Equipment · Baskets, trays and beds
Layered leaf baskets for buried masi
Tanu ‘eli uses three nested baskets of futu leaves, sewn with fau-bark thread, to bury baked masi as a reserve. It is secondary storage, separate from the earlier masi fermentation and baking.
A second container after baking
Tanu ‘eli is the Samoan method of digging in and burying food stores. Its basket is a portable, plant-made container, while the storage system also depends on a hole prepared in the ground. The baskets hold masi only after the food has been baked. They do not replace the earlier preparation of masi or turn the basket itself into a fermentation vessel.
Breadfruit or banana is first made into masi through an earlier process and then baked. Tanu ‘eli follows as a way to conceal and reserve the finished food. The buried basket is therefore a second storage stage for already prepared masi, not a raw-fruit pit or an unbaked fermentation parcel.
Sources for this section
Three close-fitting leaf baskets
The container is described as three separate baskets, each enclosed within the next. The baskets are made from leaves of Barringtonia asiatica, known locally in the account as futu. Thread made from the bark of Hibiscus tiliaceus, called fau, sews the baskets together. Each is closed in sequence: after the masi is placed in the innermost basket, that basket is sewn shut, then enclosed and sewn within the second, and finally within the third.
Cox describes the package as being made as airtight as possible. No basket dimensions, volume, weave diagram or measured permeability are given, so this describes the intended tight closure rather than a tested seal specification. The documented materials are named leaves and plant-fibre thread.
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Burial as reserve storage
After the three baskets have been closed, they are placed in a deep hole and completely covered. Cox gives a depth of 2–3 metres and says the hole’s diameter depends on the size and number of baskets being buried. The depth belongs to the hole, not to the basket’s dimensions. No standard basket capacity or universal layout for a burial site is recorded.
The informants emphasized that only properly baked masi should go inside. They warned that unbaked masi or fresh breadfruit would spoil the entire contents. This is a reported local instruction, not a modernly validated preservation control. No temperature, moisture measurement, microbial analysis or present-day food-safety assessment is available for the buried store.
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A hidden famine store and the limits of the record
Tanu ‘eli served as a reserve for scarcity and, apart from famine or ceremonial need, stores were not normally opened. Their locations were not marked, so invading parties would not find them. A chief from Ta‘u told Cox that people sometimes discovered old stores while digging for new masi pits or house foundations.
Some informants said recovered masi had remained edible for generations, and Cox noted that a century or more was conceivable if those reports were true. That is testimony, not a tested shelf life or evidence that every buried batch survived. The account’s 1980 date does not establish when tanu ‘eli began, how often it was used, or whether the practice continues. No current construction, care or empty-basket storage instructions are recorded.
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History
Cox’s 1980 field account records tanu ‘eli on Ta‘u. Informants described stores buried for generations and reported that some recovered masi remained edible; those statements are testimony, not experimentally measured storage durations. The account does not date the practice’s beginning or end.
Equipment details
Made of
- Barringtonia asiatica (futu) leaves — three nested baskets
The leaves are sewn into three separate baskets, one enclosed within another. - Hibiscus tiliaceus (fau) bark fibre — sewing thread
Cox identifies thread made from the bark as the stitching material.
Places
Ta‘u
Documented use · Locality evidenceCox documents tanu ‘eli through informants from Ta‘u in Manu‘a, American Samoa. This is a use association, not a claim that the technique originated only there or remains widespread today.
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Sources
Economic Botany; published by New York Botanical Garden Press with SpringerHistory · Equipment · Materials · Method · Regional use
Two Samoan Technologies for Breadfruit and Banana PreservationCox records tanu ‘eli in Ta‘u, Manu‘a, American Samoa, as secondary storage for already baked masi.
The basket consists of three separate nested baskets made from Barringtonia asiatica (futu) leaves and sewn with thread made from Hibiscus tiliaceus (fau) bark.
Only properly baked masi was to be placed in the baskets; the baskets were closed and buried in a covered hole 2–3 m deep, with diameter determined by the size and number of baskets.
Informants described the stores as famine reserves and claimed some remained edible after many generations; Cox presents this as testimony, not experimental shelf-life evidence.
Cited in: A second container after baking; Three close-fitting leaf baskets; Burial as reserve storage; A hidden famine store and the limits of the record