Solomon Islands: poi

Our first stop in Melanesia finds us on Solomon Islands where we cook poi. Made from fermented taro, poi an important staple food all across the pacific islands, offering a simple to prepare, long shelf life product great for sea voyages. Read on to learn a bit more about Solomon cuisine or jump straight to the recipe.

Cuisine of Solomon Islands

Solomon Islands is an archipelago with some thousand islands in Melanesia, situated just east of Papa New Guinea. It’s home to some 600,000 people of primarily Melanesian decent and has previously been both a German and British Colony before the Island nation gained independence in 1978.

The Solomon cuisine is full of fruit and tropical plants and plants like taro, yam, plantain, breadfruit, rice, sugar cane coconut and papaya, both ripe and unripe ​[1], [2]​ . Seafood is non-surprisingly another important part of Solomon cuisine. In addition to traditional Melanesian fare, European, Thai, Chinese and Japanese food are all common on the Solomon Islands.

Coconut curries with vegetables like pumpkin and taro leaves are common ​[3]​ and eaten with rice, breadfruit, starchy tubers/corms like yam, tarot, cassava or fried plantain ​[4], [5]​. To create pawpaw curry, unripe papaya is cooked with curry powder, onion, garlic and chili in coconut ​[6], [7]​.

Banana leaves are commonly used to wrap and steam things, such as grated cassava with spam (also known as corned beef) to create the street food kara. A common dessert is cassava pudding, where grated cassava is mixed with sweet potato and coconut milk, wrapped in a banana leaf and steamed ​[1]​.

Poi – fermented taro

Poi is a very important Pacific islander staple with a lot of cultural significance. It is made from the easy to grow taro root which is cooked, pounded into a mush and then fermented, giving the dish a great shelf life ​[8]​. Perfect for food preservation in general and on long sea voyages in particular. (For those who are less patient, poi can also be eaten in the mushed pre-fermentation form ​[9]​.) The fermentation turns the starchy, cooked taro into something akin to sourdough starter or non-dairy yoghurt as the poi develops a sour flavour. The longer the fermentation, the more starch and sugars will be broken down and the complexity of flavours and sourness will develop further. Often, the poi is only fermented a short time, some 24-48 h depending on temperature.

Poi is of great importance throughout the Pacific islands (Melanesia, Micronesia, Polynesia) and is celebrated as the national dish of the Solomon Islands ​[9]​. Poi has been made famous in the Western world through Hawai’i, an island group settled by Polynesian peoples some 1000 years ago, where poi is often served on the traditional lū’au many visiting tourists attend.

Poi is typically eaten with your fingers and depending on how much water is added, the consistency will dictate how many fingers you need to scoop it up, giving rise to the different versions of 1, 2, and 3 finger poi. Poi can be eaten on its own like a porridge or served as the starchy component alongside other meals. Similar to ketchup and fries, poi goes great with salty foods ​[10]​.

Taro

Originally from Southeast Asia, taro has spread across the globe and is now eaten in tropical regions across the world and comes in hundreds of varieties. The plant grow rapidly and can give 2-3 crops a year ​[11], [12]​. Like cassava, uncooked taro is poisonous as it contains calcium oxalate, an irritating salt also found in kidney stones. I had the misfortune of experiencing calcium oxalate first hand during a trip to Trinidad. I got a bit too adventurous in the kitchen and tried some dasheen (local name for taro) leaves before cooking them… Don’t do it! At least my case was not as bad as when this blogger made a taro leaf smoothie and drank it. I feel for them.

Apart from making poi, taro can also be steamed, mashed, deep fried, baked and turned into chips ​[13], [14]​. Taro is not always eaten as just a side but is often used in dumplings and is included in different stews, such as Caribbean oil down, a coconut stew made from boiled ground provisions (starchy roots and fruits).

If you can’t find taro for this poi recipe, you can try making poi with sweet potatoes ​[15]​.

Conclusion

Making and eating poi was a really interesting experience. It is by far one of the simpler dishes I’ve made on this blog with just a single ingredient (if you don’t count water). Still, it was unlike anything I’ve had before. Not sure how to describe poi though. A little bit like a loose potato mash with mild earthy or nutty tones similar to maybe rutabaga. Poi is also sour and a little fizzy and reminds me a of something slightly fruity, like wild strawberries. Almost as if you would mash rutabaga and pour in some sparkling, unsweetened water with a red berry flavour.

Poi recipe

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Poi

Poi is an important dish across the pacific ocean peoples and is made by fermenting cooked taro roots. Eat it is a starchy, slighlty sour side dish. Great with something salty.

Cuisine Melanesian, Micronesian, Polynesian

Keyword Fermentation, Taro

Prep Time 5 minutes minutes

Cook Time 40 minutes minutes

Fermentation 2 days days

Servings 4

Ingredients

• 600 g Taro

Instructions

• Remember that taro contains an irritating compound (destroyed by boiling). No need to be super careful but do clean your surfaces, equipment and hands after handling the raw taro.
• Clean the taro surface, no need to peel yet.
• Cut Taro into chunks.
• Put Taro in pot, cover with water and bring to a boil. Simmer until soft and tender, about 25-40 min, depending on how large chunks were cut. The taro should be mashable.
• Flush taro in cold water until cool enough to handle.

  Remove peel with using a knife.
• Mash the taro in a bowl or use a mixer. Add water, a little at a time, to control texture. The poi should be a bit mushy, like a runny potato mash. See note
• The poi is now ready to eat but it is often fermented to turn it a bit sour and prolong shelf life.

Fermentation

• To ferment the poi and create the sour, tangy flavour, place poi in a glass jar or bowl. Cover with a thin layer of water to prevent dehydration.
• Cover jar/bowl with a clean kitchen towel and leave in darkness at room temperature for 12-48 h.
• After 12-24 h, small bubbles should be forming and the poi should start smelling faintly sour, similar to sourdough or yoghurt.

  Fermentation time depends on how many microorganisms made it into the pounded poi and the temperature in your fermentation station.
• Taste and see if you want it more sour and tangy. If so, leave it at room temperature for another day or two.
• Once the poi has the desired flavour, you can eat it or keep it in the fridge.

Notes

Mashing the taro: Mashing the cooked taro is similar to mashing potato. I used a large wooden muddler (for drinks and sauerkraut) but I’ve seen many recipes use electric utensils like a mixer or a kitchenaid. you could also try an electric beater. In the end, some parts of my taro would not mash properly so I ran the poi through a strainer but you can also serve it a bit chunky.