Jamaican Cuisine[Project of Choice]By Lorie Katherine Scovish

Jamaican cuisine includes a mixture of cooking techniques, flavors, spices and influences from the indigenous people on the island, and the Spanish, British, Africans, Indian and Chinese who have inhabited the island. It is also influenced by the crops introduced into the island from tropical Southeast Asia. Jamaican cuisine includes various dishes from the different cultures brought to the island with the arrival of people from elsewhere.

1899

Other dishes are novel or a fusion of techniques and traditions. In addition to ingredients that are native to Jamaica, many foods have been introduced and are now grown locally. A wide variety of seafood, tropical fruits, spices and meats are available.

Popular Jamaican dishes include curry goat, fried dumplings, ackee and salt fish (cod) (which is the national dish of Jamaica), fried plantain, "jerk", steamed cabbage and "rice and peas" (pigeon peas or kidney beans).

Jamaican Jerk Chicken

HistoryChristopher Columbus visited Jamaica multiple times towards the end of the 15th century and the beginning of the 16th century, once even shipwrecked on the north coast for twelve months (1503–1504).During these visits he described a way the Arawaks (the indigenous inhabitants of Jamaica) preserved meat by adding peppers, allspice and sea salt to make what is now known as Jamaican jerk spice[citation needed].

Goat Curry with Rice and Peas

Rastafarian Eating Habits

Jamaican Food Facts The Jamaican cuisine is quite diverse and mention must be made of the Rastafarian influence. Rastafarians have a vegetarian approach to preparing food, cooking, and eating, and have introduced a host of unique vegetarian dishes to the Jamaican cuisine. They do not eat pork, and the strict ones do not eat meat, including poultry and fish. There are even some who believe in cooking with little or no salt and cooking in an 'Ital' way.

Popular Ingredients• Ackee• Allspice (locally known as

"pimento")• Avocado (locally known

as "pear")• Black pepper• Breadfruit• Callaloo• Yuca (locally known as

"Cassava")• Chayote (locally known

as "chocho")• Coconut• Coconut milk• Escallion• Green Banana• Ginger• Pigeon peas (locally

known as "gungo peas")• banana• Vinegar

PlantainScotch bonnet (pepper)Taro (locally known as "dasheen" or "coco")Jerk spiceYam (vegetable)GarlicDried and salted cod (locally known as "salt fish")Salt beefThymeOxtailCow feetPig tail and earsLima beanChondrus crispusMalay apple (locally known as "apple" or "Otaheite apple")

GuavaPassion fruitSoursopSugar caneKetchupOnionBrowning SauceBoniato (locally known as "sweet potato")Calabaza (locally known as "pumpkin")AnattoGungo peaKidney beanRoselle (plant) (locally known as "sorrel")TamarindAcerola (locally known as "cherry")Tahitian apple (locally known as "June plum")JackfruitPineapple

Jamaican Patty and Red Stripe Beer

Beverages• Carrot juice with spices such as nutmeg and vanilla• Guinness punch with spices such as nutmeg and

vanilla• Ginger beer

• Irish Moss (also called sea moss) a milkshake-like beverage.[3] It is made from Gracilaria spp, rather

than Chondrus crispus.[citation needed]

• Limeade• Mango juice• Peanut punch• Sorrel drink

• Tamarind drink• Bush tea

• Tamarind Fizz• Cucumber juice

• Otaheiti Apple Juice• Sour Sop juice• Hot Chocolate

• Sky Juice• Suck-Suck• Ting soda

Sweets• Mango and soursop ice cream are two popular desserts.

Jamaican ice cream is traditionally made with coconut milk, and come in popular flavours like [grapefrut]] and rum and raisin.

• Other popular desserts include potato pudding, gizzada (a small tart shell with sweet spiced coconut filling), grater cake, toto (dessert) (a small coconut cake), banana fritters, coconut drops, plantain tart.

• Duckunoo or blue drawers is a dish made by combining a starch (usually cornmeal or cassava) with coconut milk, then wrapped and tied in banana leaf before boiling.

• Asham is parched corn that is ground and combined with brown sugar.

• Bustamante Backbone, named after the first Prime Minister Alexander Bustamante, is a candy.

Gizzada

Sugar, coconut, nutmeg and vanilla

Ackee Fruit

What might an average day entail?• BREAKFAST

Ackee and saltfish; fried dumpling or fried bammy; boiled banana or boiled yam. Tea (most hot drinks are referred to as “tea”): cerassee tea, cocoa, Milo, Blue Mountain coffee

• LUNCHPatty, coco bread or bun and cheese. Lemonade, coconut water, sky juice, Ting.

• DINNERRice and peas; curried goat or chicken; jerk pork, fish or chicken; fried plantains or boiled banana. Juice (pawpaw, carrot, etc.).

The Famous Jamaican “Jerk”The term jerk is said to come from the word charqui, a Spanish term for jerked or dried meat, which eventually became jerky in English.

Jerk Pork

“Jerk” continued…

Another origin is linked to the jerking or poking of the meat with a sharp object, producing holes which were then filled with the spice mixture. Like most Caribbean islands, Jamaican foods are derivative of many different settlement cultures, including British, Dutch, French, Spanish, East Indian, West African, Portugese, and Chinese. The origins of jerk pork can be traced back to the pre-slavery days of the Cormantee hunters of West Africa through the Maroons, who were Jamaican slaves that escaped from the British during the invasion of 1655.

Jamaican Jerk Sauce Recipe• Ingredients:• 1/2 cup ground allspice berries • 1/2 cup packed brown sugar • 6 to 8 garlic cloves • 4 to 6 Scotch bonnet peppers,

seeded and cored (wear gloves!)• 1 Tablespoon ground thyme or 2

Tablespoons thyme leaves• 2 bunches escallions (green

onions) • 1 teaspoon cinnamon• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg• Kosher salt and black pepper to

taste • 2 Tablespoons soy sauce to

moisten

• Preparation:

• Place allspice, brown sugar, garlic, Scotch bonnet peppers, thyme, scallions, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, pepper, and soy sauce in a food processor and blend until smooth.

You may use whole allspice berries, if available, but use enough to give the equivalent of 1/2 cup ground. (Allspice berries and scotch bonnets are key ingredients.) Keep this sauce refrigerated and it will virtually keep forever. Feel free to increase the hot peppers and garlic.

Rub the meat (chicken, pork or beef) with the seasoning. If using a pork shoulder, score the fat and rub in. With chicken, be sure to rub under skin and in cavities. The jerk sauce may also be used with fish, but use a firm-fleshed fish like grouper.

Marinate overnight. Grill over a low fire until done. Charcoal is best, but not essential. Meat will be smoked "pinkish" when done, and the skin will be nice and dark. Chop meat into pieces, and serve traditionally with hard-dough bread and Jamaican Red Stripe Beer.

See you in Jamaica!

References• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamaican_cuisine• http://

www.jamaicans.com/tourist/overview/eating-2.shtml

• http://homecooking.about.com/od/foodhistory/a/jerkhistory.htm