Caribbean Spices: Allspice, Scotch Bonnet, Nutmeg, Ginger, Thyme and the Seasonings Around Them

Two of the Caribbean’s signature flavors, allspice and the Scotch bonnet chile, grow right there in the region, and they’re the essential ingredients of Jamaican jerk. No single spice list covers the whole Caribbean, though. It’s many islands with many cuisines, shaped by Indigenous, African, European and South Asian cooks. Some of the other big flavors came from far away: nutmeg arrived from Indonesia’s Banda Islands, and it’s the reason Grenada is called the Isle of Spice.

At a glance

Allspice (pimento)

Allspice is a single spice, not a blend. It’s the dried berry of Pimenta dioica, also called Jamaican pepper and pimento. The tree is native from southern Mexico through Central America and the Caribbean. Jamaican pimento is considered the best quality.¹

The name comes from the flavor: the dried berry tastes like a combination of cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg. The main aroma compound is eugenol, 50 to 80% of the berry oil.¹

Allspice is central to Jamaican jerk. Smithsonian Magazine calls pimento berries and Scotch bonnet pepper the essential ingredients of the seasoning, and says authentic jerk is smoked over pimento wood.³ See allspice, jerk seasoning, allspice vs. cloves and allspice substitutes.

Scotch bonnet and other Capsicum chinense chiles

The Scotch bonnet belongs to Capsicum chinense, a chile species that Katzer says is mostly associated with the Caribbean, where most of its cultivars are grown today. Its best-known types include the Scotch bonnet in Jamaica and the habanero in Cuba and Yucatán, along with island-named varieties like Red Dominica, Jamaican hot and Trinidad seasoning pepper.²

Heat and flavor. The hottest C. chinense cultivars run to around 200,000 to 300,000 Scoville heat units, and Katzer writes that their extreme heat matters in Caribbean cooking.² He describes the Scotch bonnet types as very hot, with a typical flower-like scent.

Uses. These chiles go into jerk paste. They also show up in hot sauces, pepper sauces and fresh seasoning pastes all over the region. See habanero powder, cayenne pepper and red pepper flakes.

Nutmeg

Nutmeg came to the Caribbean from the Banda Islands in Indonesia. FAO’s 1995 handbook on the crop records nutmeg growing on St. Vincent by 1802, and the first nutmeg planted in Grenada from Banda seed in 1843.⁴ It’s the reason Grenada is called the Isle of Spice. PROSEA estimates that about 60% of the nutmeg and mace on the world market comes from Indonesia and about 30% from Grenada. The entry gives no year for those shares, so treat them as old.⁵

Across the islands, grated nutmeg goes into punches, eggnog-style drinks, cakes and puddings, and now and then into savory dishes. See nutmeg, nutmeg uses, mace and too much nutmeg, which explains why large amounts are a safety issue.

Ginger

Ginger isn’t native to the Americas. Europeans carried it to the West African coast and the Caribbean. It shows up in modern jerk recipes, and it’s the main flavor in ginger beer and many sorrel (hibiscus) drinks. We don’t have a source on hand for the drinks, but they’re common. See ginger and cooking with ginger.

Thyme, scallions and garlic

Smithsonian lists Scotch bonnet peppers, scallions, garlic, ginger, pimento, thyme and cinnamon among the ingredients of modern jerk recipes.³ Thyme itself is a Mediterranean plant, native to southwestern Europe and southeastern Italy. Blend those same ingredients with hot pepper and other herbs and you get fresh seasoning pastes like Bajan seasoning, which has two named recipes from Barbados on its page.

See thyme, thyme uses, garlic, and chives vs. green onions.

Cinnamon

Cinnamon shows up in modern jerk recipes, and much more often in sweet drinks and desserts like Puerto Rican coquito. What’s sold as cinnamon may be true Ceylon cinnamon or cassia; see Ceylon vs. cassia.

Curry powder

Indian immigrants began arriving in Jamaica in 1845, and more than 36,000 had come by 1917. The African Caribbean Institute of Jamaica credits them with using curry powder to season meats, and with curried goat, now a Jamaican specialty.⁶ See Jamaican curry powder and Jamaican vs. Indian curry powder.

Related pages

• Jamaican spices, Cuban spices and Haitian spices
• Jerk seasoning and jerk seasoning substitutes
• Adobo seasoning and sazón
• Culantro
• The master list of herbs and spices