Jamaica Food Guide

Jerk Chicken

Jamaica's world-famous spicy grilled chicken marinated in fiery scotch bonnet peppers and a complex blend of spices, traditionally slow-smoked over pimento wood.

Ackee and Saltfish

The national dish of Jamaica featuring ackee fruit (which resembles scrambled eggs when cooked) sautéed with salted codfish, onions, tomatoes, and spices.

Jamaican Patties

Golden-yellow pastries filled with spiced meat or vegetables - a beloved fast food with a distinctive turmeric-colored crust and savory filling.

Rice and Peas

The quintessential side dish of coconut-infused rice cooked with kidney beans ('peas'), scallions, garlic, and thyme - a Sunday tradition served with most Jamaican meals.

Blue Mountain Coffee

World-renowned premium coffee cultivated in Jamaica's Blue Mountains, prized for its smooth, clean taste with virtually no bitterness and subtle floral notes.

A Jamaican coconut tart with a pinched pastry shell that looks like a star or flower, filled with grated coconut sweetened with brown sugar and spiced with nutmeg and ginger. The pastry technique came by way of Portuguese influence. It's a bite-sized treat, the buttery, flaky crust playing off the sweet coconut inside. You'll find it at bakeries, patty shops, and street vendors, and it's a common sight at weddings and christenings.

A dense, rich pudding made from grated sweet potato, coconut milk, brown sugar, flour, raisins, and spices like nutmeg, cinnamon, and vanilla. It bakes until firm with a dark brown top, then gets cut into squares and served warm or at room temperature. The dish has African roots and usually turns up at Sunday dinner or special occasions.

A coconut cake flavored with grated coconut, ginger, brown sugar, and flour. The texture is dense and moist, close to gingerbread but with the richness of coconut, and the molasses gives it a dark brown color. It's baked in a rectangular pan and cut into squares, a plain, homey dessert rooted in African-Jamaican cooking. It goes well with strong Jamaican coffee or ginger beer.

Chewy candies made from chunks of fresh coconut boiled with brown sugar and ginger until caramelized, then dropped onto banana leaves or parchment to cool into clusters. They set up hard and sticky on the outside with a chewy coconut center, and the ginger adds a spicy kick that cuts the sweetness. Vendors sell them on the street, in pink or brown versions.

A pink-and-white layered coconut candy made from grated coconut, sugar, and food coloring. The coconut is grated by hand, mixed with sugar syrup, and pressed into a pan in two layers, then cut into squares or diamonds. The firm texture is close to fudge, and the two-tone look is part of the appeal. It's a favorite with kids.

A round, flat, firm ginger cake sweetened with molasses and flavored with ginger, nutmeg, and vanilla. The texture is dense and chewy. People eat it with cheese, often with avocado pear on the side for the proper combination, or with butter. It's a working-class snack and a school lunchbox staple, cheap, filling, and good for a long time on the shelf.

A steamed pudding of grated sweet potato, coconut, brown sugar, and spices, wrapped in a banana leaf and boiled, much the way a tamale is made. Unwrap it and the inside has a bluish tinge, which is where 'Blue Drawers' comes from. It's sweet, dense, and earthy, with African roots. It takes work to make, so it tends to appear at Christmas and other special occasions.

A rich fruitcake soaked in dark Jamaican rum such as Appleton Estate or Wray and Nephew. The dried fruit, raisins, prunes, and cherries, sits in rum for weeks before the cake is baked. It comes out dense and moist, spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice. It's a Christmas tradition that people eat all year, often given as a gift in a decorative tin. The flavor only gets better as it ages.