The tiny djon djon mushroom used to color and flavor the rice is cultivated almost nowhere else in Haiti but the humid hillsides around Grande-Rivière-du-Nord, then sold dried by the cupful.
Rice is cooked in the dark, earthy soaking liquid of dried black djon djon mushrooms until it turns a deep grey-black, giving off an aroma close to truffle. Street cooks ladle it onto plates alongside fried fish or griot from big pots at market stalls.