If you hear a local speak about apple season as a visitor to Jamaican shores, do not be confused when you are handed something unexpected. Unlike the typical Western apple, the tropical version is totally unrelated. Otherwise known as a Malay apple, the Otaheite is a deep red or pink hued fruit with a huge central seed surrounded by rose fragranced white spongy flesh which can range from seriously sweet to mouth puckering tangy. Unique tasting, it is one of those fruits that you either like or dislike if you are not accustomed to the flavour.
Ingredients
- Crumble
- 150g porridge oats
- 50g sunflower seeds
- 75g pumpkin seeds
- 125g unsalted cashews, broken into pieces
- Grated nutmeg to taste
- 2 tbsp Jamaican honey
- Otaheiti Apple Mix
- 1 sweet orange, zest and juice
- 12 sweet mini otaheites, seeds removed cut into 4 slices each
- 1 tsp brown sugar
- 4 chunks crystallized ginger, roughly chopped
- Grating of Nutmeg
Method
- Preheat oven to 400F and lightly spray a baking dish with oil.
- In a bowl add orange zest and juice, otaheite apple slices, sugar, crystallized ginger and a grating of nutmeg, toss together and transfer to the baking dish.
- Bake for 15 minutes and remove from heat.
- Mix topping ingredients together and place on top of the baked fruit.
- Bake for another 10 to 15 minutes.
Jacqui ‘JuicyChef’ Sinclair, founder of Nyam & Trod, is a British Jamaican award-winning chef, writer, and food culturist. She is a co-founder of Kingston Kitchen, an annual food event supporting food artisans. Jacqui has been an advocate of the Meatless Monday Global movement in Jamaica since 2011. Jacqui’s work has been featured in such publications as the Huffington Post, the Jamaica Observer, Saveur, The Jewish Post and numerous blogs. She has appeared on the Travel Channel’s ‘Bizarre Foods’ with Andrew Zimmern and Food & Wine’s Jamaica episode with Kwame Onwuachi.