Talk:Kontomire

In the West African Country of Ghana, Kontomire is actually the leaf of the cassava plant. The leaves are large, can be well over 12 inches in length and 12 across. Like cassava, working with konomire is an itchy job. The leaves are torn from the thick stalks and soaked and washed in water, pretty much like you do with real spinach. However, to prevent cyanide posioning, kontomire leaves (either rolled and cut into strips or torn haphazardly) are steamed with a little bit of salt, well past the wilting stage. This is one case where the Ghanaian method of over-cooking your food to death is warranted (as with meat and fish products - worm infestations, etc make this extremely neccessary). The leaves are then drained and the Ghanaian thing to do would be to make kontomire stew (palava sauce).

I hope to get pictures the next time I am cooking with kontomire, of the fresh leaves and a few of the cooking process and will edit the article to reflect this information, upon consultation with others. As far as I know, kontomire is an Akan word from Ghana. I intend to find out if it is used elsewhere.

Maame Aba 05:08, 7 February 2009 (UTC)