Great Ingredient: Jerk Seasoning

From the Caribbean, comes a spicy, flavorful and aromatic blend of peppers, spices and herbs. This Jamaican concoction has a preservative effect and features some of the hottest peppers on the planet, Scotch bonnet peppers. The other ingredients make this spice rub full of flavor. In addition to the Scotch bonnet peppers, jerk seasoning also includes allspice, cloves, cinnamon, scallions, nutmeg, thyme and garlic. I have seen it in a dry form as well as a wet form. This mixture is very useful on proteins such as chicken, fish, beef, pork or goat. I have personally never made my own jerk seasoning blend but I will tone down the amount of heat and focus on the more flavorful ingredients. If you want to try jerk seasoning in your kitchen you can pick up a jar of the wet version at World Market in the food section. If you prefer the dry version, many grocery stores carry bottles in the spice aisle.

In the coming days I will post my use of this spice mixture on chicken as well as another Caribbean dish, rice and beans.