Aam papad
Ripe mango pulp spread thin and dried as a chewy fruit leather. This entry records one controlled unsweetened experiment and distinguishes it from Bengali sun-dried aamshotto and sweetened or spiced variants.
Mokan (Marshallese pandanus cakes)
Mokan · mokan · pandanus paste
Pandanus fruit cooked, pulped and dried in the sun, then dried further with heat and wrapped for storage in the Marshall Islands.
A compact pandanus provision
Mokan is a dried paste made from pandanus fruit in the Marshall Islands and elsewhere in Micronesia. The fruit is cooked, pulped and dried, and the resulting mass is wrapped so it can be carried and stored.
The product combines two preservation steps: sun drying to remove most water and further drying with heat, followed by compact wrapping. Each step serves the same goal of a food that keeps and travels.
Sources for this section
Why the pulp is dried twice
The catalogue says the pulp was dried in the sun and sometimes further dried with heat. The first stage removes the bulk of the water; the second, where used, takes the paste to a drier state for storage.
The sources do not give temperatures or durations for either stage.
Sources for this section
Wrapping and travel
Wrapped mokan was a practical provision. Its dry form and compact shape supported travel and helped cover shortages between harvests.
Its use is recorded in these terms rather than as a sweet or dessert.
Sources for this section
What the record does not settle
The catalogue gives no fruit variety, cooking time or storage period. Pandanus fruit preparation varies by place, and this page does not claim a validated home method.
Sources for this section
History
Mokan combined dehydration with compact packaging. The catalogue records it as a way to bridge shortages and to support travel.
Ingredients
Scaling: source batch only
Pandanus fruitCooked and pulped.
Amount not stated
Method
- Cook the pandanus fruit.
- Pulp the cooked fruit.
- Dry the pulp in the sun.
- Dry it further with heat where needed.
- Wrap the dried paste for storage.
Places
Marshall Islands
Traditional preparation · Country evidenceThe catalogue places mokan in traditional Micronesia, especially the Marshall Islands.
Related
Related in the family
Amchur powder from sun-dried unripe mango
Thin slices of sour unripe mango are sun-dried over four days and ground into a tangy powder, following a five-fruit account published with an Indian mango study.
Chuhara
Chuhara is a processed dried-date product named in Pakistani date-production studies, distinct from other dried dates. Its household method is not established.
Dried fruit and berries (Viking Age, reconstructed)
Apple slices dried until most of their water has gone, shrinking and concentrating into leathery or crisp rings, with the modern controls that a plausible old technique turns out to need.
Fruit leather
Fruit pulp spread into thin sheets or shaped into cakes and dried, a compact, portable way of keeping fruit in western and central Asia and among Indigenous North Americans.
Goraka
Goraka is the dried rind of Garcinia quaesita, a souring ingredient for Sri Lankan curries. Its drying is documented, but no complete household method is.
Křížaly
Křížaly are Czech dried apple or pear pieces. The name has regional meanings beyond apple slices, and drying practice varies by place and dryer.
Mango leather
Sieved mango purée with honey and warm spices, spread a quarter inch thick and dried at 140 °F (60 °C) for about 10 hours into a flexible fruit sheet.
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Sources
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United NationsMethod · History
FAO pandanus and root processing (x5045E08)Pandanus cooked, pulped, sun-dried, dried with heat and wrapped; mokan in Marshall Islands
Cited in: A compact pandanus provision; Why the pulp is dried twice; Wrapping and travel; What the record does not settle