The history of the Caribbean began long before the arrival of Columbus. In fact, the Caribbean itself takes its name from the ferocious Caribs, a race of cannibals that terrorized the other inhabitants of the islands at the time: the peaceful Arawaks. In the following pages we will be telling you about the contributions of the original inhabitants of the Caribbean to our culture, particularly in relation to cooking.
All the peaceful Arawaks ever wanted to do was be left alone to grow their maize and manioc, fish, and catch the occasional agouti. Since they were not very good hunters, their main food source was cassava, which turned out to be a very poisonous root. The Arawaks had learned long ago how to extract the poison from the root. This was done with the help of a woven Matapi and some children. The Matapi, which was woven with palms and vines, was about ten feet long and resembled a snake; it was filled with grated yucca and hung from a tall tree.
At the other end it was provided with a ring through which a piece of wood was passed. The children took turns sitting at either end. The weight of the children made the Matapi stretch and thus squeeze the juice out of the grated cassava and collect it in a container placed below.
The liquid was discarded and the resulting cassava flour was made into cassava bread (more of a cookie than bread) that was a mainstay of the Arawak diet.
As time passed, the Arawaks realized that if the liquid was left in the sun, it would turn a dark brown color, which made an excellent natural preservative and was given the name Casareep. This magical liquid is still used today and forms the base of my next ‘Pepperpot’ recipe.
The great thing about Pepperpot is that all you need to do with it is keep adding meat and boil the liquid at least once a day to maintain its preservative qualities.
All the Arawaks had to do was put the fish or vegetables in the pot and boil it. This can go on forever.
Currently in the Caribbean we keep the Pepperpot running for several weeks at a time. Although it does not always form the main dish, it is often used as a side dish.