I spent a couple of years in the Goilala a long time ago.
It is hard to think of the Goilala without karuka (I have forgotten the Tauade word for a moment).
I have been delighted to see in your posts that people are still growing these trees in nurseries, I had been led to believe that they had gone slack on this element of Goilala culture. I reckon the sight of a house built of pandanus leaves and bark, set in a pandanus grove on a cool misty morning, is the defining picture of Goilala land.
I seem to remember that even old fallen trees continued to reward the Goilala folk with harvests of tasty grubs and mushrooms.
Keep up the good work for Goilala!~
Kieran
Hi Kieran,
The Tauade work for Karuka is KURUP [big species] and Kuvep [small species].
I always had this childhood dream that one day I will document the whole process of this Karuka plant.
How it is use, how its harvested, how its prepared, to how it is taken as food.
This pandanus/karuka plant is so useful in alot of aspect in as far as our Goilala life style is concern.
Karuka can be used for food, shelter, firewood, fencing, and much much more.
My hope in this publication is to attract someone from the research circles to take a trip to come to our Goilala and document this plant and its usefulness in Goilala.
It would be a job worth the time.
Hi Anthony
Yep, I remember the word now, thank you, Kurup/Kurupu in Tauade.
Another thing that I remember is the fruit being put in water to ferment as special treat, it was too strong smelling for me to stomach so I can’t talk about the flavour, or smoked to preserve it, and to fatten pigs [poru/polu] on.
I was told also that the MSC mission experimented with pressing the nuts for an edible oil. It must have tasted a bit like niu.
I agree, it would be an eye opener to see someone start pulling together Goilalas’ traditions about karuka.
Goilala's District Dev Blog 
3 replies on “PANDANUS – In PICTURES [GOILALA]”
Hi Anthony
I spent a couple of years in the Goilala a long time ago.
It is hard to think of the Goilala without karuka (I have forgotten the Tauade word for a moment).
I have been delighted to see in your posts that people are still growing these trees in nurseries, I had been led to believe that they had gone slack on this element of Goilala culture. I reckon the sight of a house built of pandanus leaves and bark, set in a pandanus grove on a cool misty morning, is the defining picture of Goilala land.
I seem to remember that even old fallen trees continued to reward the Goilala folk with harvests of tasty grubs and mushrooms.
Keep up the good work for Goilala!~
Kieran
Hi Kieran,
The Tauade work for Karuka is KURUP [big species] and Kuvep [small species].
I always had this childhood dream that one day I will document the whole process of this Karuka plant.
How it is use, how its harvested, how its prepared, to how it is taken as food.
This pandanus/karuka plant is so useful in alot of aspect in as far as our Goilala life style is concern.
Karuka can be used for food, shelter, firewood, fencing, and much much more.
My hope in this publication is to attract someone from the research circles to take a trip to come to our Goilala and document this plant and its usefulness in Goilala.
It would be a job worth the time.
Hi Anthony
Yep, I remember the word now, thank you, Kurup/Kurupu in Tauade.
Another thing that I remember is the fruit being put in water to ferment as special treat, it was too strong smelling for me to stomach so I can’t talk about the flavour, or smoked to preserve it, and to fatten pigs [poru/polu] on.
I was told also that the MSC mission experimented with pressing the nuts for an edible oil. It must have tasted a bit like niu.
I agree, it would be an eye opener to see someone start pulling together Goilalas’ traditions about karuka.
Cheers
Kieran