All About Ackee

Riggle me dis, riggle me dat, guess me dis riggle or perhaps not:

mi fada ha tree (3) picknie an alla dem wear black hats, what are they?…

 

 

 

          

            Ackee!

 

 

 

 

The main ingredient in Jamaica’s national dish, ackee and saltfish, is this strange looking fruit called ackee. On the tree you may mistake it for a bright red apple, but  the young fruits actually contain a poisonous gas that is only released when the pod naturally breaks open, like in the picture above. The liquid inside the young pods that creates the gas is used as a topical cure for ringworm and other skin parasites. Another Jamaican riddle warns: “those that don’t smile will kill me”.

Buying Ackee

It is worth a warning not to buy ackee that has already been taken from the pod. You never know what higgler’s 9 year old son bagged them and it’s possible that the pods didn’t open properly. In that case you’re eating poison and you’d best have some bizzy tea on hand. I tend to get my ackee from community members, not big market places. I know the trees the fruit comes from and I trust the farmers who hand them to me.

Preparing Ackee

Once the pod is open however, ackee is a great money maker and belly filler. I was once afraid to handle ackee, not quite understanding how the whole “poison thing” worked, but after months of observing others, I’m confident enough to prepare it on my own.

To prepare ackee you need very few materials:

1. a bowl or pot

2. compost pile or garbage

3. Pointed knife or fingernail

The raw ackee fruit itself should be pale or bright yellow and firm- it should almost feel like cartilage. A bad ackee is mushy and smells kind of like tuna fish. Just because one ackee in a pod is bad doesn’t mean the others are.

First, pull the fruit from the pod. This step should be easy, just open the pod wide and pull the yellow part out. You may notice that the fruit is attached to the pod by a little reddish vein- kind of like the ackee’s navel string. You’ll want to remove this from the fruit, but first you must remove the shiny black seed from the top.

Some ackee fruits have nice big seeds that easily twist and pop off, but others have tiny little seeds almost buried in the fruit. The little guys may need persuasion with your knife tip. I also have no qualms about breaking the ackee right down the middle out of laziness, although a real Jamaican wouldn’t stand for that nonsense.

 

  The final step to clean your ackee is to remove the “navel string”. Often when you pull the fruit from the pod, that part of the pod gets stuck in the folds of the fruit. Ackee has a very unique texture profile and a piece of the pod in your cooking will be apparent SO, if you’re an old Jamaican mother or grandmother, you would use your fingernail to scrape the inside of the ackee clean. Do NOT do this if you are wearing nail polish or you’re cooking for your Jamaican boyfriend (especially if he’s watching)… hygiene is very important to men eating their woman’s cooking.

If you’re cooking for your Jamaican boyfriend and you have painted nails, use your knife tip and simply run it through the crease inside the ackee fruit.

 

 

You should be able to see that the ackee on the bottom still has the string in it and the other two have been cleaned out

 

 

 

At this point, you’ve cleaned your first ackee! Now keep going. Put the clean guy in your pot or bowl and the pod into your compost. If your compost doesn’t get very hot, you will get baby ackee trees popping up so use discretion when disposing of seeds (I don’t know anyone who would argue with getting ackee seedlings- they make good money)

Storing Ackee

Usually I clean my ackee in the morning and then cook them for dinner. Raw Ackee needs air otherwise they will turn to mush so leave them in a shallow bowl with a paper or cloth towel over them. Keep them at room temperature, not the refrigerator, and keep them dry. If you don’t want to eat the ackee right away it’s best to prepare it, boil it, strain it, add some vegetable oil and freeze it in an airtight bag.

Cooking Ackee

Ackee is really nice to eat with meats such as fish or ham (or bacon), it is a mild taste and takes on the flavour of the food it is cooked with. Cooked ackee has a similar consistency (not taste) to lightly scrambled eggs. As a vegetarian, I cook it with sweet pepper, onion, garlic and other chopped veggies over rice or pasta. It’s also nice with Jamaican curry (remember to burn Jamaican curry first). Fresh tomato will make the ackee go sour so steer clear of that  combination.

Rinse ackee well in tap water. Heat water and don’t add the ackee until the water is a rolling boil- cold water makes ackee go bad. Let the ackee boil for about 6 minutes or until soft. Drain and add to your meal. Since it is already cooked, I usually add it last but still give it time to absorb the juices from the other veggies. 

Want some nutrition info? http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20121009/lead/lead92.html