I’m fresh off my trip to Jamaica, slightly sunburned, but wishing I was still lying out on the beach.  Because I did a lot of “touristy” things while I was there, I wasn’t able to try as much local cuisine as I would have liked.  So, this post will talk about a few things I did try, and a few I should have tried based on advice from tour guides and other locals.  First off, Jamaica’s national dish, ackee and saltfish (photo courtesy of flickr user galif548).

Ackee & Saltfish

Ackee is a fruit related to the lychee which starts out looking similar to an apple.  The insides, which are cooked for the national dish, strangely resemble scrambled eggs.  Ackee can be bought canned even in the states, but the locals say that (of course) freshness is sacrificed with this method.  Saltfish is a salted, dried fish, usually cod or mackerel.  For this dish, it is flaked and sauteed along with the ackee, spices and vegetables.  Unfortunately, I did not have the opportunity to try the national dish

Coconut water, which I did have the pleasure of trying (canned, though) is the clear liquid inside young coconuts.  The canned version, which has a little added sugar and preservatives, also has “coconut jelly” floating around inside, which turns out to not be as weird as expected.  The coconut jelly is really just small slivers of young coconut meat.  The drink itself tastes mostly like, well, water, with a light coconut aftertaste.  Quite refreshing!

Can of Coconut Water

I’m planning the rest of this post out in my head as I type and am realizing that it may turn out to be longer than expected, so I will cut off here and turn it into 2 posts.  Also, the second-to-last sentence I wrote seems to have way too many commas, so I must be tired.   So, Jamaica Part 2 will appear shortly!  Respect mon!