The deadly poisonous fruit is a hundred-year specialty

The dish is considered to be the national dish of Jamaica to possess enough toxins to be lethal if not processed properly.

Ackee and salted fish are two dishes associated with Jamaican culture. According to the BBC, Usain Bolt, the fastest man in the world, usually eats this dish in the morning. However, many people wonder how the dish including the poisonous fruit of West Africa and the fish from the North Atlantic become the “wet country” in Jamaica? Photo: Melting Pot. Writer Brendan Sainsbury said this story is tied to the “triangle of the slave trade” between England, West Africa and the Caribbean colonies in the 18th and 19th centuries. Ackee looks like lychee, originating from Ghana. Salted fish comes from the windy waters of Northern Europe and Eastern Canada. Photo: Getty. Ackee is suitable for the tropical climate of Jamaica so it has developed strongly since then. Today, across the country you’ll find large, overgrown ackee trees. Photo: BBC. Meanwhile, salted fish (mainly cod) is preserved by salting because in mid-17th century, freezer appeared. It was transferred mainly from Nova Scotia (Canada) to the British Caribbean colonies (including Jamaica). Somehow, the perfect recipe for these two was born. Photo: Getty. Cuthbert Binns, the head chef of a long-established Jamaican restaurant, shares the recipe: “First, boil ackee and salted fish together for 20 minutes before draining, filter the fish bones. Sour, spring onion, chili in a separate pan. Add boiled ackee with salted fish and sprinkle with thyme, black pepper. Photo: WordPress. Despite having a showy green crust, ackee hides a terrifying toxin. This fruit is extremely toxic if eaten unripe. If you eat, you will vomit, or die (quite rarely). Before that, Time magazine once listed ackee on the list of the most dangerous foods in the world. Ackee trading and importing is controlled very carefully. In Haiti, many cases have been recorded death from eating unripe ackee fruit due to lack of food. Photo: Serious Eats. However, the Jamaican people did not heed these dangerous warnings. “We know when it is safe to pick ackee fruit. You can only pick it when the fruit is open naturally, with a clear look at the yellow inner skin. This fruit contains toxic gas and it will release itself at ripe” Jamaican resort owner Janet Crick told the BBC. Photo: Elle Adventures.