What foods and spices are native to the Caribbean?

Question

Hi.

I was wondering if anyone knew all of the spices that are native to the caribbean?

-Crystalofhealing

Answer 1

curry powder and cous cous

Answer 2

Spices are perhaps the most distinguishing element of West Indian cuisine. Pimento, or "allspice," combines the essentials of cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, and pepper, and is a common seasoning in West Indian cuisine, as is ginger. Nutmeg is also popular on several islands; it's grown in Grenada, which produces nearly a third of the world's crop.

Peppers, hot sauces and "dry rubs" are frequently featured in island specialties. Jerk, a fiery spice rub that employs the extremely hot Scotch Bonnet pepper along with ginger, pimento and nutmeg, is a popular method of marinating chicken, fish, and pork in Jamaica.

Not all West Indian dishes are hot and spicy, though. Traditional Cuban cuisine, though often well-spiced and infused with lime and garlic, is considered mild. In essence, every island has its own specialized flavors that add to the "spice" of dining in the Caribbean.

Answer 3

FOODS:

Ground provisions....yucca/cassava, dasheen, yam, sweet potato. Also green bananas, plantain.

Peas...lentils, split peas, black eye peas, chick peas and

Beans....red/kidney.

Spinach, aubergine/melongene, string beans, okra, pumpkin, patchoi.

Meats: chicken, pork, beef, mutton, goat, duck. Meats are usually stewed or curried and are often cooked in coconut milk.

In Trinidad and Tobago, we eat a lot of roti and curried foods,

SPICES:

Tumeric/curry, ginger, chive/escallion, garlic, onion, masala, safron, cumin/geera.

Pepper: mild...pimento(not allspice), hot: scotch bonnet, chili.

Might I add that most islands have their own way of cooking the same food and the taste varies.

Answer 4

we love curry...

curry goat is a good meal.

my mom makes that on special occasians. I'm Jamaican btw.

we also love ox tail and rice & peas..

Answer 5

Depends on what island you're talking about...

Most Caribbean islands have spices that very culture to culture, but there are some similarities.

Like, plantains, seasoned salts, roast pork with fruit,  lots of root vegetables and fresh tropical fruit like pineapple, coconut, guava, sugarcane.. and many others.

In my culture most meals consists of rice and beans, nothing spicy, but just very flavorful.

Answer 6

Not too positive on this one cuz, a lot of fruits/veggies and spices were brought over from other parts of the world through time and travel.

For example, breadfruit many people do not realize did not come from Jamaica but; was first cultivated in Hawaii, the Malay region and other Pacific islands.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breadfruit

While the plantain so dearly loved and cooked in the Caribbean was actually first cultivated in South East Asia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plantain

Same with the banana

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana#Hist...

Jackfruit is also native to South East Asia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackfruit

and the beloved mango is also originally from South East Asia and the Indian sub-continents.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mango#Culti...

So for the Caribbean it is very tough to say..

though apparently the starfruit is native to the Caribbean?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carambola

Answer 7

ALLSPICE:

Allspice is one of the most important ingredients of Caribbean cuisine. It is also native to the Caribbean.  It is used in Caribbean jerk seasoning (the wood is used to smoke jerk in Jamaica, although the spice is a good substitute), in mole sauces, and in pickling; it is also an ingredient in commercial sausage preparations and curry powders.