Ackee and Saltfish

Ackee and saltfish is Jamaica's national dish, made by sauteing the fruit of the ackee tree together with salted codfish, typically along with onion, Scotch bonnet pepper, tomato and other spices, and is most commonly eaten as breakfast. The ackee fruit, Blighia sapida, is Jamaica's national fruit; it reached the Caribbean from Ghana before 1725, and its scientific name honors Captain William Bligh, who carried it to the Royal Botanic Gardens in England in 1793. Salted codfish became a Jamaican staple as a long-lasting, inexpensive source of protein originally supplied to enslaved people on the island. Parts of the unripe ackee fruit are toxic, which has led some countries, including the United States, to restrict its import.