Manha

Above is my dad husking manha--removing the green fiber. One of the other ways is to cut a small spoon from the fiber at the narrow, bottom edge. Then, pierce the soft shell w/ the machete and drain the liquid. Finally, give the manha a great big wack across the center, lengthwise, to cut it in half. I totally loved hacking away at my manha--young, green coconut. However, I should have sharpened my machete, but I was so impatient. I dug out the meat w/ a spoon through the small hole I made...OMG!

Wow, it was full of juice you could barely hear it moving inside....and there was so much meat!!!!! Mmmmmm, I put it all in a small Ziploc bag and it's in my freezer.

I needed a green coconut for my video project. I ended up ordering 6 young and 6 mature coconuts. I'll have enough manha and juice to make ahu!! Ahu is a dessert soup--chunks of young coconut meat are rolled through a paste of tapioca starch and water. Then, the chunks are dropped into a pot of sugar-sweetened, boiling water and manha juice. Vwalla, after a bit more boiling you have a deliciously hot, thick confection! You have to leave your pot uncovered until the ahu is completely cooled. If you cover while it is hot, it thins out and becomes runny.

My dad taught me all that I know about husking, cracking and grating a coconut. I remember watching him cook all the time. You know, the reality is, we all have to eat every day. Mothers and fathers should cook. We should teach our kids not just about the food heritage of our culture, but how to eat healthy most of the time. Then, children and parents can shoot for the moon.....and even if we land among the stars, our bodies can do the work our heart and mind yearn to do.

My parents taught me by example.......and I am ever grateful and indebted to them!!!! They were busy working to put food on the table, a roof over our heads and clothes on our back. They demanded respect and anything less was unacceptable....though I did feel the belt across my behind on the rare occasion I tried to test them.

Oh, that was a tangent eh! My point is, teach your kids to cook......not just bake brownies and cookies. My daughter loves sitting on my kamyo and grating coconut.

Adios esta ki....Bye till later,

paulaq