Liberian Palm Butter
Palm butter is originally a staple food for the Grebo, the Kru and the Krahn tribes of the southeast of Liberia which over time has become one of the most widely savoured national dishes. According to the traditional stories told among the Grebo people, God created the palm tree the same day he created the Grebo. Most Grebos originate from Cape Palmas, a land in South Eastern Liberia near the coast where palm trees grow naturally. It is said that a Grebo man would not survive without eating palm butter at least once per week. Traditionally every Grebo girl must know how to cook palm butter before getting married. Grandmothers would make sure their granddaughters know what good palm butter looks and tastes like.
Palm butter is extracted from the palm tree, in particular from the creamy chaff covering the palm nut. This palm cream is also the source of palm oil. The cream, composed of one third oil, is extracted from the chaff through cooking, sifting, and draining processes. The creamy raw pulp is later mixed with water and stewed with all sorts of meats, fish, and vegetables.
- Approx. 100 fresh, ripe, palm nuts
- 500 g of chicken or fish (chopped)
- 500 g of dried or salted fish (soaked in water and cleaned)
- 1 to 2 dozen shrimp
- lobsters and/or crayfish (dried or fresh)
- crab meat
- 1 onion (finely chopped)
- palm butter leaves (or bay leaves)
- salt and pepper
- 3 stock cubes
- 15 large bitter balls (small African eggplants)
- rice or 1 kg fufu (dough made from boiled root vegetables)
Wash the palm nuts and put them into a pot. Add 3 cups of water, cover the pot and cook the nuts for 15 minutes. Drain the water and use a mortar and pestle to crush the palm nuts into a pulp. Mix the pulp with 2 litres of water and stir. Squeeze the palm nuts with your hand to remove all the fruit and oil, and then press the pulp through a strainer into a pot, discarding all the nut skins and kernels (strain twice). Place the pot with the palm nut pulp onto a stove or charcoal fire. Let it boil and stir often.
In a separate pot boil the remaining ingredients (except the 500 g of chicken or fish) with 1 stock cube and salt to taste. Once the palm butter sauce is boiling, add the already seasoned (salt and pepper) chicken or fish and another 2 stock cubes with 1/3 of a tea spoon of salt. Cook for approximately one hour over low or medium heat, stirring regularly, until the sauce has thickened.
Serve with rice or fufu.
Palm butter is originally a staple food for the Grebo, the Kru and the Krahn tribes of the southeast of Liberia...
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