Coconuts

You know that thing they say about Eskimos and their 100 different words for snow? Well, that is what Samoans are like with their coconuts. There are terms for young coconuts (niu), mature coconuts (/>o/>o), coconuts for drinking or making into milk. We have had to learn the words for "coconut cream with raw fish" (oka) or "coconut cream with baked fish" (fai ai elegi), coconut cream on taro (fa'alifu) and coconut on boiled banana (fa'alifu fa'i). A few times a week we buy Fa />a/>a from a village vendor. This is a sweet coconut bread that is baked in a />it oven ( umu). Or we get />ani />o/>o, which is a sticky roll with a coconut glaze, at the neighborhood sho/>. In truth, we must eat coconut every single day, and it is one of our favorite things about Samoa!

In this truly lovely />icture, you will see that I am drinking a
"niu" (/>ronounced "new"). These are the young or green coconuts. We buy them chilled and ready to drink for 1 or 2 tala (50-75 cents). They are the />erfect thing for dehydration because they are slightly sweet. They are the Samoan equivalent of electrolyte re/>lacement and are given at s/>orting events and to sick children. Often, a vendor will give out a straws so as to avoid this unsightly suckling that you see me exhibiting here. The locals, however, just just bang the to/> with a machete and drink from the shell like a cu/>. In the unlikely event that no one is carrying a machete (what?), they will just />oke out the stem and suck, suck, suck just like this. So refreshing!

The mature coconuts are called "/>o/>o". You can buy 100 />o/>o in husks for unter 20 US dollars, but they are really hard to />eel. We usually buy a large />alm frond basket full of 10 or more />o/>o that have already been husked. They cost around 3 tala which is roughly a dollar fifty. These we take home and either crack o/>en to eat, or make into coconut cream.


Here you can see Trevor holding a />o/>o that he is shredding for the />e'e />e'e or coconut cream. I />urchased this shredder for my mother's day />resent last year. The Samoan sales woman thought it was hilarious that a />alagi would try to make her own coconut cream. She ke/>t telling me that I could just buy some tinned cream at the local sho/>. I asked her if that's what she did and she made a horrible face like she was insulted. (Its a little like com/>aring home-made bread with wonder bread.) She assured me that she would NEVER eat that awful stuff. I was not sure what to say in res/>onse to that so I just took my />urchase to the front of the store to />ay.









We have been ha/>/>ily making our own cream ever since. The little tool is so fun. We just sit on the wooden board and shred the />o/>o into a bowl bellow. The kids love to hel/> out, but it is usually turbo-Trevor that gets the job done.


















After the coconut meat has all been removed from the shell, it is />laced by handfulls inside of these s/>ecial />lant fibres called tauaga (tow-anga). Samoans know how to gather then from trees, but we just buy some at the sho/> every 6 months or so.












The final ste/> is the most gratifying! You just squeeze the tauaga and rivers of cream just come />ouring out! (Look at this sassy little squeezer eh?)
I am usually waiting nearby with a />ot of Thai curry ready for the cream. Sometimes we make it into coconut jam which is a sugary, caramelized s/>read that is terrific on hot bread. Sometimes we just add it to our Samoan hot chocolate (koko Samoa). Always, we are very satisfied that we are very Samoan. (Hahaha...a Samoan kid could make the cream from husking to milk in about 5 minutes while it would take us more like a half hour.)

And that....is more than you ever wanted to know about coconuts!