Growing stuff orn Pitcairn. Written by Meralda Warren 4 August 2022

This last Sunday at Pitcairn the Silver Supporter waved goodbye as they have finally finished this voyage for Pitcairn. They dropped their 3 passengers off at

Mangareva and now are 2 days on course for New Zealand to unload our containers and mail. They are there to reload with fresh supplies for the Island to be delivered in early September.

Many people have asked me if we import everything onto the Island.

My answer has always been yes and no as most things we want to eat we grow ourselves.

A few people grow big gardens out and about. Seasonal vegetables and fruits on certain parts of the Island grow well.

The old Yam kept going by planting it every year.

Some if grown well can be quite a challenge to dig out of the ground as they can grow almost as tall as an average height person.

The Arrowroot which is grown for about half a year is harvested, processed by peeling off the husk, washed well and it is ground through a mill using plenty water to wash out the starch then strained through sieve and cloth bags to wash out the starch where it is then settled, and the starchy flour is then dried out on drying tables. it is then sieved, and the dried flour stored in airtight containers to be used in cooking wonderful Pitcairn food.

Many varieties of Tomatoes now grow on Pitcairn. Gardens can have variety of cabbages, Lettuce, Broccoli in our winter months, Cauliflower if it becomes cold enough. Pak choi and other leafy greens, Eggplants and many varieties of beans and peas.

Coconuts grow well and have been spread out in a variety of places there where it is accessible to collect.

Taro is also growing wild in the valleys too amongst the many banana trees.

There are at least 8 different varieties of bananas some are only cooking bananas. You can eat it ripe but can be a challenge.

With the China plun (Banana) or the gold finger, these are used green to make Plun Philhi and also Mudda un Plun pancake. So, we make sure we have a traditional Yawlaw handy for this Pitcairn dish. Some use the fine grater instead. Defying tradition, Lala uses her Kenwood food processor.

Over the past years, Vanilla have been brought in from Tahiti and some have grown well. One that grows well on the side of the deck is the Madagascar vanilla.

Not as strong a scent as the Tahitian one but serves the purpose. I like it in Custard, and I also put it in my coconut oils.

The traditional oranges that are grown home at this time of the year also grows well on Norfolk Island. I was happy to eat the same variety here in Tahiti these past weeks.

Grapefruits are huge compared to some places in the world. We grow a variety of peach there that is small and not as juicy as the NZ peach. We can boiled the peeled peached and make a nice juice with sweetener added or sugar, I try to preserve as much as I can when I get a good crop.

Sadly, the Queensland Fruit fly was brought into Pitcairn when someone snuck in some fruit without declaring it. Several attempts have been made to eradicate but they always seem to slip pass the bait and one or two will start the breeding cycle again.

Manioca have been grown on Pitcairn for as long as anyone can remember. However, the yellow type was also introduced in 1990s. the white type grows well, and we also process that into flour to be used in cooking our traditional dishes. Made into crackers using just coconut grated fine, a little oil and salt

with Manioca flour, this goes down extremely well as a snack. By itself or even with dips or nice Chili concarne.

Apples and pears don’t grow well on Pitcairn, Big peaches and plums. Regular potatoes are a hit and miss to grow well in our gardens, so these items plus the big onions are ordered from NZ.

With supplies coming from New Zealand every 3 Months, our 1 store stock up with food galore on our shelves covering a range of food cereal to frozen vegetables and meats. Juices to soft drinks and in a room to the side there is Wine, Beer and top shelf beverages.

Flour for baking plus even frozen Pastries. There are many categories of food stocked on the shelves.

Pizza, Burgers and other take aways are made by different local vendors of specific days that they advertise.

Locals bake their goodies and put their produce on the store shelves. So, there is always plenty to go around.

Keeping that garden going will help not only the humans’ bellies but the chickens too will enjoy, adding their eggs to the circle of life.

Sank Yorli. Enjoy yorli’s week.