Callaloo
Callaloo
Main page
2009587

Callaloo

logo
Community Hub0 subscribers
What are your thoughts?
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Callaloo

Callaloo (/ˌkæləˈl/ KAL-ə-LOO, Jamaican Patois: [kalalu]; many spelling variants, such as kallaloo, calaloo, calalloo, calaloux, or callalloo) is a plant used in popular dishes in many Caribbean countries, while for other Caribbean countries, a stew made with the plant is called callaloo. Cuisines, including the plant callaloo or dishes called callaloo, vary throughout the Caribbean. In countries such as Trinidad and Tobago or Grenada, the dish itself is called callaloo and uses taro leaves (known by many local names such as 'dasheen bush', 'callaloo bush', or 'bush') or Xanthosoma leaves (known by many names, including cocoyam and tannia).

The native Jamaicans (Arawak and Taino people of America) used callaloo in their cooking that they passed down. The later farmer immigrants of indentured servitude: indojamaicans brought their variant of callaloo (Amaranthus viridis) in the late 17-1800s as crops to the island of Jamaica and other Caribbean islands like Trinidad and Africa during apartheid where indentured services were brought from India. Since the leaf vegetable used in some regions differs, some confusion can arise among the vegetables with the dish itself. This, as is the case with many other Caribbean dishes, is a remnant of West African and Taino cuisine.

There are two possible etymological origins for the word. The first deriving from Tupi caárurú, meaning thick leaf. The other being from Kimbundu kalulú referring to okra, similar to the present use of the word in Haitian Creole and São Tomean Portuguese.

Trinbagonians, Grenadians, and Dominicans primarily use taro/ dasheen bush for callaloo, although Dominicans also use water spinach. Jamaicans, Belizeans, St. Lucians, and Guyanese, on the other hand, use the name callaloo to refer to an indigenous variation of amaranth, and use it in a plethora of dishes and as a drink ("callaloo juice"). The "callaloo" made in Jamaica is different from the "callaloo" made in Trinidad and Tobago, Grenada, and the rest of the Caribbean in terms of the main ingredient (the leaf used) and other ingredients included.

Jamaicans tend to steam callaloo leaf with garlic, carrots, local powdered seasoning, tomatoes, salt, Scotch bonnet peppers, onions, scallions, thyme, sweet pepper, pimento, with or without salt fish or other meats and even in rice or their famous patty pastries. Trinidadians and Saint Lucians, however, use dasheen bush, okra, coconut milk, pumpkin, onions, bell peppers, local seasonings, and spices, along with crabs or pigtails.

"Callaloo" in Trinidad is found in a variety of dishes, including callaloo soup or "oil down". Callaloo is one of the national dishes of Trinidad and Tobago and Dominica, although this soup can be found all around the Caribbean as one of the regional cuisine's "foodie favorites".

Callaloo in Trinidad and Tobago and other eastern Caribbean countries is generally made with okra and dasheen or water spinach Ipomoea aquatica. There are many variations of callaloo which may include coconut milk, crab, conch, Caribbean lobster, meats, pumpkin, chili peppers, and other seasonings such as chopped onions and garlic. The ingredients are added and simmered down to a somewhat stew-like consistency. When done, callaloo is dark green in colour and is served as a side dish which may be used as a gravy for other food.

Callaloo is widely known throughout the Caribbean and has a distinctively Caribbean origin, using indigenous (Xanthosoma) plants and modified with African influences, such as okra. (See palaver sauce for the West African dish.) Trinidadians have embraced this dish from their ancestors and over time have added ingredients such as coconut milk to modify its flavour. Callaloo is mostly served as a side dish; for Trinidadians, Bajans, and Grenadians it usually accompanies rice, macaroni pie, and a meat of choice. In Guyana it is made in various ways without okra.

See all
User Avatar
No comments yet.