Ackee
: Wim van Veer
: Erwin Neles
: Popular Places Magazine edition 10
: Erwin Neles
: Popular Places Magazine edition 10
The Ackee is indigenous to the West Coast of tropical Africa and was brought to Jamaica in 1793 by the renowned Captain Bligh to furnish food for the slaves. It became very popular in the whole English Caribbean but Suriname there are only a few scattered trees.
Ackee is a handsome tree with glossy bright-green leaves. The fruit is a leathery, pear shaped yellow and red 3-lobed capsule. Fully mature, it splits open and reveals 3 cream-coloured fleshy arils, attached to large round black seeds. The unripe arils contain hypoglycin but this toxic property is dispelled by light as the fruit opens. Ackee with rice and sale fish is the national dish of Jamaica.
