Guavaberry fruits from the fertile Colombier hillsides, St. Martin, 2004. (CLF photo)
FREETOWN, St. Martin (December 13, 2004) — “Good morning, good morning ah come for meh…put it on the table. …” When serenaders are singing this popular St. Martin verse during the year-end festive season, everyone should have what to put on the table.
The bumper crop of the guavaberry fruit that the island is witnessing this year has been like no other since the passing of hurricanes of Luis, Marilyn, Jose and Lenny in the last five years of the 1990s.
According to one senior citizen in the village of Freetown in the North of the island, “We will have to go back to the early 1970s to find a better guavaberry crop.”
Rare in taste and distinguishable in looks, guavaberries are found in only a few Caribbean islands, South and Central America, the Philippines and the Hawaiian islands.
Oral tradition has it that St. Martin probably has the most guavaberry trees per capita in the world. Colombier is considered the guavaberry garden of St. Martin, as a large amount of the trees are concentrated in that beautiful agricultural village.
Irene Knovels, at age 90, lives in the village of Rambaud. “I have been reaping guavaberries since about the age of seven, so that gives me more than 80 years of experience dealing with this traditional St. Martin fruit.”
Knovels said that in the early 20th century freshly picked guavaberries were sold by the cupful; fresh juice, rum punch, jam were made from the berries; and guavaberry tart, pudding, cake, and bread were baked for eating at home, sharing with family and friends and for sale throughout the island.
“In those days St. Martin used to export Guavaberry to the neighboring Islands like Anguilla, St. Kitts, St. Thomas, Guadeloupe, Curacao, and Aruba,” said Knovels.
“My guavaberry tart and punches were sold in Europe and United States and customers kept coming back every year for more.”
Today, this traditional Christmas drink is the national liqueur of St. Martin. The advent of the guavaberry factory on Frontstreet in the late 1980s saw an exciting rebirth in the commercialization of this St. Martin berry.
According to Knovels, “We St. Martiners always knew guavaberry had great value and we always took pride in reaping and preparing this special berry to make all our goodies.”
Knovels is, however, concerned about the future of guavaberry in St. Martin. “Most of the older trees were destroyed, we need to plant more trees and preserve the existing one.”
Indeed the 2004 bumper crop should encourage the planting, protecting, and grooming trees by farmers, landowners, and guavaberry aficionados who may have trees on their personal or family property.
Just as Cuba is known for its cigars, Grenada for its spices, and France for its wine, St. Martiners would do well further develop and promote a sound guavaberry industry for domestic consumption and regional and international trade. St. Martin would then be called the guavaberry capital of the world.
– © 2004 by S. Reiph. Credit Conscious Lyrics Foundation (CLF)