Ackee and Saltfish
Jamaica’s national dish of ackee with salted codfish, brings out the bold flavours of the island nation. Traditionally eaten for breakfast, ackee and saltfish can be eaten at any time of the day particularly served with breadfruit, dumplings, boiled green bananas and even on top of white rice.
What is Ackee?
Ackee is a pear-shaped fruit that’s originally native to West Africa. As the national fruit of Jamaica, it’s widely available throughout the year as it grows tall evergreen trees (blighia sapida) on the island.
As it ripens, the pods turn from a greenish-yellow to a bright reddish-orange colour, and splits open revealing yellow flesh (arils) topped with three large, black seeds. That’s when you know it’s ready to be harvested. The flesh of the fresh ackee should be firm to the touch, but it will soften once cooked.
In appearance it may look a bit like scrambled eggs, but besides the look of it, they don’t resemble each other in taste nor texture: the ackee fruit is quite unique. Ackee has a buttery and creamy texture, with a very mild taste.
Isn’t ackee poisonous?
Ackees have to be open naturally before you can eat them. If they’re used while the fruit is closed and unripe it can be toxic. The pods of the unripe ackee are filled with hypoglycin, which is a harmful amino acid.
The Amazing Ackee breaks down these concerns in this informative post. Don’t let that scare you though, as canned ackee has gone through a very thorough inspection process before it enters your kitchen from the grocery store.
How do I prepare ackee?
In order to prepare fresh ackee, you need to remove and discard the shiny, black seeds from the flesh of the fruit, along with any of the red membrane.
Once rinsed and drained, it can then be used for any recipe. Watching my aunt and uncle prepping freshly picked ackee in Jamaica a few years ago, was an eye-opening experience.
Of course, being here in Canada I’m used to buying the canned version when I decide to cook up some ackee and saltfish. You can use fresh or canned ackee for this recipe, but most people outside of the island will only find the canned version in their local Caribbean grocery store (or in the international aisle of a regular chain).
Fresh ackee will be a bit more firm than the one in the can, as it’s uncooked. Canned ackee is already cooked and is stored in a brine, so be sure to rinse and drain it before using in your recipe.
Ackee has a tendency to mash up easily because it’s so delicate, so be very careful when you’re mixing it into your recipe otherwise you’ll lose presentation points! You’ll want to gently fold it into your ingredients.
What is saltfish?
Saltfish is also known as salted cod (or baccala). It’s a fish that has been dried and preserved through the use of salt. Therefore the moisture has been removed, so it needs to be reconstituted before eating.
To save yourself some time, purchased the boned, salted cod bits, as all the bones have been removed and it’s already it smaller pieces. The salted cod fillets (usually bone-in) may be cheaper at the grocery store, but you’d have to do more work to prep it prior to cooking. There’s also an option of purchasing “boned salted fish bits” which uses pollock instead of cod.
Like with my Saltfish Fritters recipe, I opt to use the boned, salted cod bits because they’re a huge time saver. You can soak your fish overnight if you don’t feel like boiling it. I find the boiling methods works better for me for removing some of the extra salt.
There’s a lot of different ways to use the ackee fruit which I have yet to try. Though, I have to say that Jamaican ackee and saltfish is one of the simplest and delicious ways to eat it.
Ackee and Saltfish
Ingredients
- 300 grams boned, salted cod fish
- 2 tbsp canola oil
- 1 medium onion
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1/2 Scotch bonnet pepper finely diced
- 3 sprigs fresh thyme or 2 tsp dried
- 1 medium tomato
- 2 stalks scallions or green onions bias-sliced, with 2 tbsp reserved for garnish
- 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
- 1 can ackee 540mL, rinsed and drained
Instructions
- Fill a medium saucepan with cold water and add the salted codfish. Bring to a boil, then simmer on medium heat for 15 minutes, and drain.
- Repeat the process by replacing the water, bringing it to a boil for 10 minutes and draining to remove the excess salt. Allow to cool for 5 minutes before handling.
- Remove any bones and skin if present. Flake with your hands or break into small pieces using a fork. Set aside.
- In a large frying pan, add the oil and saute the onion over medium high heat for 3-4 minutes.
- Add in the garlic, scotch bonnet pepper, thyme and continue to cook for another minute.
- Stir in the tomato, scallions, and flaked saltfish. Cook over medium heat for 5-6 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- In the last couple minutes of cooking, add in the black pepper and gently fold in the the rinsed and drained ackees to heat it through.
- Garnish with remaining scallions. Serve with boiled dumplings, roasted breadfruit or your choice of ground provisions.
Notes
- If you like, you can add red bell pepper to this dish in place of the tomato. Both add a nice colour and flavour to the dish.
- Saltfish can be purchased in several forms. I usually go with the “boned salted cod bits” version, because it doesn’t have any bones, nor skin, plus it’s already in smaller pieces. Larger fillets usually have the skin and bones intact, so it will take more prep time. Remove the skin before you boil it.
- You can opt to soak your saltfish overnight instead of boiling in order to removed the excess salt.
- If using the saltfish straight from the package, while it’s boiling, you can chop your vegetables, and drain ackee to help save on time.
- You can add it all the scallions or green onions with the saltfish, otherwise save a couple tablespoons to use as garnish (hence why I prefer to thinly slice these on a bias or 45° angle).
- Be sure to gently fold in the ackee in the final stages of cooking. If you’re using the canned variety, it’s already cooked, thus more fragile, so it simply needs to be heated through.
- You’ll notice that there’s no additional salt used in this recipe. The saltfish should give it the right amount you need, but you may need to add some back in if you over-boiled the saltfish.
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