Jamaican Jerk Seasoning (Dry)

Jamaica is located some 90 miles or so south of Cuba in the Caribbean Sea. Jamaica gained its independence from Great Britain in the early 1960s, although Queen Elizabeth II is the queen of this island nation, and she is represented there by her appointed governor-general, but Jamaica has its own governing system and prime minister. It is tough to think of Jamaica without thinking of reggae music, musician Bob Marley and Olympic runner Usain Bolt.  

 

Jamaica is famous for "jerk" cooking; that is, foods, usually meat, especially chicken, that is marinated with a spice rub and/or liquid marinade, and then grilled or roasted. Foods prepared this way in Jamaica are spicy hot, as they contain hot chili peppers, including the famous "scotch bonnets," named after their shape, but which might make you flip your bonnet from the intense heat they can produce. I've given my version of the dry spice/herb rub here, and I may soon do a version of the liquid marinade, which uses scotch bonnet chilies. Of course, you can adjust the heat level up or down to your own preference with these types of spice mixtures. 

 

Ingredients:

 

1 tablespoon onion powder

1 tablespoon garlic powder

2 teaspoons salt

1 1/2 teaspoons ground black pepper

2 teaspoons brown sugar

2 teaspoons dried thyme 

2 teaspoons ground allspice

1 1/2 teaspoons sweet smoked Spanish paprika

2 teaspoons dried parsley

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon ground red chili pepper

1 1/2 teaspoons dried red pepper flakes

 

Add the ingredients to the container you will use for the seasoning, put the lid on and shake the container until everything is well mixed together. Shake the container again before each usage of the seasoning. 

 

WORD HISTORY:

Felt-This is the noun for the type of fabric, as in "felt-tip or felt-tipped pen." It is related to "filter," a word borrowed by English from Latin (with French influence and reinforcement), with Latin having borrowed the base of the word from Germanic, and it is related to "pelt," the verb form meaning "to hit or beat," plus, "to hit with objects thrown, launched or fired in some way," a word from Latin long ago, going back to Old English, and it is related to the second part of "anvil," a word from the Germanic roots of English. "Felt" goes back to one of the Indo European roots, "pel" (there are several with varied meanings), with the idea of "beat, hit, beat down;" thus also, "compress." This gave Old Germanic "felt(az)," with the same meanings, and this gave the West Germanic branch of Germanic "feltaz/filtiz," meaning "wool or wool combined with other fur beaten until compressed into a fabric." This gave Old English "felt," where it has remained ever since. Relatives in the other Germanic languages: German has "Filz," Low German has "Filt," West Frisian "filt," Dutch "vilt," Danish "filt" (from Low German), Swedish "filt" (also borrowed from Low German, seemingly with the initial meaning of  "felt," but with the wool fabric meaning coming to mean "blanket," although that meaning seems to have also been in Low German).