Joseph Banks - Endeavour journal, 25 August 1768 - 12 July 1771 - No. 0411
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[Page 411]
Manners & Customs of S. Sea Islands
which time I have seen a midling hog very well done. Indeed I am of opinion that victuals dressd this way are more juicy if not more Equably done than by any of our European methods Large fish more especialy. Bread fruit cookd in this manner becomes soft & something like a boild potatoe tho not quite so farinaceous as a good one yet more so than the midling sort of this 2 or 3 dishes are made by beating it upon with a stone pestil till it make a paste mixing water or Cocoa nut liquor with it & adding ripe plantains bananas sour paste &c.
As I have mentiond Sour paste I will proceed to decribe what it is. bread fruit by what I can find remains in season only 9 or 10 of their 13 months so that a reserve of food must be made for those months when they are without it To do this the fruit is gatherd when just upon the point of ripening & laid in heaps where it undergoes a fermentation & becomes disagreably sweet the core is then taken out which is easily done as a small pull at the stalk draws it out intire & the rest of the fruit thrown into a hole dug for that purpose generaly in their houses the sides & bottom of which are neatly coverd lind