Savai’i takes aim at coconut cream rip-offs
A Samoa company has come up with the best answer to other countries ripping off traditional names for coconut cream – sending their own.Krissy Company has begun exporting a new coconut cream product to three countries - New Zealand, Australia and American Samoa.“The new product is called Savaii Popo,” said Luatua Lei’ite Setefano.“The coconut that our coconut cream comes from is from the big island of Savaii, from the area of Itu o Tane, towards Asau.“A Society of Coconut Farmers who has already been registered under the New Zealand Australian Trade Fair is the one providing the coconuts from those areas. More than twenty coconut farmers have already been registered in the Farmers society, he said.“That is the reason why we called our coconut cream product Savaii Popo because the coconuts are from Savaii.”“The reason why the coconuts are from Savai’i is because a lot of the coconut plantations in Upolu were affected by Cyclone Evans and it takes time for the coconuts here to develop.“However in Savaii there weren’t that many coconuts trees affected by Cyclone Evans and because the coconuts there are the real Samoan nut.“Most of the coconuts here have soft meat so the coconut cream that comes from that is juicy, as for the real Samoan nut, the cream is fatty and the meat is crunchy that’s why we use the coconuts from Savai’i,” said Luatua.The company’s Public Relations manager, Van Kay explains that there will come a time Upolu gets the chance to provide coconuts for manufacturing coconut cream.“At the moment there are three countries that we are exporting our coconut cream to, with two shipments to New Zealand, one for Australia and one for American Samoa.
