Have you ever eaten a snotball?
OK, they're not really snotballs; they're called kenep and they are a little fruit that grows in tall trees in Haiti, ripening in the late summer and early fall. They taste quite good, but upon first inspection, I can understand why my friend Sam called them snotballs. They really do look slimy and nasty.
The kids love them, especially because they don't have to buy them like most fruit which grows in the countryside. We can pick them right here in Port-au-Prince. So a few weeks ago, my neighborhood kids enlisted my help to go gather kenep. We went to the school across the street and asked the guard at the gate for permission to climb the tree and pick fruit. He looked at me and started laughing, "You won't be able to!" He didn't say "white girl" but I know that's what he was thinking. White people, especially white women, do not climb trees.
That decided it. I was climbing that tree, as high as I could climb, and I was getting as many kenep as I could reach. I'll show you, guard, that white girls can indeed climb trees!
A boy named Jonny went up with me and we stripped that tree of kenep, dropping them down to the eager girls waiting below. When we finally climbed down, you can bet that I gave that guard a very sweet smile on my way out.
(I have to confess, I really am not the greatest tree climber, but this particular tree is right beside the house, so all you have to do is walk up the stairs to the roof and then up into the tree. Quite painless.)
We ate kenep on my porch and on my roof and threw kenep across the street to some little boys playing soccer. The kids showed me how to make pwanch, a drink of kenep, moonshine, sugar and cinnamon. Unfortunately, I don't moonshine at the Teacup, so we had it with the sugar and cinnamon only.
And the guard? He looks at me with a slightly crooked smile every time he sees me. I think he's still laughing at me.
4 comments:
And no picture of you up the tree???
Yum, snotball smoothies... I would try it!
Glad to hear that you aren't providing moonshine to minors :)
I love that the guard now smiles at you when he sees you. Maybe you can help him have some respect for the white girls!
The kids at my misison in Delmas 33 do the same thing. When the water truck comes, the guys on the truck climb into our trees to eat them too. The funny thing is that the gooey fruity part is actually the outside of an unripened nut, almond-like. If you crack open the inside of the kenep you can roast it and eat it. There were times in the past when money was tight that many of the older residents remember this being one of their main sources of nutrition.
I have to tell you, kenep is one thing we have not been able to procure for Oyis. I have become pretty good at making several Haitian dishes. We have several Haitian Families at our church and they were impressed by my piklese!
Our boy has asked if you are "still alive" so drop me an email or FB message or I know he would love a Skype date! Since his creole is tre mal, we are going to take creole lessons from our friend at church, Clermann. Stay Safe!
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