You see them in supermarkets and sometimes they are very handy indeed.

We're talking about the ready-made paimes and pastelles that save you the trouble of making your own especially if family and friends are visiting from abroad.

Presented with a paime, a visitor will usually exclaim that it has been a long time since they've had a paime. This is the local delicacy made of cornmeal, flour. raisins, coconut, sugar and other ingredients, wrapped in a fig leaf and put to steam until cooked. Some cooks add pumpkin to their recipes and others even add sweet potato. It depends on which West Indian island is the cook's influence.

In Trinidad we refer to it as paime; in Barbados they have something similar called conkie, but plantain is used instead of cornmeal while in Jamaica they call it by several different names such as tie-a-leaf, blue drawers and duckanoo and there are several folk tales in Jamaica about how Anansi the spiderman schemed to get some duckanoos all for himself away from the watchful "puss puss".

In the local supermarkets gaining popularity are the J T paimes making it easy for this delicacy to be enjoyed at any time.

After buying and eating some bought in a local supermarket, we asked Janet Trim, maker of the J T paime to tell us about her paimes . When it comes to making paime, Janet Trim has the right touch.

And while she may not be a gourmet chef Trim believes actions speak louder than words. Using her hands to convey her passion for cooking, Trim says she can not put her finger on what drew her to choose cooking as a career but believes God had his hand it. And despite the challenges she said she was quite pleased at being able to make such a bold move in her life at the right time.

Before she started making paime, Trim who lives at Erica Street, Laventille was a door-to-door Avon sales representative. As a single parent, Trim admits that she struggled to make ends meet. To supplement her income she started making paime and other small desserts which she carried door to door to her customers, friends and family who thoroughly enjoyed it.

She said, "One day a friend of mine said girl why don't you open your own business and start selling this; which I did eventually."

Bringing smiles to faces of everyone she meets Trim says she is as yet to find anyone who could resist her delectable cornmeal treats. With her 'sweet' hand and big heart Trim holds nothing back when it comes to making her favourite food, paime. A cornmeal recipe that is often made here in Trinidad and Tobago, paime is a sweet, wholesome and simple recipe that is very popular during the Christmas season. However not contented with this trend; Trim's love for the tasty cornmeal confection gave her the boost she needed to have these sweet treats made not just during the Christmas season but throughout the year.

Trim has been making paime for the past 14 years and said she has developed a secret blend of spices that she incorporates in her recipe which make her paimes stand out from the rest.

During a recent interview at Express House Trim said, "I did not go to a fancy school to learn this everything I did was by trial and error. I enjoy paimes it is so versatile. It could be eaten as a dessert or what I did this morning and had it for breakfast. But the process in making paime is similar to pastelle but you just don't add any filling since the dough has coconut, raisins and for some people pumpkin which makes it rich in fiber."

A typical day for Trim starts at 6 a.m. She goes about her day getting herself ready and seeing about the house. Around 10 a.m. she will start preparing the dough to make the paime. On average Trim said she will do approximately 100 paimes in one day but says she has

no particular time when she stops.

"I love cooking, I love cooking so much my daughter tells me all I need is to have a bed in the kitchen and I am all set," Trim said.

Trim did not want to give too many details about her recipe but advised persons attempting to try this cornmeal dessert to add sufficient water to the dough.

She said, "Keep in mind whatever you are doing do it to the best of your ability; don't cut corners. Keep to a standard so the flavor will always be there."

Something to note about this dish is that it can be either sweet, dessert style or savoury to be served along with meat or fish.

This dish has several versions throughout the Caribbean (Jamaica and Barbados mainly) in Antigua it is usually eaten on a Good Friday. We've included a recipe for the Jamaican version of this dish which is Duckanoo.