that concludes the museum’s "Native Food, Native Stories" series.

"My family are fisherpeople and we fish specifically Kaneohe Bay," said Hi‘ilei Kawelo. "We consider ourselves opportunistic fishers — we catch whatever’s in season — and we catch hee all year round."

Kawelo said there are numerous ways to catch hee, depending on the tide, weather and season. There are also various ways to prepare it, both traditional and modern.

The family’s favorite traditional recipes for octopus are raw and dried. Raw hee is reserved for special family occasions because it’s especially labor intensive.

"It must be tenderized by pounding it in a bucket with Hawaiian salt," she said. "You salt and rinse, salt and rinse, salt and rinse, until it’s tender. Nowadays, though, we do it the lazy way: by putting it in the freezer for three months. The cold tenderizes it. Then we salt it. After that we cut it up into poke-sized pieces and season it with the raw octopus liver and chili pepper."

These days, making dried hee entails the use of a dry box, when traditionally the octopus was hung out in the open air to dry.

"Now you need the dry box because there are lots of flies," Kawelo said. "Before, there were no flies. Flies were introduced."

Effective drying requires a combination of sun and wind to circulate the air properly. Sun alone could spoil the meat, Kawelo said. It takes two full days of really good wind and sun, or three days of less ideal weather, to dry the flesh. During the process the hee must be turned daily.

When the drying is done, it is frozen until it will be served.

"You can put it in the oven on broil, hibachi (grill) it or even deep-fry it. When it swells up and the juices start to come up, it’s done. Slice it thin and serve."

At the museum event, the Kawelos will also pre­sent modern preparations of octopus, including a hee luau ("that was introduced in the late 1800s or early 1900s," Kawelo said), pork and hee, and two variations of tako poke.

To this day, octopus is a major source of protein for her family, Kawelo said.

"During holidays my father serves it with miso sauce, and my cousins will deep-fry it with salt, pepper and cornstarch," she said. "Hee is a wonderful thing. There’s so much meat and very little waste. Pound for pound, you’re well fed."