Jamaican Jerk Marinade, Herbs for Health
- Alastair Hunt
- Aug 4, 2023
- 3 min read
Updated: Dec 8, 2024
Jerk is a spicy and flavourful marinade and sauce used in Jamaican cuisine, especially for marinating and grilling meat, particularly chicken or pork. It's also great with fish and prawns!
Jerk is made with a blend of fresh herbs and spices, including thyme, scallions (spring onions), garlic, ginger, allspice and fiercely hot Scotch bonnet peppers - a type of habanero. The combination of these aromatic herbs and spices (the allspice is vital) creates a robust and zesty sauce that infuses the meat with a distinct Caribbean flavour profile. The sauce is often applied generously to the meat before grilling, resulting in a smoky and tangy taste that is characteristic of Jamaican jerk dishes.
"Jerk is mostly associated with meat, but Jamaica has its own Rastafarian plant based eating practice - Ital. In its strictest form an Ital diet has no meat, fish, salt or sugar; it is 100% whole food and plant based."
As part of a nutritionally rich, whole health lifestyle, at The Whole Health Practice we advocate enjoying herbs (and spices) as a regular part of one’s diet. While some herbs (and their polyphenols) have shown positive results for specific health outcomes, enjoy a variety of herbs that work in synergy to promote maximum health. And taste!
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Ital is Vital!
Alastair
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Related Studies
Mackonochie M, Rodriguez-Mateos A, Mills S, Rolfe V. A Scoping Review of the Clinical Evidence for the Health Benefits of Culinary Doses of Herbs and Spices for the Prevention and Treatment of Metabolic Syndrome. Nutrients. 2023 Nov 22;15(23):4867. doi: 10.3390/nu15234867. PMID: 38068725; PMCID: PMC10708057.
Vázquez-Fresno R, Rosana ARR, Sajed T, Onookome-Okome T, Wishart NA, Wishart DS. Herbs and Spices- Biomarkers of Intake Based on Human Intervention Studies - A Systematic Review. Genes Nutr. 2019 May 22;14:18. doi: 10.1186/s12263-019-0636-8. PMID: 31143299; PMCID: PMC6532192.
Doyle BJ, Lawal TO, Locklear TD, Hernandez L, Perez AL, Patel U, Patel S, Mahady GB. Isolation and identification of three new chromones from the leaves of Pimenta dioica with cytotoxic, oestrogenic and anti-oestrogenic effects. Pharm Biol. 2018 Dec;56(1):235-244. doi: 10.1080/13880209.2018.1448873. PMID: 29564971; PMCID: PMC6130578.
Zhang L, Lokeshwar BL. Medicinal properties of the Jamaican pepper plant Pimenta dioica and Allspice. Curr Drug Targets. 2012 Dec;13(14):1900-6. doi: 10.2174/138945012804545641. PMID: 23140298; PMCID: PMC3891794.
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