The Ackee is the national fruit of Jamaica. My parents (whose mothers were both Jamaican) recount stories of ackee fruit in their mothers’ cooking. The ackee tree is a tropical evergreen that grows over forty feet high. The sight of the ripened ackee fruit dangling from the tree reminds me of the ripened chestnuts that dangled from the branches of the trees in my childhood backyard of New Jersey. Like the chestnut, when ripe, the ackee fruit splits open to reveal glossy dark seeds. Unlike the chestnut, however, the seeds of the ackee fruit are poisonous. The thick yellow flesh surrounding the ackee seeds is safe to eat only when the fruit is ripe. Ackee is indigenous to West Africa where it is called “ankye” or “ishin.” In the late 1770s, British Naval Captain William Bligh brought the first ackee tree to Jamaica. This was part of a royal assignment to transplant native African breadfruit trees in parts of the Caribbean, West Indies and Central America. The idea was that these plants would serve as dietary staples to sustain the slaves in those colonies. The ackee thereby became a staple in Jamaica. It received the name Blighia sapida, after Captain Bligh. |
