Tag: Caribbean cuisine
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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…
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Allspice
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…
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Ackee
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…