Ackee and Callaloo

Jamaican callaloo, an amaranth, steamed down with onion, garlic, thyme, and Scotch bonnet and folded through boiled ackee: the meatless breakfast of the ital kitchen

Origin: Jamaica

From the journey of Ackee.

In Jamaica callaloo means an amaranth, a tender leafy green steamed down with onion, thyme, and Scotch bonnet and eaten at breakfast, often beside ackee and saltfish. The same word means something else elsewhere in the Caribbean: in Trinidad and Tobago callaloo is a soup of dasheen leaves, okra, and coconut milk, which is a different dish made from a different plant. Put the Jamaican green together with boiled ackee and there is no need for fish or meat at all. That makes it a dish of the ital kitchen, the cooking of Rastafari, which avoids meat and in which many cooks leave out added salt, taking their flavour from herbs, peppers, and coconut instead. When The Gleaner visited the Rastafarian cook Johnny Ras in 2017, his table carried ital stew, steamed callaloo, and ackee, with rice and peas, boiled dumpling, and ground provisions. Away from the ital table it is simply one of the island's everyday breakfasts, the ackee rich and mild, the callaloo green and faintly earthy. The ackee must be ripe. Gather only pods that have opened on the tree, remove every seed and every trace of pink membrane, and throw away the water in which the arils are boiled.

Ingredients

Ackee

  • 24 fresh ackee pods that have opened fully on the tree, or one 540 g tin of ackee in brine, drained
  • 1 tsp salt, for boiling fresh ackee (leave it out for a strictly ital pot)

Callaloo

  • 500 g Jamaican callaloo (amaranth), or young amaranth leaves; spinach will do at a pinch
  • 3 tbsp coconut oil
  • 1 medium onion, sliced
  • 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
  • 3 spring onions (scallion), chopped
  • 2 sprigs of fresh thyme
  • 0.5 Scotch bonnet chilli, seeded and finely chopped
  • 1 medium tomato, chopped
  • 3 tbsp water
  • 0.25 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Method

  1. If you are using fresh ackee, take the arils out of the opened pods, discard the seeds, pull away every trace of pink membrane, and rinse them. Simmer them in water, salted or not, for 10 to 15 minutes, until tender but whole, then drain and throw the water away. Tinned ackee needs only to be drained and rinsed.
  2. Strip the callaloo leaves and tender tips from the stems. Peel the thicker stems, slice them thinly, and chop the leaves roughly. Wash everything well in several changes of water.
  3. Heat the coconut oil in a wide pan over a medium heat and fry the onion, garlic, spring onions, thyme, and Scotch bonnet for 4 minutes, until soft. Add the tomato and cook for 2 minutes more.
  4. Add the callaloo with the water, cover, and steam for 8 to 10 minutes, stirring once or twice, until the leaves have collapsed and the stems are tender.
  5. Uncover, fold in the ackee gently, season with the black pepper, and heat through for 2 to 3 minutes without stirring hard. Remove the thyme stalks and serve.

Notes

Serve with boiled green bananas, dumplings, yam, roast breadfruit, or fried plantain. Jamaican callaloo is sold in bunches in Caribbean shops; it is also tinned. If you use tinned callaloo, drain it and add it with the ackee for the last few minutes only. Trinidadian callaloo, the dasheen-leaf soup, is a different dish and cannot stand in for this one.

The Gastrographer

The Gastrographer

Mapping Culinary History

To explore — select an ingredient below.

Journey Point Map Key

Ingredient originTrade or transit route
Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control
© 2026 The Gastrographer. All original research, narratives, and illustrations. All rights reserved.