COOKING WITHOUT GAS OR ELECTRICITY IN THE OLDEN DAYS.

Charcoal was much preferred to wood for cooking fires in Trinidad for most of the 19th and well into the latter half of the 20th century. It burnt with a bright, hot flame and produced little smoke. Few people could appreciate the labour needed to produce the fuel in the high woods of the colony. A significant percentage of the charcoal consumed by North Trinidad came from the virgin high woods of Valencia, Tamana and Cumuto. The burners lived lonely existences in the forest. First, they would have to hew down mighty trees, dig pits to hold them, set the tree alight and then cover it with layers of loose earth and burlap. This allowed the log to burn without flame. The heat of the fire was controlled by constantly wetting the sacking. A pit of charcoal could take up to eight days to produce. The fuel was put into sacks, the mouths of which were secured with dry lianas or jungle vines, and then carted to market.
A common sight on the Eastern Main Road of yesteryear would be long lines of coal carts trundling towards the capital in the twilight of early morning. Carters would snatch this opportunity to get some much needed sleep. A young prankster in the 1920s once decided that the best joke would be to turn the mules back in the opposite direction whilst the carters slept, so on that particular morning, Port-of-Spain was short of fuel for breakfast bakes and buljol. Some of the carters went directly to the old Borough Market on Charlotte St to await the five o’clock opening bell, whilst others would make their way to merchants in the city with whom they had a business relationship.
A 100-pound sack generally cost between 12 and 20 cents. Dishonest burners would use a large amount of soft and rotted wood, which produced a charcoal that was consumed faster than hardwood coals. They would fill the bags largely with balsa or soft coal and top it off with a layer of hard fuel, so that even customers who inspected the contents could be caught unawares. A facet of a bygone era was the city coal shop. This was often operated out of the yard of a private residence and consisted of a bin made out of galvanized sheets and wood shingles in which coal bags were deposited. The coal shops served an economic need for people who had no call for or could not afford an entire 100-lb bag of coals and thus needed to purchase quantities by the three cents’ worth. Coals were also sold in small quantities from the dozens of Chinese shops of yesteryear. The coming of bottled LPG gas and electric ranges in the 1950s spelled the end of an era for the coal trade, but as any good Trini will tell you, no food is as sweet as when cooked on a coal-pot.
Photo : Burning charcoal in a Trinidad forest circa 1910. The charcoal pit, covered in earth and sacking is seen emitting smoke. 
Source: - Angelo Bissessarsingh, September 2, 2012

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