Dive deeper into Caribbean music and culture at Sokah2Soca—your go-to source for Soca, Calypso, and Carnival coverage. It was first published on Sokah2Soca and is now streaming live via Island Vybe Radio.
Taking a break from the music to vent a little about part of our food culture... It's time to return to my Trinidadian roots and one of my favorite treats: Toolum!
If you grew up in Trinidad, you know toolum wasn’t just a sweet—it was a whole mood. A whole era. A whole sticky‑finger childhood memory wrapped in brown paper. But somewhere along the way, something went terribly wrong. Because the toolum we getting today… boy… It's gone to the dogs.
Let’s talk about it. But wait, I need to blame someone or some entity, and that falls on the shoulders of the national government. Yes, I am blaming them for my toolum woes! They shut down the sugar industry, and with that, our local supply of molasses evaporated! Apparently, the imported bottled stuff is not the same... sigh! Ok, I vented; now let's move on.
Oh, but first... factory-packaged toolum is not good! It is not the real deal... get it from small vendors!
The toolum I grew up loving—the real toolum—was black, sticky, glossy, and packed with that deep molasses flavor that used to glue your teeth together in the best possible way. Miss Maude’s style. The kind you had to pry off the wax paper. The kind that stained your fingertips. The kind that tasted as if someone's grandmother were still stirring a pot over a coal stove.
But what is passing for "toolum" in Trinidad today?
A brown, crumbly, coconut‑ish impostor that is calling itself "toolum" in name only. A sweet sugar block with no soul. No molasses. No stick. No heritage. No respect.
Some of them are so dry, they could pass for gravel. Some are so hard, you need a chisel. And the worst part? The black, sticky style—the one we grew up on—seems to have vanished. Disappeared. Extinct. I can’t find it anywhere.
So hear nah:
If anybody out there knows where to get real toolum—the black, sticky, molasses-rich kind—leave a note, send a signal, or call on the ancestors. Because this new thing they're selling? That is not toolum. That is a betrayal.
So I appeal to the Toolum Gods, the old-school makers, the ones who still know the craft:
Bring back the real thing.
Bring back the toolum we used to fight over in primary school.
Bring back the sticky sweetness that defined a generation.
Stop making fake toolum in name only.
Make it happen.
Toolum recipe: Simply Trini Cooking/Toolum
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Production Notes/Music Credits:
De Talk is about "Toolum Gone to the Dogs."
Origin: Trinidad, Republic of Trinidad & Tobago.
Genre: ?
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