Gracefoods

Grace Caribean Jerk Festival - Nassau Bahamas May 2, 2009

Jerk Chicken was the belle of the festival, featuring at the 42nd Notting Hill Carnival in London  this year. Nearly two million enjoyed the exciting two day celebration of West Indian food and music.

During the festival, Notting Hill becomes infused with the tastes, smells, sounds and sights of the West Indies. Caribbean food is everywhere and the distinctive aroma of pimento and cinnamon fills the air as jerk chicken has developed into a carnival staple.

Kerron Boothe landed in Japan with US$300, unsure of what he’d do after his funds dried up. No stranger to calamity, he concentrated on his IT studies being the first Jamaican to study at Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University. To stretch his wallet, he lived on campus, cooking for himself in the dorm kitchen. Smelling the aroma of Caribbean food, his floor mates were hypnotized. They quickly realized Boothe’s exotic culinary skill and invited him to cook with them.

“Actually I was cooking for them,” recalls Boothe, “but I didn’t mind cause I got to eat!”

Jerk vendors in places like Boston Bay, Jamaica, loyally guard sacred family recipes passed on from generation to generation. But at the heart of their formulas lie three essential spices, a holy trinity for jerk maestros.

Scotch Bonnet Pepper
Shaped like a Scottish tam or hat, the fiery scotch bonnet pepper ranks extremely high on Scoville’s hotness scale. It burns at least three times hotter than cayenne pepper, and has at least 50 times more kick than jalapenos. Grown in Jamaica, the scotch bonnet is related to the habanero chile, and ranges in color from green, yellow, orange and red. It is an essential ingredient in jerk foods, adding its own unique flavour and spiciness.

Get ready for a fiery weekend as the Pepsi Portland Jerk Festival hits eastern Jamaica Sunday, July 1, 2007.