IN Trinidad and Tobago, pastelle is synonymous with Christmas. The delicious traditional delicacy is made across the country by homemakers and culinary entrepreneurs seeking to make some extra money for the season.
However, aside from the meat and corn meal and other ingredients needed to make pastelle there is one key ingredient that is usually very difficult to procure in bulk.
That ingredient is banana leaves.
For the past two years, Toni Perotte, a 29-year-old mother has supplied a range of people with clean, quality leaves. Her business has grown to be able to employ 10 people, supply two groceries and several other pastelle makers.
Now, with her niche business expanding Perotte is looking to take her business to the next level.
Perotte told Business Day she started in October 2021, at the height of the pandemic.
“We weren't working,” she said. “So I started my own business.”
She said she began procuring leaves from friends in Couva and Maracas, St Joseph. Her husband would do most of the cutting then have it transported to their home at Dorameah Trace, Las Lomas, where they continue the process.
[caption id="attachment_1051426" align="alignnone" width="768"] A worker seals the processed leaves in plastic wrapping to be labelled and delivered to customers and groceries. -[/caption]
“We would cut about 15 palms, which would have about 11-12 leaves each,” she said. “Then we burn the leaves, we sanitise them, package them and freeze them."
After the process then the leaves are ready for sale. They named the brand Sharon's pastelle leaves – after Perotte's mother-in-law who came up with the idea.
She said her husband and a team would do most of the processing on the weekends, and she would do deliveries during the week. She said she uses social media – Whatsapp and Facebook in particular, to contact customers and make sales. Perotte advertises her products using marketplace and other platforms on Facebook, while taking orders on the phone.
The leaves come in two sizes 9x9 and 7x7 inches. Large leaves are sold for $60 and smaller ones for mini pastelles are $45.
Like many other businesses, Perotte's fig leaf business was laughed at when she first started.
“People were saying, 'Oh, I could get that in my backyard.' Others said the business would never make money.”
[caption id="attachment_1051442" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Pastelles ready to eat after being cooked in banana leaves. - File photo[/caption]
But then calls started coming in.
“This year we started getting orders from as early as April,” she said.
As business grew, she expanded to groceries such as Low Cost Supermarket.
“One person even tracked me down to make orders,” she said. “She called me and said, ‘I have been looking for you for so long. The grocery ran out of your leaves, and I have been searching everywhere to get on to you.’ She told me to keep doing what I was doing.”
She said this year it is so busy that she must put other businesses – selling food and catering – on hold until after Christmas.
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