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Caribbean Spice - Add the Fab Flavours 
of the Islands to Your Home Cooking

Make your own Caribbean spice mix and you'll soon be adding the spicy hot flavours of this diverse region to your home cooking. And probably the most famous mix from this region, which is the recipe below, would be a Caribbean jerk seasoning which is used throughout the islands and was traditionally used to tenderise tough goat meat, but nowadays is used as a fiery all-purpose seasoning. (See the bottom of the page for links to more of my recipes)

What You'll Need: (makes about 7-8 tablespoons)

6-8 dried scotch bonnet peppers (or other dried hot pepper)
3 tbsp allspice berries
2 tbsp dried thyme
1 tbsp dried basil
1 tbsp black peppercorns
4 tsp brown sugar (see note below)
2 tsp onion powder
2 tsp ginger powder
2 tsp dried chives (optional)
1 tsp nutmeg powder
1 tsp whole cloves
3 inch piece cinnamon
2 tsp sea salt

tbsp = tablespoon
tsp = teaspoon

Directions:

• Break up the cinnamon

• Chop the dried peppers removing the stems if necessary

• Grind the cinnamon and pepper pieces along with the salt, sugar, allspice berries, peppercorns and cloves

• Add to a bowl

• Add the onion, ginger and nutmeg powders. Combine thoroughly

• Finally, crumble in the dried thyme, basil and if using, the dried chives. Combine thoroughly
  
  

Store Your Caribbean spice in a cool place in an airtight jar and out of direct sunlight. Use within 3 months.

Note: To get even more flavour from the ingredients, I recommend dry toasting the scotch bonnet pepper pieces, allspice berries, cloves and peppercorns for a few minutes before cooling, grinding and combining with the powders and herbs. Click here for further tips and photos on this cooking technique. (Link opens in new window)

Sugar Note: I prefer a good quality light brown sugar for my most of my recipes but you can use any kind of brown sugar that you have to hand in preference to the white stuff.

Ingredient Note: This recipe uses a few whole ingredients as these will add the best flavours. However you may not have them all whole, so if this is the case, use their pre-ground versions and reduce the quantities the recipe requires by half. So, for 3 tablespoons of allspice berries you would use 4 teaspoons of pre-ground allspice. Reduce any others you don't have whole by half as well and stir in with any other powders when making.

After Making Your Homemade Caribbean Spice Mix You May Like to Try...

Jerk Rub - With the Unique Taste of Annatto Seeds

Jerk Mix - Perfect For All Your Chicken Recipes

Poultry Seasoning Collection

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