Your Favourite Jamaican Recipes

Your Favourite Jamaican Recipes

Your book of recipes contains a collection of favourite tastes compiled from the ledgers of ordinary folk and exotic cooks alike. The culinary collection is richly spiced with Caribbean flavours, tastes and culture. Thus the popular Jamaican Rum Punch takes its pride of place. So too the ackee and coconut influence. The Caribbean is well known for its liberal use of spices and oils, with coconut oil being a Jamaican favourite. Tropical fruits adorn our tables and some are included here in the recipe collection. Our easy one-pot meals often serve as the mid-week family meal for many rural folk. They are tasty, filling and easy to prepare. Try one.
 
Here are two of the popular recipes:
Christmas Cake
From the ledgers of Mrs. M. P. Mallett
A tried and proven Jamaican favourite
8 oz currants
12 oz raisins
4 oz cherries
2 oz shredded peel
2 oz chopped nuts
2 teaspoons allspice
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1/2 teaspoons grated nutmeg
8 oz flour (or 2 cups)
8 oz butter (or 1 cup)
8 oz sugar (or 1 cup)
6 eggs
1/4 pint brandy or Jamaican rum
1/8 teaspoon baking soda (or 1 teaspoon baking powder)

Cream butter and sugar well. Whisk egg thoroughly and beat with sugar / butter mixture. Sift together flour, baking powder (or soda) and spice. Stir lightly into mixture. Add fruits. Add brandy or rum. Bake for 3 hours at 275 F degrees.
 
Jamaican Rum Punch
The Formula:

1 sour - 1 part lime juice
2 sweet - 2 parts sugar/syrup
3 strong - 3 parts rum
4 week - 4 parts water

Mix the ingredients, then bottle. Add some pimento seeds and let stand for a while - this is optional. Serve in small portions over ice. This is a very potent drink!

Overproof Jamaican white rum will give a very different flavour and effect from typical Jamaican red rum. Some people use half and half. Advice: To lower the potency, use 2-parts of rum instead of three, as I typically do for my parties.

For sweetening you may use part portion sugar and part syrup. This gives it a more robust taste.

Note: use rum made from cane sugar, preferably. ‘Proof’ rum is high potency, near full strength.