Term

Description

Achee

 aka akee. A tropical western African evergreen tree (Blighia sapida) having leathery red and yellow fruits. It is naturalized and cultivated in the tropics and in Florida. The edible, fleshy, ripe aril of this tree, especially popular as a food in Jamaica. The seeds and unripe arils are poisonous.

Achiote

see annatto

Annatto

A tropical American evergreen shrub or small tree (Bixa orellana), having heart-shaped leaves and showy, rose-pink or sometimes white flowers. Also called lipstick tree . The seed of this plant, used as a coloring and sometimes as a flavoring, especially in Latin American cuisine. A yellowish-red dyestuff obtained from the seed aril of this plant, used especially to dye fabric and to color food products such as margarine and cheese.

Arrowroot

Neutral tasting, easy to digest, starch extracted from the root of tropical tubers, used  as a last minute thickening agent for soups and sauces.  Bermuda was once the primary source for the finest arrowroot.  St. Vincent is the major source of the world's arrowroot

Bacalitos

see Stamp and Go

Banana

Tropical fruit with sweet, soft, creamy flesh and green to yellow peels.  The most common variety, the large Cavendish, can be purchased when the peel is still green and ripened at room temperature.  Other varieties include red skinned, tiny finger or strawberry bananas.

Bay Rum

The bay rum tree is related to the evergreen that produces allspice.  The small dark bay rum berry called maleguetta pepper, in the French West Indies is used to flavor soups, stews, Creole blood sausage and Blaff

Beans, peas

Interchangeable terms for red kidney beans, black beans, black eyed peas, pigeon peas, gandules in Puerto Rico and yellow and green lentils.  Often combines with rice, used in soups and stews or mashed and fried as fritters.  Regions have distinct bean preferences.  Jamaican, Haitians and Cubans on the eastern side of the island prefer red kidney beans, while the western part of Cuba (Havana included) prefer the black bean.  Best name for a bean and rice dish is Cuba's Moro y Cristianos - Moors and Christians

Bhindi

see okra

Blaff

A broth infused with whole Scotch Bonnet peppers and bay rum leaves or berries in while whole or filleted fish is poached

Blue Marlin

Caught in the waters of the Gulf Stream, the Blue Marlin is enjoyed as steaks put in the smoker.  Delightful smoked marlin is a bit milder than smoked salmon and its dense texture is ideal for slicing thinly.

Boudin, Black Pudding

Boudin is French for any sausage but Creole boudin or blood pudding contains just that - pig's blood - made slightly more palatable with thyme and Scotch Bonnet peppers.  Frequently served with souse, a pork dish that can include any part of the pig.  <An acquired taste>

Breadfruit

Breadfruit was also introduced to Jamaica from its native Tahiti in 1793 by the Bounty's Capt. Bligh.  Obsessed with the fruit, eaten as a vegetable, Bligh's tender care of his saplings may have fueled his crew's mutinous behavior.  Breadfruit is a large, green 10 inch cannonball, with a pebbly green skin and potato-like flesh.  Not edible until cooked, Breadfruit is picked and eaten before it is fully ripened and is often served like squash - baked, grilled, fried, boiled or roasted after being stuffed with meat.

Bunuelos

Dough made form flour, cassava meal or mashed sweet potato, can have fruit fillings like guava and banana, fried flat or if filled or in balls, deep fried and sprinkled with powdered sugar or cinnamon sugar.

Calabaza, West Indian Pumpkin, Giraumon

Refers to a number of large yellow skinned squash used in island stews and vegetable dishes.  Because of their size, they are often sold in pieces.  Uncut, they store well; cut, use within a couple of days.  Hubbard and butternut squash are similar in flavor and make the best substitutes

Callaloo (Callalu)

Both the hearty soup {Made to include okra, scotch bonnets, pork, salt cod or crab meat} and the leaf from which it takes its name.  Elephant ear shaped Callaloo found in the eastern Caribbean, refers to the leaves of the Dasheen plant and is called Dasheen, Taro and Malanga.  Callaloo, also known as Chinese spinach or Indian Kale (Amaranthus viridis), leafy, spinach like vegetable.  Prepare both as you would collard ot turnip greens.

Cane syrup

Sugar syrup made from sugar from sugar cane that has a hint of molasses in the flavor.  Ideal for making Ti-punch - The drink of the French Antilles.

Carabola (Star-fruit)

Tart-sweet, star shaped fruit used in salads, desserts or as a garnish

Cassareep

Made from the boiled down juice of grated cassava root, flavored with cinnamon, cloves and brown sugar -- this is the oldest and amongst the essential ingredients in Caribbean cooking, especially fundamental to a proper pepper pot stew.

Cassava

A staple in many parts of the world, cassava is also known as Manioc and yucca.  A sturdy root vegetable with a tough brown skin and a very firm white flesh that grows to 12" or more in length and 4-6" in diameter.  Sweet cassava is boiled and eaten as a starch vegetable.  Cassava contains poisonous prussic acid that can be deadly and must be processed by grating the root and boiling in water for at least 45 minutes (discarding the water) before eating.  Processed cassava is available as meal, tapioca and farina.  Cassava bread is the most common form.  In Bermuda, Christmas is not Christmas without Cassava pie -- a sweet, savory lasagna sized construction.

Channa

Transplanted East Indian street snack of roasted chickpeas, salted, dusted with curry powder or chilies.  Enjoyed out of hand in Trinidad and Guyana.

Chayote, Christophine, Mirliton, Cho-Cho

A pear shaped member of the squash family, has smooth, pale, prickly green skin, a mild flavor and a moist texture similar to cucumber.  Use in any zucchini recipe, in gratins and soufflés.  Like pawpaw (papaya), it is also a met tenderizer.

Cherimoya

Also called the sugar apple or custard apple because of the sweet, white, custard like flesh inside its pale green skin,  Best chilled, fully ripened and eaten with a spoon.  May also be used as a fruit sauce and for mousse or fool.

Chili Peppers

Members of the Capsicum genus ranging from mild to fiery hot.  Lantern shaped Scotch Bonnet peppers are the main pepper used in the Caribbean.  Serrano, bird, jalapeno or other hot peppers may be used.  Most of the heat  (Capsaicin) is found in the inner pith (ribs) and seeds.  You can reduce the heat by removing these.  Recommend using vinyl gloves when cleaning, otherwise, wash hand well in milk and then with soup and water.  BE CAREFUL NOT TO TOUCH ANY SENSITIVE AREAS AFTER CLEANING PEPPERS!!

Chinese parsley

see cilantro

Cho-Cho

see Chayote

Chorizo (Choriço)

Spanish, Portuguese or Mexican style coarse-textured, zesty, fresh pork sausages spiced with chilies, garlic, paprika and other seasonings, similar to Linguiça.

Christophine 

see Chayote

Cilantro (Coriander)

AKA Chinese parsley, this herb is pungent with flat leaves that resembles the Italian Parsley.  Used for its leaves and mature seeds (Coriander) and the taste nothing alike.  The seeds are often include in "Curry" mixtures

Cinnamon

A sweet, aromatic spice is used both in the ground form or in sticks of coiled bark from a tree in the Laurel family.  True cinnamon comes from the bark of the Cinnamon zelancium which grows only in Ceylon.  Most cinnamon used today is actually from Cassia, another tree in the Laurel family.  The bark of the Cassia has a less delicate flavor and is thicker and more coarse that that of the Cinnamon tree.  In Barbados, when they say "spice" it means cinnamon.

Coco

see dashee

Coco Quemade

A pudding similar to flan.  Also a base for ice creams and a replacement for crème anglaise

Coconut

Native to Malaysia, this member of the palm family has become essential to Caribbean life.  It provides logs for homes, thatching for roofs, fiber for rope and bears fruit all year.  Coconut is edible in both its green and mature forms.   Both the pure water and the jelly of the green coconut find their way into island drinks.  Coconut milk is made from mixing grated coconut meat and water.

Cod

A saltwater fish with lean, mild-flavored, flakey white flesh.  Used fresh, frozen or dried.  AKA French - Morue (dried) or Cabillaud (fresh); Italian - Baccala; Spanish - Bacaloa; Portuguese - Bacalhau

Coiander

see cilantro

Colombo

see Curry

Conch (Konk)

A large mollusk enjoyed for both its flesh and its shell.  The meat is prepared in fritters, stewed, in seviche.  To prepare conch, it is required that the meat must be tenderized by beating with a mallet or the flat side of a cleaver.  The shells are large with beautiful pink/white interiors.  The sound of the sea can be heard echoing when held to the ear and is used a s trumpet for signaling.

Coo-Coo (cou-cou)

The Caribbean equivalent of polenta or grits.  Once based on cassava meal, it is now made almost exclusively with cornmeal.  Coo-coo can be baked, fried or rolled into little balls and poached in soups and stews.

Corossol,

see soursop

Creole (Criolla)

Originally referred to Caribbean born Europeans.  (Modern) Refers to the cooking from French speaking West Indies, Southern Louisiana and the Gulf States.  Criolla refers to the Spanish speaking islands.  Both terms are often meant to indicate the mixture of influences and ingredients of the native Caribbean, Africa, France, Spain, and the US.

Criolla

see Creole

Cumin

A aromatic spice with strong, distinctive flavor essential to Indian, Middle Eastern cuisine.  Introduced by Europeans.  Used extensively in Caribbean, Mexican and SW US cuisines.  Sold whole or ground

Curry

A generic term (18th C English Colonials from India), curry (kari) for a blend of spices (regional) East Indian-style dishes.  Usually includes coriander, cumin, dried chili, fenugreek, turmeric and cloves.  Madras curry is hotter then many blends.  Know by French as Colombo.

Dashee

Used for both leaves and starchy tuber.  Tuber usually served boiled or cut up and used as a thickener in soups.  AKA taro, tannia and coco

Dhal

Hindi term for all legumes (beans).  In Caribbean, generally refers to split peas or lentils.

Drum

Reef fish also known as Kingfish, King Mackeral or Drumfish

Escabeche

also escoveitched, caveched.  Spanish for fish or chicken that has been fried and then pickled in a sauce of vinegar, onions, spices, hot peppers and oil.

Flor de Jamaica

see hibiscus

Ginger

a rhizome (underground stem) used fresh, ground and candied.  Hot, peppery flavor and aroma.

Girumon

see calabaza

Gombo

see okra

Granadilla

see passion fruit

Guanabana

see soursop

Guava, guayaba

Tropical fruit native to South America.  The fruit is round. Oval or pear shaped.  Color ranges from yellow to dark skin and yellow to red flesh with rows of seeds.

Guayaba

see guava

Hearts of Palm

Ivory-colored bland core of some varieties of palm trees, rarely found fresh.  Used ins alads

Hibiscus

aka sorrel, flor de Jamaica -- not to be confused with garden variety.  From India, British introduced in 1650's to Jamaica.  The crimson sepal is dried and used for a drink, jams and sauces.  Available dried or fresh during the Christmas season.

Hoe cake

see johnny cake

Jack

saltwater fish aka yellowtail, greenback, burnfin. Black jack and amber jack.  Delicate flavored, up to 150 pounds in size

Jackfruit

Relative of breadfruit and fig, weigh up to 100 pounds.  Spiny and oval in shape, used green in curried dishes and ripened for use in desserts.  Popular in Africa, Brazil and Southeast Asia.  In US usually found canned in syrup.

Jerk, Jamaican

Both a seasoning blend and process of cooking and eating.  Blend used as a rub or suspended in liquid to form marinade.  Blend includes Habaneros or Scotch Bonent peppers, allspice, cloves, thyme, citrus, garlic and onions.  Works well for all foods.  Originally referred also to slow cooking the food and hacking off or "jerking" off the meat from the bones.

Johnnycakes

From 1700's. a cornmeal pancake.  Often also referred to as Hoe cakes as they were cooked on the flat side of a hoe blade in the fields over a hot fire.

Lady's Fingers

see okra

Lime

Excellent source of vitamin C  Used by British Navy to combat scurvy in 18th C. Important ingredient in Jamaican dishes

Mago

native of India, most extensively used fruit in the Caribbean.  Green mangoes used in chutney, ripe used in salsa, salads, sauces, in desserts, candied and drinks.  500 varieties, common varieties include Keitt, Kent, Tommy Atkins, Haden, Francine and Ataufo 

Malanga

a tuber similar to dashee

Mamey Apple

Native to Caribbean, tangerine colored pulp, flavor compared to peach, used in jams

Maracudja 

see passion fruit

Mirliton

see Chayote

Mora

see yautia

Name

(Yam)  Large tuber called a variety of names most often sweet potato (incorrectly)  but apropos.

Nutmeg

Seed native to East Indies, best grated fresh, used in sweet and savory dishes.  The dried outer netting of the kernel is Mace (aka 'poor man's nutmeg)

Okra

Native to Africa, finger shaped vegetables 2-4 inches long actually seed pods.  Fried as a side dish; when cooked, okra releases a viscous liquid added to gumbo and callalou to thicken often mixed with cornmeal when making coo-coo.  

Otaheiti apple

also introduced to Jamaica by Capt Bligh, pear shaped colors ranging from pink to ruby red.  Usually eaten fresh, and often poached.

Passion Fruit

aka Maracudja or granadilla oval shaped fruit with a tough shell and color range from yellow-purple to deep brown,  Know ripe when skin wrinkles and soft

Peas

see beans

Picadillo

Spicy Cuban hash for ground beef, olives and raisins

Pimento

see Allspice

Plantain

Variety of banana often referred to as the cooking banana.  Used similar to potatoes - boiled, mashed, or fried

Rum

distilled beverage from molasses process.

Saltfish

see cod

Scotch Bonnet peppers

VERY HOT.  Lantern shaped, range in color from green, yellow, to orange and red.

Sofrito

A Spanish tomato sauce used to enhance roasts and as a base for soups and stews.  Often includes: tomato, bell pepper, hot pepper, onions, parsley, coriander, salt pork and achiote

Sorrel

see hibiscus

Soursop

aka Corossol, Guanabana Relative of the Cheri,oya nd sugar apple, elongated, large spiky green fruit, slightly tart and delicately flavored.  Eaten fresh but mostly used in sherbets, ice cream, drinks and punches.

Spiny Lobster

crustacean found world wide considered inferior to large clawed Maine variety.

Stamp and Go

aka Bacalitos, Spicy-hot salt fish fritters popular throughout the Caribbean.

Star apple

A succulent baseball-sized fruit with a star shaped core when cut.  Native to Jamaica and Greater Antilles, the skin of this fruit is either a shiny purple color with red-purple or green skinned with white interior.  Used as an integral part of a traditional dessert known as a "Matrimony".

Stinking Toe

A pod, shaped like a human toe with a nasty smelling and rough exterior.  Inside the sugary powder can be "enjoyed" out of hand or use to make a flavorful custard or beverage.

Sugar Apple

aka Sweet sop - a heart shaped, round. Pave; pr conical, 2 - 4" thick, yellowish-green skin usually covered with a white or bluish bloom.  Inside is creamy white, studded by small, shiny, dark brown seeds in a sweet, pleasant flavored custard-like pulp

Sweet sop

see Sugar Apple

Tamarind

  A tropical Asian evergreen tree (Tamarindus indica) having pinnately compound leaves, pale yellow flowers, and long pods containing small seeds embedded in an edible pulp. Used to flavor chutney, curry dishes, pickled fish.  An integral ingredient in Worcestershire sauce, steak sauces, Angostura bitters and Pickapepper Sauce -- used for curing powers.

Tannia

see dashee

Taro

see dashee

West Indiana Pumpkin

see calabaza

Yam

Similar in size and color to the potato, but nuttier in flavor, it is not to be confused with the Southern sweet yam or sweet potato.  Grow mainly in the tropical and sub tropic regions of Africa, Asia and America.  Range in color from pale white to deep orange.

Yautia

A member of the taro root family, about the size of a large potato, but more pear shaped.  The flesh is white and slimy  - a natural thickener.  Also a purple Yautia called mora

Yucca

aka cassava, Spanish for cassava root or manioc.  A staple starch throughout the Caribbean and Central and South America