Ackee

The ackee fruit is bright red. When ripe, it bursts opens to reveal three large black seeds and bright yellow flesh. The flesh of the ackee is popular as a breakfast food throughout Jamaica; when cooked it looks and tastes much like scrambled eggs and is usually served with “saltfish.” Ackee’s scientific name, blighia sapida, comes from Captain Bligh, who introduced the plant to Jamaica. Ackee is poisonous before it is fully mature, and an ackee pod should never be forced open; it will open itself when it ceases to be deadly. A handful of islands grow ackee as an ornamental tree, but only Jamaica regards the fruit as an edible crop; in fact, it is the Jamaican national fruit.

The Ackee or Akee (Blighia sapida) is a member of the Sapindaceae (soapberry family), native to tropical West Africa in Cameroon, Gabon, Sao Tome and Principe, Benin,Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo.^[1]

It is related to the lychee and the longan, and is an evergreen tree that grows about 10 metres tall, with a short trunk and a dense crown. The leaves are pinnate,^[2] leathery,compound, 15–30 centimetres long, with 6–10 elliptical obovate-oblong leaflets. Each leaflet is 8–12 centimetres long and 5–8 centimetres broad.

The flowers are unisexual and fragrant. They have five petals, are greenish-white^[3] and bloom during warm months.^[4] The fruit is pear-shaped. When it ripens, it turns from green to a bright red to yellow-orange, and splits open to reveal three large, shiny black seeds, surrounded by soft, creamy or spongy, white to yellow flesh—arilli.^[2]The fruit typically weighs 100–200 grams.^[2]

Ackee Flower

The oil of the ackee arils contains many important nutrients, especially fatty acids. Linoleic, palmitic and stearic acids are the primary fatty acids found in the fruit.^[7] Ackee oil makes an important contribution to the diet of many Jamaicans. There are 151 calories in the Ackee.

The dried seeds, fruit bark and leaves are used medicinally.^[8] The fruit is used to produce soap in some parts of Africa. It is also used as a fish poison

Closed Ackee Fruit

Preparing Ackees for consumption

The fruit of the Ackee is not edible in its entirety. Only the inner, fleshy yellow arils are consumed. The shiny black seeds at the tips of the arils, and the bright red pod enclosing 3 or 4 arils are discarded. Ackees must be harvested, prepared and cooked properly. Ackee pods should be allowed to ripen and open naturally on the tree before picking. Prior to cooking, the ackee arils must be cleaned, washed, boiled and the water discarded: raw ackees and the inner red tissue of the ripe ackee arils contain potentalkaloid toxins (Hypoglycins A and B) which can produce a syndrome of vomiting, seizures, and fatal hypoglycemia known as Jamaican vomiting sickness. Though it may be poisonous when improperly prepared, ackee has high nutritional value and is rich in essential fatty acids, vitamin A, zinc, and protein. They also make delicious fare when sauteed with onions, tomatoes, and salted codfish in the Jamaican national dish and perennial dinner favorite “ackee and saltfish”.

“When picked before it is fully ripe, the fruit contains a chemical that limits the body’s ability to release the backup supply of glucose that is stored in the liver. That supply is essential because once the body uses up the sugar immediately available in the bloodstream an event that usually occurs several hours after eating it depends on this glucose to keep blood sugar levels normal until the next meal. Without it, blood sugar plunges. Enough people have died from eating unripened ackee that it is illegal to bring the fruit into the U.S.” (Source: The New York Times Sunday Magazine, October 12, 2008). It should be noted, however, that canned ackee is now available and legal to purchase in the U.S.

SOURCE: WIKIPEDIA

Brad loves this plant, and I like it, but not as much as he does. We don’t think it tastes like scrambled eggs, when it is raw, it tastes a bit like garden peas – just a hint ot sweetness, and the texture is smooth like a fresh bean (not a green bean but a edamame). AND YES, WE KNOW THE UNOPENED ONES ARE POISONOUS!

We are lucky to have 2 of these trees in our orchard. We’ve eaten them on pizza, in salads and raw of course.

I am still wondering what part of the body these are good for. You know like carrots are good for your eyes, and if you slice a carrot it looks like an eye. What do you think these look like?

Unripe Ackee on our tree

Ripe Ackee ready to eat

Ackee out of the peel, and attached to seed