Palusami: Samoa's Taro Leaf and Coconut Cream Dish
Palusami is one of the most widely loved traditional dishes of Samoa and the broader Pacific Islands — the same dish is known as "rourou" in Fiji and appears in various forms across Tonga, Niue, and the Cook Islands. Palusami is fundamentally simple: young, tender taro leaves (from the taro plant, Colocasia esculenta) are filled with thick coconut cream, sometimes with sliced onion and salt, then wrapped in additional taro leaves or banana leaves to form a sealed parcel. The parcels are cooked in a traditional umu (underground earth oven) for two or more hours, or alternatively baked in an oven or simmered directly in coconut cream on a stovetop. The taro leaves must be thoroughly cooked — raw taro leaves contain calcium oxalate crystals that make them intensely irritating to eat, and thorough heat exposure over an extended period is required to neutralise them. After cooking, the taro leaves are very dark, soft, and infused with coconut cream, and the entire parcel collapses into a rich, creamy, dark-green mass. Palusami is quite different from the Tongan lu pulu in one important respect: palusami typically contains no meat — it is a vegetarian dish (or sometimes contains salt fish). This distinction significantly simplifies the carpet stain treatment compared to lu pulu, because there is no beef or corned beef myoglobin or nitrosomyoglobin to address. The dominant stain components of palusami are taro leaf phaeophytin and thick coconut cream fat.
Taro Leaf Phaeophytin: Double Peroxide for Extended-Cooked Leaf Pigment
Raw taro leaves are a deep, vivid green from their high chlorophyll content. During the two or more hours of umu or oven cooking required to make palusami, the chlorophyll undergoes degradation: the magnesium atom at the centre of each chlorophyll molecule is displaced by hydrogen ions from the acidic taro leaf tissue, converting green chlorophyll into olive-green phaeophytin. Phaeophytin is the compound responsible for the dull olive colour of overcooked green vegetables — it is the end-state of chlorophyll after extended heat exposure in a slightly acidic environment. On carpet, palusami taro leaf staining is therefore not vivid green but a dark, muted olive-green or brownish-green. Phaeophytin responds to 3% hydrogen peroxide but typically requires longer contact time than fresh chlorophyll, and on light-coloured carpet two applications are usually needed: a first application (15–20 minutes) removes the majority of the phaeophytin, and a second application (10–15 minutes) addresses the stubborn residual. The taro leaf phaeophytin is embedded in the coconut cream fat — the fat must be removed with lipase enzyme before the peroxide can effectively contact the pigment. The correct sequence is: cornflour (surface fat absorption) → lipase enzyme (fat removal, releasing phaeophytin) → first hydrogen peroxide → assess → second hydrogen peroxide if needed.
Heavy Coconut Cream Fat and Calcium Oxalate White Residue
Palusami uses very thick, rich coconut cream — substantially more coconut cream than most dishes that include coconut cream as an ingredient. Traditional palusami may be nearly half coconut cream by volume, with the taro leaves fully saturated. Coconut cream fat (approximately 24% fat content — predominantly saturated lauric and myristic acids) creates a thick, pale white to cream-coloured grease stain on carpet that is heavier per unit area than the coconut cream encountered in a curry or stew. Cornflour (10–12 minutes, vacuum) absorbs surface coconut cream, followed by lipase enzyme (20 minutes — extended contact time for the high-saturation coconut fat). After fat removal, any white coconut cream solids that remain (dried coconut protein and carbohydrate residue) are addressed by protease enzyme (15 minutes) and a warm water rinse. Separately, the calcium oxalate residue from the taro leaves — white, chalky crystals that can appear in the spill or as a dry white film after the palusami dries — is water-soluble and removed by a warm water soak (50°C cloth applied for 3–5 minutes) followed by blotting. If white residue persists despite warm water treatment, a dilute white vinegar solution (1:4 vinegar to water, 5 minutes) dissolves calcium oxalate deposits. Do not confuse calcium oxalate white residue with dried coconut cream solids — both are white but respond differently: calcium oxalate responds to warm water and dilute acid, while coconut cream solids respond to protease enzyme.
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Samoan Palusami on Carpet: Common Questions
What is the full treatment sequence for palusami on carpet?
(1) Remove solid taro leaf pieces with a spoon — do not rub. (2) Cold water blotting (no warm water initially). (3) Cornflour — 10–12 minutes, vacuum (for heavy coconut cream surface fat). (4) Lipase enzyme — 20 minutes, blot (for coconut cream fat, extended contact for saturated fat; this also releases the embedded taro leaf phaeophytin). (5) If white residue remains: warm water cloth (50°C) for 3–5 minutes, blot (for calcium oxalate from taro). (6) Protease enzyme — 15 minutes, blot (for coconut cream protein solids and any salt fish protein if present). (7) First hydrogen peroxide (3%) — 15–20 minutes, blot (for taro leaf phaeophytin). (8) Assess residual olive-green: if still visible, second hydrogen peroxide — 10–15 minutes, blot. (9) Warm water rinse (40°C), blot. (10) Cold water rinse, blot dry. Fan-dry fully. Palusami's heavy coconut cream volume makes complete rinsing important — residual coconut cream in the carpet pile can cause the area to feel sticky after drying if under-rinsed.
How does palusami differ from lu pulu as a carpet stain?
Palusami (taro leaves + coconut cream only) vs lu pulu (taro leaves + coconut cream + corned beef) — three key differences: (1) No myoglobin or nitrosomyoglobin: palusami has no meat, so there is no red or bright pink meat pigment to address. The cold-water-first rule (critical for lu pulu to prevent myoglobin from setting) is less critical for palusami — though still good practice to use cold water initially. You can skip the dedicated myoglobin peroxide step since there is no nitrosomyoglobin from corned beef curing; the single peroxide phase focuses entirely on taro leaf phaeophytin; (2) More coconut cream per area: palusami is more heavily coconut-cream-saturated than lu pulu (which has corned beef taking up some of the filling volume). Extend the cornflour and lipase contact times for palusami; (3) No curing salt odour: lu pulu has the briny, metallic odour of corned beef brine; palusami has a cleaner, purely coconut-and-leaf aroma that rinses away more easily.
The palusami has left a yellow tinge rather than a green stain — why?
A yellow rather than olive-green tinge from palusami can occur for two reasons: (1) Extended cooking degradation beyond phaeophytin — very long or very high-temperature cooking can break phaeophytin down further into pyropheophytin and pheophorbide a, which are even more olive-to-yellow-brown in colour. The peroxide treatment addresses all of these phaeophytin-family compounds, though extended contact time (25 minutes for the first application) may be needed; (2) Turmeric or curry spice in the coconut cream — some palusami recipes add a small amount of turmeric or curry spice to the coconut cream for colour and flavour. If this is the case, the yellow tinge is from turmeric curcumin, which is a more stubborn yellow pigment than leaf phaeophytin degradation products. Curcumin responds to hydrogen peroxide but may need two applications of 20 minutes each. If in doubt, treat for curcumin (longer peroxide) rather than phaeophytin (shorter peroxide) — over-treating a phaeophytin stain with extra peroxide contact is harmless.
What if the palusami was made with salt fish (salted fish) inside?
Salt fish (salted and dried fish — often used in Pacific Islands versions of palusami for extra flavour) adds a concentrated fish protein stain component, similar to the ground crayfish in Guinean sauce feuille. The salt fish protein is thermally denatured and concentrated by the drying process. Add the following to the treatment sequence: extend the protease enzyme contact time from 15 minutes to 20–25 minutes (the denatured dried fish protein requires longer protease exposure than fresh fish protein). Also note that salt fish has a very strong, persistent odour from trimethylamine and fatty acid oxidation products in the dried fish. If any fish odour remains after the enzyme and rinse steps: apply baking soda paste (bicarbonate with a little water) to the affected area, leave for 30 minutes, then vacuum and rinse with cold water. In persistent cases, a dilute solution of white vinegar (1:4) applied after the baking soda rinse helps neutralise residual fish odour compounds.