Gracefoods

French: to cook without browning.

French: "according to the menu;" each item is selected separately and is priced individually.

French: "in style." In cooking, it means 'served with ice cream' or ' braised with vegetables and served with a rich gravy.'

French: of or related to Nice, France. Refers to dishes prepared with garlic and tomatoes.

Ackee (Blighia sapida)
The ackee is the national fruit of Jamaica and one half of the national dish – ackee and saltfish.
Boiled, seasoned, and combined with salted cod it is considered one of the island’s greatest delicacies. In fact, Jamaica is virtually the only country where it is widely eaten. The ackee bears large red to yellow fruits which, when ripe, will burst into three sections revealing shiny black, round seeds atop a bright yellow aril which is the part eaten.

The colour of the aril helps to identify the two main varieties; that with a soft yellow aril is popularly called ‘butter’ and the hard, cream coloured aril called ‘cheese’.

Ackee contains a poison (hypoglycin) which is dissipated when it is properly harvested and cooked. Care must be taken that the ackee is not gathered until the pods open naturally; the aril must be properly cleaned of red fibre and the water in which it is boiled must be discarded.

Italian: used mainly to describe the cooking of pastas, it indicates food that has been cooked to the point of slight resistance when bitten.

Allspice, Pimienta (Pimenta diocia) The pimento tree belongs to the family Myrtaceae and is closely related to the Bay Tree and to Cloves

This dark-brown berry, about the size of a pea, combines the flavors of cinnamon, clove, nutmeg and pepper. Hence it is known as ‘all-spice’ and marketed under both names.

Annatto (Bixa orellana)

Annatto is native to tropical America and its name is probably an Arawak word. It is called ‘roucou’ by the Caribs of the Southern Caribbean. Annatto usually blooms from August to October. The attractive, single, pink flowers are followed by round, spiny seed pods which grow in clusters atop the stem. The ripe pods split into halves, revealing about 50 seeds coated with orange-red dye. These virtually tasteless seeds are used in New World kitchens to impart a rich colour to cooking oil. This practice was begun by the enslaved Africans to simulate the rich colour of palm oil – the cooking staple of the West African communities they had left behind.

Any food or beverage served before the meal. It is often coordinated with the entree to stimulate the appetite.

Arrowroot (Maranta arundinacea)

This tropical tuber yields a neutral-tasting fine-grained starch which has many applications in the food industry. Perhaps its most well-known application is as a thickening agent for sauces.
St. Lucia is the region’s largest exporter of arrowroot.

French: Meat served in its own juices.

Avocado (Persea americana)
(Pear, Aguacate, Zaboka, Avocat)

The avocado grows freely throughout the Caribbean and is known by different names depending on what country you end up in. In Jamaica it’s commonly referred to as ‘pear’, as ‘zaboka’ in Trinidad & Tobago.