By Sarah Greaves-Gabbadon
CJ Travel Editor
For many Jamaicans, Sunday isn’t Sunday without ackee and saltfish. Traditionally enjoyed for breakfast or brunch, it’s an unlikely but flavorful combination of a savory-tasting fruit and dried salted cod that’s the island’s national dish.
Ackee is actually a fruit (related to the lychee and longan) that came to Jamaica from Ghana centuries ago. It grows on a tree in pink pear-shaped pods split open when ripe to reveal three fleshy yellow “arils” that surround large black seeds.
(And the ripening is crucial since young ackee contains poisonous toxins that can cause vomiting – no fun.)
To prepare it, the ackee is separated from the seeds, rinsed and par-boiled. It’s then sautéed with flaked salted cod (which has been previously soaked to remove most of the salt) and seasonings including onions, sweet and Scotch Bonnet peppers, and chopped tomatoes. Some cooks, including my mother (who, of course, makes the best ackee and saltfish) also add pieces of fried bacon for extra flavor. Delish!
Of course, man cannot live on ackee alone, so you gotta have the sides. The traditional accompaniments are of the fried variety: Johnny cakes (balls of fried dough); festival (deep-fried fingers of sweet dough); slices of fried plantain or breadfruit; and, my favorite, the shallow-fried cassava bread called bammy.
In a perfect world I’d eat ackee and saltfish every day. But since I no longer live at home or in Jamaica (where Mo’Bay diner The Pelican was a Sunday-morning ritual) and I don’t cook, I’ve had to find ackee sources here in Miami. Palatino in Wynwood and Clive’s in Little Haiti are my current go-to spots, so if you’re in the area, give them a try. If you’re an ackee virgin, you’ll most likely say ackee and saltfish tastes like a jazzed-up scrambled eggs. But to me, it simply tastes like home.