Tahitian Po’e No (Banana Pudding)

Po’e is the great dessert of French Polynesia, made for centuries from fruit and the starch of taro or arrowroot, and baked in the ahima’a earth oven. The banana version, po’e no, is the most beloved of all: ripe island bananas mashed into a dense, glossy pudding that bakes into a deep amber, almost caramelized block, always served with a generous pour of coconut cream.

What makes it great is its singularity: there is nothing else quite like it, a pudding that is fudgy and silky at once, intensely banana-sweet, with a gentle chew and a faint tang from the coconut cream poured over it warm. It is the dessert that ends every Tahitian feast, and the one islanders crave most when they are far from home.

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