Description

Its fruit is fully developed, ripe, and suitable for cooking when the pods are bright red and they split open easily to expose the edible fruit inside. Jamaicans will often say that the fruit will “yawn” or “smile”—open naturally, on its own—before it’s ready to be picked from the tree. The pod opens to expose three or four cream-colored sections of flesh called arils underneath large, glossy black seeds. The arils are what you eat. Ackee requires a little bit of prep work before it can be eaten, but it’s not strenuous. Simply remove the black seeds from the flesh, along with the red lining on each section of flesh. Discard these parts; what you want is the flesh itself. Rinse the flesh in tap water and drain it well before you use it in cooking.

How to Cook With Ackee

In preparation for use in the national dish, ackee and saltfish the fruit is usually boiled gently for up to half an hour. The prepared fruit is removed from the water and usually sautéed with onions, tomatoes, sweet peppers, allspice, and Scotch bonnet peppers, and then mixed with salt fish. It’s easy to tell when ackee is cooked because the flesh will turn from a cream color to bright yellow. Remove it from the heat source as soon as it turns yellow to avoid overcooking it. When it’s fully cooked, ackee becomes delicate; it crushes and falls apart easily. When served with salt fish, it’s often accompanied by breadfruit, hard dough bread, dumplings, fried plantain, or boiled green bananas. It’s also often eaten with rice and peas, or white rice. Ackee can also be used in soups and desserts such as cakes and custards.