Scoffopedia

Tag: Caribbean cuisine

  • Ginger

    whole ginger and powdered ginger

    Ginger is a flowering plant whose rhizome, or root, is highly prized as a spice. It originated in Southern Asia and was exported to Europe as early as the Roman times. These days it’s mainly grown in India, Jamaica, Africa, China and Australia.

    It’s widely used as a flavouring for many Asian and Caribbean dishes – most curries have a garlic and ginger base to which other spices are added. In Western culture, however, it’s more often used in baking, particularly in its powdered form (see above photo).

  • Allspice

    allspice berries, whole and ground

    Allspice originates from the West Indies. It’s made from the dried, unripened berry of the tree Pimenta dioica, which is of the eucalyptus family.

    Historically it was called ‘Jamaican pepper’ and was frequently imported from Britain’s Caribbean colonies. Later it became more commonly known as allspice – the name given to it because it was thought to combine the flavours of cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg.

    The berries can be used whole or ground in both sweet and savoury dishes.

  • Ackee

    water colour painting of tropical blighia sapida fruit, ackee tree,

    Ackee, sometimes called ‘akee’, is the red, pear-shaped fruit of a tropical African tree. It’s related to the lychee and the longan. The fruit is very popular in Caribbean cuisine – it’s the national fruit of Jamaica – and is thought to have first arrived from Africa via a slave ship. It was later imported to Kew Botanical Gardens from Jamaica by Captain William Bligh of the Bounty in 1793.

    When it ripens, it turns from green to a bright red to yellow-orange, and splits open to reveal three large, shiny black seeds, each partly surrounded by soft, creamy or spongy, white to yellow edible flesh—the aril. The fruit is toxic before it ripens and should not be eaten.

    Canned ackee is available from some supermarkets and Afro-Caribbean grocers. Although technically a fruit, it’s usually served as a vegetable, commonly as an accompaniment to salt fish, but see below for a recipe by Levi Roots.

    Recipe

    Steak, peppers and tomatoes with ackee and mushrooms