Jamaican Recipes What You Should Know

The majority of people who know about the island of Jamaica are more familiar with the reggae music by Bob Marley, white sand beaches in Negril or the tropical climate and lush mountains all around. But, most persons are still not aware that some of the better tasting food is found in this country. This is something that you should put on your to-do-list for your next visit, as a taste of Jamaican cuisine will leave your mouth watering for more.

The island of Jamaica provides a wide selection of dishes which are strongly influenced by its rich history. Coming from Spanish, British, African, Chinese and East Indian, all the delicacies of Jamaica can be incredibly spicy and flavorful, which makes it a culinary treat that can be enjoyed by everyone.

This little island is also relatively popular all over the world for the Blue Mountain coffee, which is cultivated from the rich coffee beans in the Blue Mountains area of St Andrew. This industry started in the 1700 in Jamaica, at that time the then governor brought the seedlings from the island of Martinique to plant on his property. While you are hiking in this area, you can see the coffee plant along the slopes of the mountain, which rises to a high of 5,000 feet above the sea level. You will also notice a lot of banana and avocado trees, as they provide shade for the coffee plants.

When it comes to the most popular style of cooking it is undoubtedly the jerk, which is loved by almost everyone. This is prepared by marinating the meat or by vigorously rubbing with the hot scotch pepper and other spices. In the past this meat would be cooked using smoke over fire, but these days most of the jerk meals tend to be cooked on barbecues or grill and even the normal oven at home. The customary meats widely used in the jerk were pork or goat, but nowadays additional meat such as chicken, fish and other seafood or even the tofu can be found on the grills. Practically every street corner that you visit you will see a jerk pan vendor selling this spicy delight, but if you are sampling it don’t forget to try the festival or harddough bread as an accompaniment.

Another food that is popular on the island is the rice and peas, which you can get at every restaurant daily, whether you are at a five star hotel or you stop at a roadside diner. Additionally, this is traditional favorite for Sunday dinners and it is practically eaten with any kind of meat. So, you can enjoy it with curry chicken, fry chicken, curry goat, roast beef, oxtail, stew chicken, fry fish, cow foot or anything that you desire.

Some of the other names that will be mentioned when you are talking about authentic Jamaican food is fish tea, Johnny cake, bulla, stew peas, mannish water, festival, solomon gundy, pepper pot soup, red peas soup, roast yam, roast breadfruit, ackee and salt fish, escotvetich fish, salt mackerel rundung, bammy, grater cake, gizzada, jackass corn and much more.

The good news is that anywhere you are on this island; it is a must that you will any of these dishes, so it is not hard to get a taste of Jamaican cuisine. But, you will find some areas with special offerings such as Middle Quarters in St Elizabeth, where you can get peppery and well seasoned shrimp which will literally set your mouth on fire. So, if you are not into spicy food, you might want to avoid this delicacy!