There are a LOT of ackee fruit on the tree out front.
I hate to let it go to waste, but at the same time I’m rather afraid to eat it.
Especially after my loofah experience last week.
Ackee is deadly poisonous when prepared wrong. Though I know from my reading how to prepare it, I still haven’t bitten the bullet aril and done it.
Maybe this afternoon. I sent the above photo and wrote of my fears to my newsletter readers this last week and Virginia from Jamaica (I love you, Jamaica!) wrote:
“Those ackees are ripe and perfectly safe to eat, even raw. Once the red pods open, as shown in your photo, remove the yellow segments. Those are the edible parts. Discard the red pods, the black seeds and any pinkish fibers in the segments. You can prepare ackees in many ways, just look up some Jamaican recipes. You are so lucky to have them fresh. We in N Florida have to make do with the canned ones.
You can have greener thumbs by this weekend!
9 comments
Sounds exciting, would love to hear more about this fruit. But I understand your worries for sure! I had similar feelings towards yew berries, which have equally poisonous seeds and leaves. But the berries are delicious!
I have heard ackee is great. I cleaned some after writing this post, then ended up throwing them in the compost. Just can’t do it!
I love Ackee with salt fish or fried chicken along with Fried Breadfruit.
If you are taking it from the tree, just make sure the ackee is open and the black seed is visible.
Boil it until tender not soft. Drain water – add it to your salt fish (boiled), which is cooked in onions, scotch bonnet pepper, black pepper in oil.
Turn frame low and add seasoned to your taste.
It’s only poisonous if you don’t allow the fruits to ripen naturally. Darwin in action if you don’t. Thousands of people in the Caribbean eat ackee & the only ones who get sick are the ignorant ones.
I lived. Whew.
Hello David. Do you sell it??
I was wondering if you had any seeds for sale too. I’ve been wanting to grow an Ackee Tree for years but the seeds aren’t easy to come by. I lived in Jamaica a few years back. Ackee was the first fruit I ate after coming on the island, fresh off the tree, raw. I love Ackee and could eat it all the time. As long as the fruit has opened on it’s own on the tree it’s ok to eat. You’ll know it cos that’s when you see the 3 big black seeds. I finally found someone that had some seeds for sale and was so estatic and ordered some right away! I got everything prepared for them cos you have to plant them fresh, like within a few days of taking them from the fruit. When they arrived today I was so disappointed, very old seeds, one had actually crumbled apart. So if your willing to sell some it would be really cool and really appreciated!
It’s not in the preparation of the ackee that’s the problem. Like your friend said it has to be open. Now my only question is if it’s okay to pull them off the tree unopened and wait for them to open up. Or if you have to wait till they open up on the tree to pull them off.
I have not heard that it’s safe to pull them and let them open. I would just wait for them to open naturally.
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