All the taros must be cooked very thoroughly because of the oxalic acid crystals in the outer layer of the corm and in the leaves. Thorough cooking reduces the toxicity, and the earth oven allows whole taros to be covered and steamed on hot rocks for two hours or more. In most Pacific societies such an earth oven was made once a day, and in rural areas this is still the case. Boiling on a stove may be quicker, but it is more costly in fuel (Pollock 1992).
Pacific Island people today prefer taro cooked whole and then cut into slices for presentation to the household. Taro must be cooked as quickly as possible after harvesting to retain the best flavor and to avoid decay. Before cooking, each corm or stem of taro is carefully peeled, a process that can produce a skin irritation for those unaccustomed to it, again due to the oxalic acid crystals. The corms or stems are placed either in a coconut leaf basket or on banana leaves around the edge of the earth oven, with the fish (or pig if it is a feast) in the center, and the whole is covered first with leaves, then earth to allow the contents to steam. The oven is opened some two hours later. For special occasions, “puddings” may be made from grated taro mixed with coconut cream and baked in the earth oven.
One of the few societies to develop a processed form of taro was that in Hawaii, where fermented taro was eaten aspoi. This was made by steaming, peeling, grinding, and straining the corms to yield a thick paste of 30 percent solids, known as “ready-to-mix” poi, or if more water was added to yield a thinner paste of 18 percent solids, known as “ready-to-eat” poi. Hawaiians refer to the thickness of poi as one-finger, two-finger, or three-finger poi. Either irrigated or dryland Colocasia taro can be used for making poi, but different varieties of Colocasia taro are not mixed.
The thick paste ferments very rapidly due to lactobacilli fermentation, reaching an acidity level of 3.8 by the third day. Hawaiians would wrap the very thick paste, known as ’aipa’i, in ti leaves until needed. The addition of a little water to the desired portion was all that was required for serving highly esteemed poi to accompany fish or pork. The very thin paste, by contrast, lasts only three to four days unrefrigerated, and refrigerated poi becomes so rubbery that it is considered inedible (Moy and Nip 1983; Standal 1983; Pollock 1992).
World History
