Kamakamo is Maori version of zucchini

Press, 19 February 1983, Page 10

Kamakamo is Maori version of zucchini

Food & Fable

by

David Burton

The Maoris have long known a vegetable of mysterious origion that our food writer declares is better value than the trendy zucchini.

To New Zealanders brought up on insipid mushes of marrow boiled “a I'Anglaise,” the discovery of the zucchini has been a real boon — apart from the near extortionate price we are forced to pay for it. So it is slightly ironic that for the last 150 years or so the Maori people of this country have been quietly growing and Savouring a very ' similar vegetable, which equals the zucchini for texture and even surpasses it for sweetness of flavour — yet sells for about a third of the price. It is called kamokamo, sometimes spelled kumu-. kumu, less often kuma-kuma. cooma-cooma or kumi-kumi. and very often sloppily pronouned “cum-cum” for short. The kamokamo’s green and yellow speckles and oval shape possibly cause many people to mistake it for a type of marrow, but the similarity is purely visual. Although “kamokamo'’ is thought to be taken from the English "cucumber," the plant is more accurately described as. a type of squash. In spite of the fact that H. W. Williams defines it as a gourd in his “Dictionary of the Maori. Language,” kamokamo certainly does not bear any similarity to the hue, or calabash gourd (Lagenaria vulgaris) which the Maori brought from the homeland of Hawaiiki.

While this was sometimes eaten while still very young, it was most often dried, hollowed out and used as containers for water and food.

Written records of the history of the kamokamo appear to be very sparse indeed.

We know from Te Rangi Hiroa (Sir Peter Buck) that it was a vegetable introduced by the European and accepted very early by the Msori, along with the pump-

kin (which was dubbed “paukena”), but I have not been able to find its country of origin or even its botanical name. The history of the squash family is very confused indeed and botanists still cautiously describe it as being of uncertain but probably American origin, so perhaps the kamokaino began life there. The best time for eating kamokamo is right now, while the skin is soft and so thin it does not need peeling. Later on in the season, when fully matured, the skin dries and hardens, which makes it possible to keep the vegetable for a long period but detracts considerably from its culinary appeal. The nineteenth century Maori, however, had another use for these mature kamokamo, as an early fCanterbury settler, Mr James Hay tells us:. “The Maori made a kind of wine from the, fruit of the tutu. The juice was strained from the berries, the seeds carefully rejected and the liquor fermented and bottled in the shell of the kumakuma. This was a gourd resembling' a vegetable marrow, which they first boiled and then through a small aperture scooped out the pulp, thus converting the gourd into a rude kind of bottle, which they rendered capable of suspension by plaiting flax around it.” By 1936 (at the very latest) the kamokamo was recognised as a commercial variety of squash, since it was listed as such in a book “Vegetable Growing in New Zealand” published that year. The smaller kamokamo tend .. to be better eating, because the fibre and seedfilled centre tends to be smaller. However, even in fully matured kamokamo the seeds are soft and sweet and perfectly edible.

Kamokamo can be eaten raw, sliced or cubed and dressed with vinaigrette, or added to salads, steamed, or fried in a little butter (not oil) with salt. A popular Maori recipe involves boiling pork bones in water with chopped onions and rice, then adding chopped kamokamo (and perhaps also chopped silver beet) about- five minutes before the end of cooking. The "soup” is served separately. Kamokamo can also be substituted for zucchini (courgette) in almost any recipe. Kamokamo with cream and rosemary 2 tbs butter 500 g kamokamo, diced 1 sprig fresh rosemary, about 12cm long 'i tsp salt ’4 tsp ground black pepper 4 tbs cream or top milk In a large frypan, melt the butter and add the kamokamo. Crush the sprig of rosemary in your fist to bring out the scent, then add to the kamokamo along with the salt and pepper. Fry kamokamo about five minutes, turning the mixture frequently to ensure even cooking and to move the sprig of rosemary about the pan. Add cream or top milk and cook another four or five minutes. The kamokamo will have turned yellow and should still be slightly crunchy. Serves three. Kamokamo with tomatoes and onion s()g butter 2 large onions, sliced 3-4 cloves garlic, crushed 500 g kamokamo, thinly sliced 5-6 tomatoes, sliced Melt butter in a large frypan or saucepan, add onions and cook over a medium heat about two

minutes, then add crushed garlic and kamokamo and cook until it begins to go limp. Add tomatoes and cook

until the juice begins to run. Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve immediately. Serves 4 to 6.