If there’s one spice blend that was born out of necessity, influenced by a plethora of cultures and with a history as complex and nuanced as its own flavour profile, it’s the Jamaican Jerk. Researching all the spice blends we offer, we found ourselves most awestruck by the history and evolution of this delicious spice blend from Jamaica. Described by History Today as ‘the authentic taste of Jamaican liberty’, the jerk is indeed, a result of the largely troubled history of this beautiful island country.
Originally, the word ‘jerk’ was used to describe the cooking method used to prepare the meats, which is native to Jamaica and firmly etched in her history. When the British took over the isles in 1655, the African slaves were set free by their previous colonisers, the Spaniards. To escape the tyranny, they settled down in the dense forests of the Blue Mountains, where the cover was plenty but farming was scarce. This resulted in the wild boar becoming a staple and to avoid being caught, the meat was de-boned, rubbed in salt, spices and herbs and smoked over pimento wood under the ground so the smoke wouldn’t be seen, thus starting the ‘jerk’ style of cooking.
This ‘hide-out’ went on for a while and over the next century, a few bloody wars broke out but eventually, by the end of the 18th century, Jamaica finally saw peace. And with peace, the Jamaicans had the freedom to walk the streets and pursue other opportunities. The cooking method for ‘jerk’ too, changed as it could now be done out in the open.
Over time, and to accommodate the taste preferences of the evolving demographic, the cooking method of jerk slowly faded away and instead, the spices, herbs and flavours of jerk, became mainstream, including the introduction of the jerk sauces and marinades. And despite being born out of poverty, fear, anguish and extremely limited supplies, jerk found its way into kitchens all over the world.
From a flavour profile point of view, the Jamaican Jerk has been influenced by a variety of cultures, primarily African, with a hint of Indian. To our surprise, a commonly used ingredient in a modern rendition of a Jamaican Jerk is curry powder, a supposed blend of Indian spices but ironically, hardly heard of or used in India. Ah well, the history of how food and flavours have travelled the world never ceases to amaze! Our Jamaican Jerk, however, does not use curry powder. Ours is done the hard way by dry roasting, blitzing to a powder consistency and mixing in the right ratio. It contains a variety of spices, chillies and herbs but the one ingredient that’s non-negotiable in the classic Jerk seasoning is allspice berries, which to the unaware, is an unripe berry with flavour notes similar to a combination of pepper and cinnamon.
So, here we are, a few hundred years later, celebrating this incredible cuisine, with our humble attempt at offering a slice of history in our very own Jamaican Jerk spice blend jar. We’ve used this in a variety of recipes, some authentic-ish to Jamaica and others, just fun recipes using these flavours. Some of our favourites are the <insert recipe> and <insert recipe>. And if you wanna go down the authentic path, check out our version of the Jamaican classic <insert recipe>.
We’ve also created a fantastic little series called ‘Level up your Spyce’, where we tell you how you can take one of your favourite spice blends from our collection and transform them into sauces, dips and marinades for maximum choice.
And before you leave, don’t forget to check out our other blends from the ‘Americas’ collection. And click here for our full collection.
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