makes 1 dozen
1 cup cornmeal
1 cup flour
1 cup grated coco root (taro root)
1/2 cup grated coconut
1/2 cup brown sugar, or to taste
1 teaspoon grated nutmeg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups coconut milk, canned or fresh
1/8 teaspoon powdered cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon powdered mace
1/2 teaspoon grated ginger
6 banana leaves
White string

Sift the cornmeal and flour together into a large mixing bowl. Add the sugar, spices, coco root, coconut, coconut milk, and vanilla, and work into a firm, but not stiff, dough.

Halve each banana leaf and soften by quickly dipping into warm water. Place 1/2 cup of the mixture on each half leaf ad fold to make a little bundle, completely enclosing the filling. Tie with string.

Fill a large pot half full of water and bring to a boil. Then, lower the boyo into the pot, making as many layers as possible. Boil gently over medium heat for 2 1/2 to 3 hours. Remove one bundle from the water and open to test doneness.

Serve hot or cold, as an appetizer, snack, or side dish.

In Jamaica, this dish is also called "blue drawers."






"Let's get this clear right now...I'm poor. I'm lonely. I'm a revolutionary without a revolution. And I'm four months behind on a car payment." Professor Griff

" If we can't learn to live together despite the turmoil of past generations we are doomed." -Stern

"And where today is the stable community that would sustain such a couple, where one can be both poor and diginified and raise one's children with decency and hope... If the answer is education, does our society adequateley provide that tool of self-improvement to the less well off?"-- Sidney Poitier

" I'm not mad 'cus I'm losing! I'm mad 'cus I don't know how to win!" --Kevin Curtis Daniels Jr.

"And herein lies the tragedy of the age: not that men are poor,-all men know something of poverty; not that men are wicked,-who is good? Not that men are ignorant, -what is Truth? Nay, but that men know so little of men."
W.E.B. Dubois