Mape Season

There's a definite autumnal feel in the air at the moment, the sun is still shining bright in the day, but there's an unmistakable coolness to the evenings, that betrays the changing seasons. It's also mape season, for those of you who do't know, mape are Tahitian chestnuts, and Viriamu and Matotea can't get enough of them! Inocarpus fagifer the scientific name for the mape tree, grows at low elevation and is commonly found throughout Polynesia. The trees grow to be huge and are particularly majestic with their large buttress roots. They were often planted around ancient Polynesian homesteads, thus most marae are surrounded by them. I particularly like the mape forests in Moorea's Opunuhu valley, along the belvedere hiking trail, it has a very mystical quality. 

 

Inocarpus tree with magnificent buttresses

 

Mape seed

The seeds are poisonous when raw, but have a pleasant chestnut-like texture and flavour, once they've been cooked in a pressure-cooker for a while! They're usually salted, and sometimes sweetened, though I prefer just salted. Matotea and Heimana like us to grate them up and then roll the gratings into little balls. In the Marquesas they're made into piahi, the fallen seeds are removed from their shells, rinsed in water, grated up, mixed with coconut milk wrapped in banana leaves and baked in the Tahitian oven. I'm told that you can roast or grill them too, though I've never tried it.

 

Delicious mape ready for eating!