CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
Food Preserve
vor 1900
About the object
Among the nutritional staples of the Marshall Islands are the fruit of the pandanus tree (pandanus tectorius) and the breadfruit tree (artocarpus altilis). They were consumed in their raw, cooked and fermented forms. As a preserve, as shown here, they could keep for a long periods and so were taken as provisions on extensive sea voyages. Preserves were prepared by scraping the cooked fruit using special tools fashioned from shells (II/1404+1405), which was then shaken out onto coconut bast (II/1310) and dried in the sun atop a special rack (II/1406). The dried paste was rolled and pressed together and then bound in pandanus leaves. A coir thread netting provided the rolls with a shape. According to their collector, the conserves in question demonstrate a particularly high quality of preparation, such as those especially made only for chiefs.
