Dampier wrote; "The aroma is very strong. However, after adding a little part of it, the dish's flavour became quite savory."

In the 1880s, trassi was described by Anna Forbes during her visit to Ambon. Anna was the wife of British naturalist Henry Ogg Forbes; the couple travelled through the Dutch East Indies in the 1880s. In her journal she describes the culture, customs and tradition of the natives, including their