This is the Ackee
It is a fruit from the soapberry family
So its related to fruits like the Lychee and the Rambutan
Ackee has its origin in West Africa
Where it's seeds are sometimes used in medicine or to make laundry detergent
It is not commonly consumed,
not in Africa, where it's from, or most anywhere else in the world
Why is that?
The seeds?
Poisonous
The rind?
Poisonous
The unripe fruit?
Poisonous.
However, there is one country where not only is the Ackee eaten,
it is such an integral part of its cuisine,
that many people eat it every single day
That country is...
Jamaica
All right, everybody
I am happy to say that I have with me the Ackee fruit
It looks amazing. Just like, check that out
Looks like there's little eyeballs on it
It feels kinda like an orange rind on the outside
But like, I try to like push this together
it will not, it will not push together,
when these things open like they open all the way
If you eat these when these are closed
it's actually very very dangerous and it could kill you
It causes something... there's something called I believe it is
Jamaican vomiting sickness?
if you eat these unripe. So, you do not want to do that
You actually don't want to eat the rind of it
Even if it is ripe
And you don't want to eat those seeds
Because that will also make you very very ill
The only thing you want to eat
is that creamy white bit right there
That is totally good
And it is supposed to be absolutely delicious
I've had it canned before and I love it
In a can it's already really really delicious
So I'm looking forward to trying this fresh off of a tree
Ackee is Jamaica's national fruit
And a major component in its national dish
Ackee and Saltfish
Because I'm vegetarian, I wanted to find a way that's been used traditionally,
that did not involve fish
Lucky for me
en Jamaica there's something called Ital Cuisine
This is a vegetarian diet that is followed by Rastafarians
I reached out to a Kingston restaurant that doesn't just serve Ital Cuisine
But also offers tours and vegetarian cooking classes
- What is Ital Cuisine?
- It's really like undiluted
Like a Rastaman... get a coconut
Dig some yam, dig some potato, pick up a few plantains
And actually, pick from the tree or dig from the ground
and actually, eat same time - Ok
- So that's really where Ital is coming from
Not too much process - Ok
- Just use it from what you have
- So no processed food, no meats
- No meat no processed food
It's also a lifestyle
Rastaman say Peace and Love. Bless and Love. Wishing well
The cheff at Veggie Meals On Wheels, Ibbi Lyon
Was kind enough to help me out for this video and gave me an amazing experience
If you live in Jamaica or plan on visiting
Check out Veggie Meals On Wheels. I'll put their information down below
Ibbi told me about a Jamaican dish
that would be great for my fruit hunting adventure
Not Ackee and Saltfish
But Ackee and Susumba
Susumba is a fruit there is also an importan part of traditional Jamaican cuisine
In Ital Cuisine, they put a lot of importance on picking fresh ingredients
So in order to try Ackee and Susumba, the proper way
first we had to pick them
- So at the end of the stick, there's a little hook
Look up there you can see that...
Ackee fruit
- Sometimes... there it comes
- Did you catch it in your hands? - Yeah
- That's some mad skills right there
You've been doing this a long time, right?
- From birth
When I was a child
I had like three Ackee trees in my yard, so
Ackee tree was like... Ackee was like a staple
For food, for dinner, for breakfast
And the trees grown very tall, so
We'll actually pick Ackee almost every day
cause different trees bear at different times
- You make it look very easy
So, well that you're doing this and not me, cos..
I would end up, you know, accidentally killing myself
- Like a three step process
Take from here
And take the seeds
And then look carefully if there's anything inside
- You're just like chuck in... - Then put it there; yeah
- Do it slowly one more time
- So, you take from here
- Ok. So, you can pivot it out? - Yeah, pivot it out
- When you do it that way, it doesn't get any...
anything from the outside - You take the seed... yeah...
You take the seed from here and then you check to see how clean it is
- Ok - This is not edible
- Ok - So this has to stay inside the... the part
And then...
- Any any of that pit in there, like any of that stuff? - Yeah
- Like that rind in there? - That's it's clean. So, you have to clean it
- You got to make sure it's completely off? - Yeah... Also completely off
You can use that knife to take the seed
- Ok - But if you're skillful and careful enough,
you can still take the seed without leaving anything
- Ok - So, as you can see, this is very clean
- People at home Ibbi knows what he's doing
So, if you see an Akee tree,
don't do this
Make sure you get somebody who knows what they're doing because...
Yeah, you do not want to get sick from this
- These open naturally on the tree
As you can see already that one that we pick today - Right
So, if you try cutting one of the sealed ones open? - Yeah... not gona be good for you
The seeds, rind and unripe fruit
all contain Hypoglycin A and Hypoglycin B
These are two toxins that, when consumed
can have terrible, and sometimes lethal, effects on the body
So, a few hours after eating something high in this toxin
you will get, abdominal cramps and you'll start vomiting
In severe cases, encephalopathy sets in
Meaning that this will affect the brain
When this happens, it can cause
seizures, coma and even death
So, does this mean that you should worry about eating Akee?
No. Akee is absolutely fine to eat
To put things in perspective
The amount of Hypoglycin in an unripe Akee,
is 1000 parts per million
In the ripe fruit,
it is only .1 part per million
That means there is ten thousand times less toxicity
in the ripe fruit than the unripe fruit
Ripe Lychees, actually, contain more of this toxin
and those are far more common than Akee is
On top of all of that
In Jamaica, Akee is almost always cooked
Which acts as an extra safety precaution
- Can you eat a raw Akee or do you have to cook it? - Akee can be eaten raw
but is very cladding
So it's better if you like to sit in the Sun like a Sun cook
- Ok - For like a few hours
-Yeah -So, it is a little bit
-A little bit it's ok? -Mm-hmm. A little bit it's ok
- What does that taste like?
- Very interesting. You get like a sweet...
you get like a little sweet taste
And... actually tastes like a tangerine. It may taste like a tangerine...
- Tangerine? - tangerine is a family of an orange
- Ok. So, I'm gonna try a little piece of raw Akee
Oh. It's very firm
It's got the texture of like a piece of jackfruit
And the flavor is like almonds
And avocado
Won't say tangerine so much maybe like a little bit of like...
the bitterness you get from a tangerine maybe -Yeah
- Little like the... - Like tannic? little tannic there
- Little little tannic from a like a tangerine pith would have
Are there different types of Akee or just the one variety?
- Yeah, well you have mainly two types of Akee - Ok
- You have an Akee that when it cooks it gets very soft
They call it a Butter Akee
That's not the best one to cook because you want Akee to be firm
And my tree is very firm
- I've had in a can before and that is like...
it's like scrambled eggs - Mm-hmm
- It's like very soft - Yeah
- So, this Akee is very different than...
...what you get in a can -It's very different, yeah
- Oh. I'm excited
- So, can you tell me a little bit about the... uh... is Susumba?
- Susumba
- Susumba - Susumba tree, but uh...
What's it called?. Gully Bean - Ok
- Gully Bean is basically a nickname for this fruit - I see
The tree here, the branches have on like some bar...
like some maka. We call it maka - Ok
- It is like a prick - Little torns on it
- Yeah. Like a little torns on it
I guess this helps to protect the fruits
Grow all the year, it's not seasonal
And doesn't grow everywhere, because as you can see,
we're far away from the reserve and doesn't find one tree
It's not a lot that tree is all are over - Right
And you drove me about like ten minutes away from where I met you...
...to find this one - For ten minutes, yeah. To find this one
- They're not everywhere, but... - Is not everywhere
- along the way we saw Akee everywhere - Akee is everywhere
When a fruit is young. It's better
It's more edible when it is small
- So, that is the ideal size right there
You want to be like a pea? - Yeah, like a pea
- And once it gets bigger, what's happen to it? - When it's get bigger. It's much sure
So, it's very hard
Lost its flavor and it's more bitterish
- So, you can eat that, but it's not gonna taste has good as this tiny ones
Interesting
- Searching the trees is a good exercise, you know?
This is something that's very unique to Jamaica
It is, I believe, a Solanum species
so, it's related to
eggplants, tomatoes, peppers... stuff like that
But it is a very special native plant
that has a lot of history to it
but it's something that is... uh
It's kind of dying out
So if you want to eat this sort of thing you got to know where to get it
And a lot of people they'll actually like forage it
If you go to a major market in Jamaica, you might find this...
With one of those little old ladies, you know?
You find an old lady, you know you're gonna find some good stuff
Because these are things that people eat traditionally
But they're not things that the younger generation is after
It is still important in Ital Cuisine,
it's use in a lot of the recipes
But Ital Cuisine tends to use some of the more traditional things
So it does live on in that world
I do want to give like a little small taste of like what this does taste like raw
Just for documentation purposes
It's not something you wanna do
But, let's give it a try
It tastes a little bit like a green tomato
But
with a lot more bitterness
And it has a little bit of a tang to it
It's like triggering my sweet receptors on my tongue
but, like not the ones that get triggered when you have sugar
It feels like a different sort of sweet
And the bitterness is like, it's there, but it's like
bitterness that you would get from eating like
raw broccoli or something
It's like a very vegetal kind of bitter flavor
And, the tartness is nice
It's not like a tartness that you would get from like a lemon
It's more like a tartness that you can get from like some green veggies
That's... uh
That's interesting
It's definitely got a very strong vegetable like flavor
So, that is something that feels like you're getting your greens
- So, we're doing a dish with both the Susumba... - And Akee
- ...and the Akee together - Yeah
- Is this this is a normal dish that some a lot of people eat?
- Not a lot. When I said mostly
the traditional culture of Rastaman
- If you went to like an Ital a restaurant, you can find Susumba?
- It has to be a restaurant... uh
That is, uh... more rustic?
Encountered grass roots - Sure, sure
- If you're going to maybe an establish vegetarian, vegan restaurant
And find... uh
And find Susumba being served
Because, is that everybody like it It's not ????
I look forward to practice more, that more people can appreciate it
and acquire the taste
You know, when things are cooked they introduce more
And more people get to utilize it
but, because is not a fruit that it can be finded right trhu and all around
They need to be marginalized in that way
- So, these are the ingredients you're putting together. We've got... uh
- Thyme - Yeah
- Scallions - Yeah. Scallions
- Onion... carrots - We have, carrots. We have onions
because, we believe in the natural seasoning over like the MSG seasoning
Like the black pepper and seasoning salt
- Ok - We try to keep things more natural, so
These are growing locally
Because the Akee is easier to cook than Susumba
We add the Susumba first
- Ok. That takes longer to cook? - Yeah, it takes longer to cook
So, we've to chopped this one
because, it cannot be totally upright
Water is getting a greenish color
- ¿And the scallion goes in whole?
That is giving flavor? - That is giving flavor
cause it's gonna be extracted before the final process
- So, the Susumba and the scallion were in there for about, maybe 10-15 minutes?
- Like 10-15 minutes - And then the Akee go in
- And then we add the Akee now, to it - And how...
- Akee go another ten minutes - how much longer? Another ten?
- Another ten minutes - Ok
- The good thing about cooking Ital food is that
you get all the colors there in
So actually before you actually consume it
the presentation is great, you know? - Sure
Let's say that you want to...
It's healthier too. I've heard
Like you have a lot of different colors in your food - Yeah
- You're getting different types of nutrients - Mm-hm
Diferent types of vitamins
- This is
homemade coconut oil - Yeah
It smells delicious. It smells like toasted coconut
Oh, that's really good
- Smell that aroma
- Like. I already smell the coconut and the scallions
Smells really good
So, it's the Scotch Bonnet Habanero here - Yeah, so
- This are good - Now we extract the seed
The seed is very hot, and...
The seeds give you a flavor, but you try to take out some of the seeds
- Ok. So, you're cutting out the seeds so it's not too spicy
- Yeah. But I clean it to give up that full flavor
But, people after they get their meal -Mm-hm
- You could add more
Akee and Susumba are together
- This is wonderful
The two big items that I wanted to try in Jamaica
were Akee and Susumba, and here they are
I didn't even know they went so well together
- Ok. It's done - Smell so good
- It looks really good too
And this is going on top of some red quinoa
I love that these are...
You're serving this in Calabash bowls
Look guys, watch. If remember
I made a video about the Calabash fruit In the Philippines
where it's eaten as like... as a juice or a tea
Here not so much
It's more just for cutlery, making bowls out of
Mmm
That's really good
The Akee is nice and buttery, maybe like avocado...
or tofu, or something
It's got like a nice protein rich kind of flavor
The coconut oil in the US has like no flavor at all
This has like...
It's not like sweet but, it does have like a richness
Like a nice rich nutty coconut flavor and
And this... the Susumba
Just a little bit of bitterness
Like a piece of spinach, or...
a piece of kale or something like that - Yeah, yeah
- Yeah. That's actually pretty nice. And they have like a nice little pop to them
- That little pop is that little seeds going in, you know
Very nutricious, you know? - Yeah. The textures are really nice
Those stuff out of the can is like... kind of like mushy. You know?
- Yeah
- I like the stuff in the can, but it does not compare to this like whatsoever
- Yeah. It's convenient - Mm-hmm
- Cans are convenient. So...
You get it natural, freshly pick, freshly squeezed, freshly cook
- Mm-hmm
- Yeah. That's best
- That is... the key word is "fresh"
If I lived here and I would be able to have an Akee tree
I would be eating this every day
At least
This is probably like one of those delicious things that I've had
And... it is one hundred percent vegan too. Right?
- Yeah. One hundred percent
- Yeah. There's nothing no animal or anything, There's not preservatives
Like there's just like a very clean, healthy, tasty, like delicious food
And, uh...
This is actually the first meal that I've had in Jamaica
So, uh...
You've set the bar very very high - Thank you. Thank you.
- I have a feeling I'm going to have to find more of this
And eat as much Akeee as I can while I'm here
Because, I know when I go back to New York, it's not gonna be the same
So. This is a really incredible experience
Thank you so much for sharing this with me - No problem
- This is incredible
- You're welcome. And I mean...
remember that you have roots here now in Jamaica
You have family away from home, you know?
Away from New York,
Is a family vibration - Aww
- Is one love one heart As our brother Bob Marley will always say
- Sure. Thank you so much
That means so much to me to hear - Yeah
- If you come to New York...
I can't say I'm gonna be able to give you something like this
But, we got some... we got some stuff that's pretty ok
Some bagel, some stuff It's all right
So, you're welcome to New York as well - All rigth, yeah. We apreciate it. Thank you
- All right. Thank you my friend - And safe travel home
- All right. Thanks so much
Getting a chance to meet with you, and having you
as you show me like what it looks like on the tree
How you pick it, how you clean it, how you prepare it, how you cook it
And then how you eat it
That's really a very valuable experience, so
Guys, If you want to check out Veggie Meals On Wheels
and the tours they do
Information is in the description