Ackee and Saltfish

Ackee came from West Africa in the eighteenth century and Jamaica is the only country that eats it in quantity. The pods must open naturally on the tree before the fleshy arils inside are safe to take, and when cooked they break into soft yellow curds that look uncannily like scrambled egg and taste mildly nutty. The classic preparation pairs them with salt cod, rehydrated and flaked, sautéed with onion, tomato, thyme, scallion and scotch bonnet, and served with fried dumplings, boiled green banana, breadfruit or hard dough bread. It is breakfast food, it is the national dish, and it is on every hotel buffet in a form usually inferior to the cook shop version.

What you actually see

• The ackee itself - yellow arils that break into curds like scrambled egg.
• Saltfish - salt cod rehydrated and flaked through the dish.
• The sides - fried dumpling, boiled banana, breadfruit or hard dough bread.
• The tree - ackee pods opening on trees across the island.

When to go

Year-round; ackee fruits mainly in two seasons but tinned ackee fills the gaps. It is a breakfast dish and cook shops serve it from early morning. Sunday breakfast is the fullest version.

Honest expectations

Unripe ackee is genuinely poisonous: it contains hypoglycin A, which causes severe hypoglycaemia, and the pods must open on their own before picking. This is why the fruit is regulated for export and why you should only ever eat it prepared by someone who knows what they are doing, never pick it yourself. Salt cod makes the dish salty by nature. Hotel versions are often bland and overcooked.

Nearby

Every cook shop serves it; Kingston's breakfast counters do it best.