Pimento

I’m asked all the time why does Jamaican food taste so good; I always say that it’s all in the preparation.  We take pride in preparing the meal.  Plus we have secret ingredients :-), just kidding or am I?  But seriously, it’s in the spices, so today, let’s talk about one of those spices, pimento.

I grew up in the country parts of Jamaica and each year my church would have pimento picking. It’s kind of misleading as the pimento branches are already cut from the trees all we did was to then take them off the branches and put them in crocus bags.

It was quite the tedious task though, but I thoroughly enjoyed it as a kid and it was all volunteer. The church then sold them at the market and used the money towards the church.

The aroma cannot be described here, but as I grew up with it, so I know it immediately when I smell it.

You can use pimento in soup, rice and peas and whenever you are seasoning your meats.  You can place it in the meal whole when cooking rice and peas or beat it in a small mortar and place it in your oxtail or other meats.

It really adds some zest to your meal.

Have you used pimento before? What do you think?