Karuka

Ingredients

Nuts

• 1whole karuka pandanus head, or 500 g karuka nuts

To cook

• a fire and hot stones, or an oven

To serve

• sweet potato
• greens

Directions

1. Karuka is the nut of a highland pandanus, Pandanus julianettii, which grows in cold forest groves above about 2,000 metres in the Papua New Guinea highlands.
2. The harvest is seasonal and communal. Families move up to the groves and camp there for the season, and the whole harvest is a social event rather than a shopping trip.
3. Take the whole head and break it apart into individual nuts, or cook the head whole.
4. The nuts are held in a dense cone the size of a football and they are prised out one at a time.
5. Roast the nuts in the ashes and embers of a fire for 30 to 40 minutes, turning them, until the shells darken and begin to crack.
6. Ash-roasting is the traditional method and the dry heat is what brings the oil out of the kernel.
7. Alternatively, wrap the whole head in leaves and steam it in an earth oven, a mumu, with hot stones for about an hour.
8. They are ready when the shell splits easily and the kernel inside is firm and creamy rather than milky.
9. Crack each shell with a stone or the back of a knife and eat the kernel out of it.
10. The kernel is extremely oily and rich, closer to a macadamia or a brazil nut than to anything else, and a handful is filling.
11. That fat is why it matters. The highland diet is overwhelmingly sweet potato, and karuka is one of the few dense sources of fat and protein in the season it grows.
12. Eat them warm, alongside sweet potato and greens.
13. Surplus nuts are smoked over the fire, which keeps them for months.
14. The groves are owned and inherited by individual families, and particular trees are named and passed down.

Technique

• It is a genuinely seasonal food, and the season is marked and looked forward to.
• There is also a wild lowland karuka, Pandanus brosimos, which is smaller and less prized.
• Nothing outside the highlands really tastes like it, and it is very rarely exported.

Substitutions

• None that is close. Macadamia and brazil nuts share the oiliness but not the flavour.
• Smoked karuka, kept from the season, which is how it is eaten out of harvest time.

Variations

• Steamed whole in a mumu earth oven.
• Smoked over the fire for keeping.
• Pounded into a paste and eaten with greens.

History

Highland families move into mountain karuka groves for the harvest season, a nut so important that some languages use a special avoidance vocabulary there.

Frequently asked questions

What is Karuka?

Karuka is a snack from Papua New Guinea: oily highland pandanus nuts roasted in the shell, harvested in cold forest groves. Highland families move into mountain karuka groves for the harvest season, a nut so important that some languages use a special avoidance vocabulary there.

How long does Karuka take to make?

Karuka takes 20 min of preparation and 40 min of cooking. The recipe makes variable. It is rated easy to make.

What can I substitute in Karuka?

Yes, within limits. None that is close. Macadamia and brazil nuts share the oiliness but not the flavour. Smoked karuka, kept from the season, which is how it is eaten out of harvest time.

What is the most important thing to get right in Karuka?

The harvest is seasonal and communal. Families move up to the groves and camp there for the season, and the whole harvest is a social event rather than a shopping trip.