🇰🇮 I-Kiribati Cuisine

Pandanus Fruit Paste

Dried Pandanus Fruit Preserve

Prep Time 2 days
Servings 8
Difficulty Medium
Calories 157 kcal

Ripe pandanus fruit segments boiled, mashed, and sun-dried into dense sheets that can be stored for months. An essential preserved food for ocean voyages and lean times.

Ingredients

Instructions

  1. 1 Separate the ripe pandanus fruit head into individual keys or segments by twisting and pulling apart.
  2. 2 Boil the segments in water for thirty minutes until they soften and the fibrous flesh can be easily scraped.
  3. 3 Scrape the soft pulp from each segment using a shell scraper or spoon, discarding the tough fibrous core.
  4. 4 Mash the collected pulp into a smooth paste using a pestle or heavy spoon, working out any remaining fibers.
  5. 5 Spread the paste thinly on pandanus leaf mats and dry in full sun for one to two days, flipping once.
  6. 6 Cut the dried sheets into portions and store rolled in pandanus leaves. Will keep for several months in dry conditions.

Did You Know?

Pandanus paste was the original Pacific survival food, carried on ocean voyages as emergency rations and trading currency between atolls.