This document describes common fruits, vegetables, and meals in Jamaican cuisine. It lists over 20 native and imported tropical fruits grown in Jamaica including ackee, breadfruit, cocoa, guavas, mangoes, and tamarind. It also lists vegetables like callaloo, cassava, dasheen, scotch bonnet peppers, yams, and pumpkins used in Jamaican cooking. Typical Jamaican breakfasts include ackee and saltfish while lunches and dinners feature dishes like jerk chicken, curries, and stews served with rice, festivals, and provisions. Desserts include tropical fruits, sweet potato pudding, rum cake, and coconut toto.

1. Jamaican Food
Fruits, Vegetables and Meals

2. Fruits

3. Fruits
 Ackee – national fruit of Jamaica. Its
fruit is pear shaped, bright red to
yellow-orange, and when ripe,
splits open to reveal three large,
shiny black seeds, surrounded by
soft, creamy or spongy, white to
yellow flesh.
 Breadfruit – a good source of
vitamin C, breadfruit is the size of a
large melon. Unripe, they are green
and their flesh resembles a potato -
hard, white, and starchy. Breadfruit
is used in savory and sweet dishes
according to its ripeness.

4. Fruits
 Cocoa – all chocolate products come
from the cocoa. The fruits are red
when young and green when
mature. The fruit of the cacao grows
directly on the trunk of the tree and
main branches. It has very small
white flowers and the tree develop
fruits after about five years
 Guavas – have yellow or green skin
and white, pink or dark-red edible
flesh. Shaped like a pear, they are
great thirst quenchers and contain a
lot of vitamin C. and iron.

5. Fruits
 Guinep – a small, grape-like
fruit with a green skin and a
large seed surrounded by a thin
layer of sweet, fleshy pulp.
 Jackfruit – has a hard “spiky”
outside shell and the inside fruit
is yellowish with a sweet taste
and aroma. It contains anywhere
from 100 - 500 oval seeds.

6. Fruits
 June Plum – this egg-sized fruits are
borne in clusters of up to a dozen or
more. Fruits are thick-skinned,
fibrous, and drop from the tree while
green. Before turning yellow, the flesh
is crisp and somewhat acidic.
 Jamaican Mangoes – most mangoes
start off with a dark green skin color
and develop patches of gold, yellow,
or red as they mature There are
hundreds of different varieties of
mangoes.

7. Fruits
 Naseberry – the flesh varies from
yellow to shades of brown and
sometimes reddish-brown, and may
be smooth or of a granular texture.
The flavor is sweet and pleasant,
ranging from a pear flavor to
crunchy brown sugar. Fruits can be
seedless, but usually have from 3 to
12 hard, black, shiny, flattened
seeds.
 Otaheite Apple – also called Malay
Apple. The fruit is oblong to pear
shaped with a dark red skin and
white flesh.

8. Fruits
 Sorrel – an annual plant, it is used
in jelly and in juice. The leaves and
young stems are edible and used in
salads or cooked as a vegetable.
Powdered dried red sorrel is added
to herb teas such as Red Zinger for
flavor and color.
 Soursop – the pulp of this fruit is
creamy and may be eaten as is or
used to make ice cream and as a
juice. The fruit is large, can weigh as
much as six pounds.

9. Fruits
 Starapple – fruit can be purple
or green depending on the
variety. When cut in half there is
an attractive star pattern. The
flesh is sweet and tastes very
smooth and aromatic.
 Sweetsop – also called Sugar
Apple. This fruit has somewhat
of a green knobby skin. It is very
sweet and is eaten fresh. The
inside white, juicy and creamy
and contains black seeds.

10. Fruits
 Tamarind – is a thick, dark brown
or reddish-brown pulp surrounding
small seeds inside a hard, brittle
bean-shaped pod. The flavor of the
pulp is both tart and sweet,
resembling a combination of
apricots, dates, and lemons.

11. Vegetables

12. Vegetables
 Allspice, Pimienta – a dark-brown
berry, similar in size to juniper,
which combines the flavors of
cinnamon, clove and nutmeg.
 Callaloo – this leafy, spinach-like
vegetable is typically prepared as
one would prepare turnip or collard
greens.

13. Vegetables
 Cassava – this tuber is also known
as manioc and yucca. A rather large
root vegetable with a 6- to 12-inch
length and 2- to 3-inch diameter,
cassava has a tough brown skin
with a very firm white flesh.
 Cerasse – the Leaves of the plant are
used for making Tea, The tea is
bitter in taste and believe to cure all
manner of illness.

14. Vegetables
 Cho Cho – the US calls this a
Chayote. It is a green pear shaped
vegetable. It is tasteless but it’s a
staple in stews and curry.
 Dasheen – is another tuber just like
the coco. It’s also known as Taro
root in Asia and is a starchy staple
in Jamaican diet. It’s great in soup
and when it’s cooked, it partially
turns purple. It’s a great source of
iron, magnesium and potassium.

15. Vegetables
 Gungo Peas – this green and brown
peas which is use in many Jamaican
dishes. It is also known as pigeon or
congo peas.
 Scotch Bonnet Peppers – the fiery
Scotch bonnet pepper, ranging in
colors from yellow to orange to red,
is considered the leading hot
pepper in Jamaica.

16. Vegetables
 Sweet Potato – has a reddish brown
skins and flesh that ranges from
white to light orange. What is most
often referred to in the U.S as a yam
is not a yam at all , but a sweet
potato.
 West Indian Pumpkin – this squash
is also known as calabaza.
Possessing a sweet flavor, this firm-
textured vegetable is commonly
found in soups, stews, breads and
sweetened puddings.

17. Vegetables
 Yam – similar in size and color to
the potato, but nuttier in flavor, it is
not to be confused with the
Southern sweet yam or sweet
potato. Caribbean yams are served
boiled, mashed or baked. There are
different varieties of yam such as
white yam and yellow yam.

18. Meals
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner and Dessert

19. Breakfast
 Ackee and Saltfish (Salted Cod Fish) and dumplings
 Porridges
 Cornmeal
 Hominy Corn
 Banana
 Plaintain
 Peanut
 Liver with boiled banana and yam

20. Breakfast
 Calaloo and Saltfish (Salted Cod Fish) and boiled
green bananas
 Ackee and Saltfish and bammy
 Saltfish with boiled green bananas and boiled
dumplings
 Fried Plantains
 Roasted breadfruit

21. Lunch
 Patties
 Beef
 Chicken
 Fish
 Vegetable
 Bun and cheese
 Jamaican meatloaf

22. Lunch
 Jerk chicken with hardo bread or festivals
 Brown stewed chicken with rice and peas and
mixed vegetables
 Curry chicken with white rice and salad
 Peppered steak with rice and peas and mixed
vegtables

23. Dinner
 Brown stew chicken with rice and peas and mixed
vegetables
 Curry chicken with white rice and salad
 Curry goat with white rice and salad
 Stewed Peas with white rice and salad

24. Dinner
 Steamed fish with bammy and water crackers
 Roast beef with rice and peas and mixed vegetables
 Escovitch Fish with rice and salad
 Jerk chicken or pork with festivals

25. Dessert
 Ice Cream
 Grapenut
 Rum and Raisin
 Sweet Potato Pudding
 Cornmeal Pudding
 Rum Cake
 Coconut Toto
 Blue Drawers (Duckunoo)

26. Jamaican Food
Fruits and Vegetables