Vacation spice buying!

[flyfishjeep]

My parents are leaving for a week long vacation to the carribean for their anniversary. I asked my mom to stop at all the local markets she can to pick me up some local island spices for the smoker. She is a great cook and has a keen eye for shopping. Hopefully she won't let me down.
We are heading to Antiqua in the end of May, and I hope to do the same thing when were are there.

Anyone else find some good local spices or other things when they were on vacations?

 

[rbranstner]

My wife and I love Herbs de Provence. She fell in love with it while living in France for a year. Its great on lamb, pork loin or just about anything for that matter. You can find it in the states. She scored big at TJMAX a few weeks ago and found a crock for CHEAP. It was awesome on the lamb that that night.

http://www.kitchenkapers.com/hedepr1ozcr8.html

 

[fire it up]

I would say grab some local pepper blends, local dried or powdered fruits (to add to rubs), see what they add to their local pig or open fire cooked foods so you can recreate them at home in the smoker.
A few different true Caribbean jerk seasonings.

 

[jjwdiver]

I'm headed to Jamaica in a couple of weeks. Anyone have any specific recommendations on what I should pick up? or requests for possible barter?

 

[phil brown]

Bring back pimento wood! Essential for jerk chicken/pork/whatever, and very plentiful on the island. I'm usually stuck smoldering allspice berries, but nothing beats the real thing!

 

[aeroforce100]

Would there be any reason that the USDA or other gov agency might prohibit the import of any of the above mentioned spices/ wood?

 

[jjwdiver]

I'm trying to do a search now on pimento wood

 

[jjwdiver]

pimentowood.com looks like a place you could get it. It's an exotic wood chips distributor out of Minnetonka, MN

 

[mballi3011]

Having been to Jamacia many many time we have alway gotten alot of the allspice is very good and really fresh there too. Then you cann't go without going to Boston (the hottest Jerk in Jamacia) and buy some of their spices. I would recommand that they talk to some locals and they should be able to lead them in a good direction. After all thats how we ended up with an adpoted son there to.

 

[phil brown]

Since we're talking jerk, pick up some scotch bonnet peppers. If you or anyone you know is a chilehead, they'll be a pleasant (or somewhat painful) surprise.

Oh, and I checked out that site. They want a lot of dough for their wood. Maybe I should just grow some trees in the backyard.

 

[forktender]

Ya mon................... BIG COIN !!!!!!

 

[flyfishjeep]

Mom finally came through with a nice small sampling of some local flavors. She sent some Paprika, Jerk Seasoning and a few others premixed flavors. I will try to get some pics up and I will definetly be using them soon.