It is ironic that, in pre-contact Aotearoa, tutu was one of the few sources of sweetness. Honey bees and their honey were a much later arrival. Tutu is wind pollinated so it doesn't need to produce nectar or to have attractive flowers. Bees visit it in only the most unusual circumstances. The sweetness comes from the petals which swell up and form a fruit around the seed.
It is recorded that the petal juice was extracted, fermented or, with the aid of a little seaweed, made into a jelly. Obtaining that sugar fix or alcohol buzz did have some potentially very serious side effects. The petals are the only part of tutu that lack the neurotoxin tutin. To separate the seeds from the juice a funnel was woven from cabbage tree leaves. The funnel was then stuffed with toe toe seed heads so that the poisonous seeds could be removed from the sweet liquid.
The toxin has a range of effects, the most serious being convulsions, coma or even death. There is no antidote for tutin so treatment involves control of the symptoms. Today we have an extensive range of drugs for this purpose and patients recover as the tutin leaves their system. In the past a more physical treatment was attempted. It seems bizarre to bury someone up to the neck to control convulsions. Even stranger is the repeated immersion of someone to the point off drowning. Sadly we have seen this technique used in modern times when mental illness was interpreted as a case of maketu or possession.
Since colonial times tutin has caused stock problems due to ingestion of tutu and human poisoning from consumption of tutin in honey. The last recorded death was in 1917. In the summer months tutu can get infested with the vine leaf hopper. This insect takes the protein from tutu sap and leaves honey dew which contains tutin. This can then be a nectar source for honey bees, particularly in dry years.
It has to be said that commercial apiarists are well clued up on tutin. The industry has NZ$100,000,000 of exports each year. It has a reputation to protect with new products such as organic honey and also UMF honey becoming important earners. They have management and monitoring protocols in place that have proved effective.The last case of tutin poisoning from commercial honey was 35 years ago in 1974. It is an enviable reputation.
The 22 people poisoned by tutin in comb honey in 2008 over in Whangamata was a real hiccup for commercial apiarists. Anyone can have a hive and there are many hobbyists that produce honey surpluses that they give to friends or even sell. This honey was marketed, in comb form under the name Projen Apiaries. The first person to suffer tutin poisoning was the hobby apiarist himself. He spent three days in hospital after eating his own honey. It was subsequent to this that he then supplied the local market with his honey comb and the other people fell ill. The logic of this is hard to fathom.
Commercial apiarists have a national association which works alongside the The New Zealand Food Safety Authority. Despite their lack of responsibility over the Whangamata poisonings the association introduced even more stringent protocols for their industry in Jan. this year.
As for tutu in Tuateawa, it is a very common plant. It grows by the roadside and scrubby areas. There is an outside possibility that you could absorb tutin should you get any quantity of tutu juice on your skin. I guess that it is something to be aware of.
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