Tableta, A Belizean Coconut Sweet

If you are a coconut lover then you probably have tried this Belizean coconut sweet treat, tableta. Different people approach the recipe in their unique ways. But the primary ingredients of tableta are coconut flakes, ginger, and sugar. It is one of those cultural sweets that Belizeans enjoy as a dessert or simply to satisfy a craving. The preparation process has been passed down from generations and it still lives on. In tonight’s episode of Kolcha Tuesday, News Five’s Paul Lopez travelled to Sand Hill Village to learn how to make tableta from one resident who learned the recipe from her mother more than four decades ago. Here is that story.

 

Paul Lopez, Reporting

Sharon Louise Leslie splits wood for her fire hearth. This is the first step in the process to make tableta, a Belizean coconut sweet.

 

Sharon Leslie, Entrepreneur

“Ah the chop the wood now to light the fire so we could start to make the tableta right.”

 

She sources pine wood from land in Sand Hill Village where she has lived since childhood. Leslie was ten years old when her mother first taught her how to make tableta.

 

Sharon Leslie

“Because my mom the do and we the help her. I dah mih the oldest gial for my mah.”

 

Paul Lopez

“And at that time did you see it as a chore or was it fun?”

 

Sharon Leslie

“As fun, because mommy the do something and we the help out. Like when we use to make cake, we never had mixer. You have your bucket and you stir.”

 

The wood is lit, and the first step is complete. The fire hearth is Leslie’s preferred method for cooking tableta.

Sharon Leslie

“The stove is too small because sometimes I have to make a big amount. This lady would say, I need sixty dollars’ worth. I can’t put those on the stove and ih wah tek to long.”

 

Leslie places a huge cast iron pot over the fire and ensures that it is thoroughly clean.

 

Sharon Leslie

“Yo wah sih this pot when I finish with it, because yo have some people, once the tableta finish there is nothing in this pot.”

 

Paul Lopez

“And that is how you do yours.”

 

Sharon Leslie

“Right.”

 

Paul Lopez

“Now you put yourself to the test, because you give me a promise. Ah have to sih if dah thing real.”

 

For this recipe, Leslie grates three coconuts. She is very particular about the types of coconuts she uses in her product.

 

Sharon Leslie

“We nuh use dry coconut, it have to be half green coconut, yo grater it. The main ingredient and the white sugar, nuh brown sugar white. Because, some people do mek it with brown. I don’t know, from I the mek, I the use white not brown. From my mom teach me then.”

 

After the grating, Leslie pours her white sugar into the heated cast iron pot. This process requires constant stirring to prevent the sugar from burning while it melts over the fire. When she wants to increase the heat, Leslie adds more wood. Similarly, to decrease the temperature, she removes wood from the fire. After ten minutes, the sugar is completely melted.

 

Sharon Leslie

“Now we are going to add the trash to it…”

 

Leslie takes a break from stirring to grate a piece of ginger that she adds to the pot closer to the end of the cooking process. She has passed down these skills to her two daughters to keep the tradition alive. But she says that they prefer steering clear of the fire hearth and working their eight-to-five jobs. Her twelve-year-old grandson assists her when he is off from school.

 

Sharon Leslie

“Yo got some people weh deh gwen dah states today, deh wah call me from eena the week and seh Ms Leslie I need wah forty dollars tableta and a thirty dollars cutup brut fih ker. Deh wah inform me ahead of time to get the coconut prepared to make it.”

 

Soon after the cooking process is complete, Leslie transfers the tableta onto a flat wooden surface to cool down. She flattens out the finished product with her hands and cup.

 

Sharon Leslie

“We done smooth it off now we wah leff it fih cool fih bout twenty minutes then we will slice, and you guys can have your taste.”

 

Paul Lopez

“Watch so the pot just as clean as Ms Louise said it would be, so you could tek ah at it world.”

 

Now it is time for the taste test, though the tableta required a bit more time to cool down.

 

Paul Lopez

“Original tableta, straight from the fire hearth the way your granny use to do it. Ms Leslie, mein, yo can’t beat this. I the tell yo that.”

 

Reporting for News Five, I am Paul Lopez

 

Sharon Leslie can be reached on her Facebook page at Louise Leslie or by phone at six-two-five-two-seven-six.