Do you want to report "Ackee preparation"
A couple years ago my husband and I (white Americans) visited and my husband fell in love with ackee and saltfish. Fresh ackee is of course illegal here but he has a friend that has a few ackee trees and he harvested some the other day. Of course he did lots of research to only pick the open pods, clean out the seeds and membranes and boil for a few minutes before cooking again. It tastes really really good, but he’s a novice white man and I’m just concerned about how prevalent poisoning is, if anyone has gotten sick from eating ripe fruit that was poorly prepared. Please advise, I thank you!
You can google the best way to prepare ackee and saltfish but here’s mine.
Firstly you wont be poisoned as long as the pods have been opened doesnt matter if they’re fully opened or just partly, as long as it was naturally opened.
Order saltfish online or from a supermarket.
Put some water to boil, when it starts to boil add the saltfish and the cleaned ackee (the seeds and pink stuff from inside).
Only add the ackee when the water starts boiling you can add the saltfish before.
While its cooking. Cut up onions, scallions, tomatoes, sweet pepper (bell peppers) tiny bit of garlic, you can cut up a bit of pepper too.
When it has cooked. Remove the saltfish and pick into bits.
Add some oil or butter to a frying pan. Add the saltfish and seasonings. Stir fry em for a bit. Add the ackee, sprinkle some black pepper. Stir fry a bit more for like 2 more minutes and you’re done.
Ackee goes well with dumplings roast or fried breadfruit, most ground provisions even rice too!
Have fun! Happy cooking!
Yes, they were fully open pods and he fully cleaned them and there were no red membranes left, but I didn’t know if the toxin could be elsewhere. That’s interesting.
Well anyway, I ate a little and he ate a LOT and we’re fine so I guess I get to dig into leftovers!
If you’re uncomfortable eating the ‘uncertain’ ackee, you can always try to purchase the canned ones from an international market, Amazon, and occasionally Walmart has it in stock, which is usually less expensive than the international market or Amazon.
