Akuapem Poloo, the traveller’s delicacy
It was a Thursday morning and typical of the Mamfe taxi rank and lorry park in the Eastern Region, women carrying the popular Akuapem Poloo had strategically positioned themselves waiting for the next client to buy one or two pieces of the delicacy before boarding the next vehicle.
The Mamfe community serves as an important link for those going to Akropong and Koforidua from Accra.
Advertisement
It is, therefore, quite a busy spot to ply any trade.
One popular delicacy associated with Mamfe is Akuapem Poloo just as Nsawam also in the Eastern Region is noted for fried yam and fried turkey tail popularly known as tsofi.
Akuapem Poloo or as others prefer to call it Mamfe Poloo, is a flour-based snack packed with coconut gratings. It also contains sugar, baking powder and nutmeg.
Each piece is currently sold at GH¢1 and those in the business told the Daily Graphic that it was a lucrative business. The business is even older than some of the women selling today as its history goes way back.
Most of the women who prepare and sell the poloo, including Madam Ernestina Amuba, learnt how to prepare it the Akuapem way from their mothers.
Ms Amuba, who interacted with the Daily Graphic last Wednesday, said the poloo and atsomo business was common to women in that part of the region.
“I started selling for someone 14 years ago but I have been preparing the poloo myself and selling for eight years now,” she said.
Profitable
“Some people do not respect our business but it is profitable. “On week days, I am able to sell between GH¢150 - GH¢200 each day and on weekends GH¢250- GH¢300,” Ms Amuba said.
There are about 10 women who regularly prepare the poloo and sell by themselves while others also prepare for their grown up children to sell at the station, especially during the weekends.
Akuapem Poloo is special
Poloo is a popular snack with a distinct taste in many areas in the country but it is believed to have originated from Akuapem.
Ms Amuba said it was how they processed their coconut that made the Akuapem Poloo taste different.
“Some people blend the coconut but here, we use a locally designed perforated metal to grate it in order to get that crunchy coconut taste in the poloo. This is special. Some people who learnt from here do it differently,” she said.
Nana Ama, a senior high school graduate, who has been selling the poloo for her mother for about seven years now said there was a lot of money in the business. She said her mother had been in the business for 20 years.
“There’s a lot of money in it.
I sell GH¢100 and above every day,” she told the Daily Graphic.