Ackee is still a relatively unknown ingredient in most households in the UK. Take a trip to Jamaica, however, and the story is rather different. This Jamaican national fruit originates from the forests of West Africa, recorded as first making the long journey across the Atlantic in the 18th century, and therefore its name has similar origins — deriving from a Ghanaian Twi language word ‘Ankye’.
With a distinctive red hue, the ackee fruit comes from the sapindaceae family, the same as the family of lychee fruit. It grows in clusters on an evergreen tree, and as the fruit opens, three large black seeds are revealed, however it is the yellow flesh (the aril) that surrounds these seeds inside of the fruit, which is the sole edible part.