IT wasn’t so long ago that people around the world ate certain foods only when they were readily available, plentiful and in-season.
Nature provides all living creatures with seasonal fruits, vegetables and sea life in a carefully orchestrated provision of essential vitamins and minerals to heal, repair and provide sustenance.
Fijians are very lucky to be able to still enjoy this way of eating. Right now ivi chestnuts, avocado, pink guava and duruka are in abundance in markets and street stalls.
In the next few months it will be breadfruit and fish like tugadra and salala sardines. The seasons are a source of natural diversity and considered essential for balance for both the planet’s resources and its life forms.
Seasonal foods not only provide medicine for the body at the right time of the year, they are also a reminder of foods we looked forward to as children.
Duruka – asparagus or cane shoot?
One of the pleasures of seasonal Fijian produce is not knowing exactly when they will start appearing at the markets and roadside stalls.
Over the past month, bundles of the early season red duruka, or Fijian asparagus, have been lining the streets of Suva like American Indian teepees.
It’s more fancy name is Sugar Cane Blossom. Duruka may look similar to the European asparagus but that’s where similarities end, as it is actually a member of the sugar cane family.
The unopened flower head in the stem can be eaten raw or cooked, and is enjoyed by South Pacific cultures boiled, poached in coconut milk or roasted.
The porous texture of the flower soaks up sauces well, which is why it is perfect cooked in fresh coconut milk, but next time try it with an Asian sauce like sweet and sour, garlic oyster or brown bean.
You can even crumble the flower and saute it French style with butter and garlic, or Thai style with ginger, basil, chilli and soy.
Ivi – Tahitian chestnuts
Another favourite that we wait for each year is ivi, or Tahitian chestnuts.
As their name suggests they did not originate in Fiji, and can be found across the South Pacific and stretching across to South East Asia. Boiled, roasted or pureed, you can’t eat too many of them in one sitting as they are notorious for creating deadly and very stinky flatulence (smelly fart).
A myth in the Solomon Islands tells of the death of a man named Porana, who betrayed the chief of a particular tribe.
The chief’s people ate large quantities of the cooked chestnut and the ensuing flatulence suffocated Porana in a packed meeting room from which he could not escape.
In Vanuatu, there is an old wives tale of a man who was turned into a woman after having hot Tahitian chestnut leaves applied to his genitals. Ouch!
Boiled or roasted, ivi are a delicious chestnut that can be eaten natural, pureed to serve with a main course, or used in cakes and desserts. Just be sure you only have one serving!
Guava – the queen of fruits
If pineapple is known as the “king of fruits” then quwawa, or guava must be the queen.
In Fiji, it is popular to make them into jam and chutney, but these small fruit hide a secret gift from nature if you eat them raw.
Guava is undoubtedly one of my favourite seasonal fruits that look out for each year and is finally in abundance.
This pink guava should be eaten with its ripened yellow skin left on, as it is high in vitamin C and fibre, which helps strengthen our body to fight off many types of viral infections.
The fibrous flesh, skin and seeds also act as a broom to sweep away food particles and cancer-causing toxins out of the body. Guava may be small fruit but they are jam-packed with vitamins and minerals that help protect the heart, blood, membranes and skin.
Eat one a day in a balanced diet for added protection and medicine, or try out my guava and ginger sasa juice recipe. It’s medicine for the body, tastes deliciously fruity, and it mops and brooms at the same time.
More to look forward to
As we dig out old recipes for this month’s seasonal produce, what does the rest of the year have in store?
April is traditionally the month of breadfruit and tugadra fish, while in May there is plentiful uvi leka yams and salala mackerel.
In June, daniva sardines and matu fish appear, while July sees the beginning of the kuita (octopus) season.
August signals the start of Fiji’s colder season and blooming of flowers, but it is also a time when octopus and vaya sardines are plentiful.
September is traditionally the start of mango season and the beginning of spawning for one of Fiji’s most cultural fish, kawakawa, or the grouper and cod family of fish. October usually brings the balolo, or sea worms, up from the depths of the oceans floor.
November is the start of the big season of food including crabs, walu, kavika apples and ripened pineapples. The Fijians call December, vula i nuqa lailai as it is generally when the abundance of small nuqa, or rabbit fish, begin appearing.
* Lance Seeto is an award-winning chef, food writer and television host of Fiji TV’s “Taste of Paradise” based on Castaway Island, Fiji. Follow his culinary adventures at www.lanceseeto.com
