Taste is very important to us when we're cooking. No dish is complete without the tasty aroma of the many local cooking herbs, we lovingly call seasoning, and yet still, others cannot do without that spicy, peppery taste in their food.
Cooking with Local Herbs
All our meats are marinated in fresh herbs (preferably) days before it is cooked. Even while cooking, fresh herbs are again added so much so that the very aroma of a good pot cooking could actually make your mouth water So keep this in mind while you're trying out some of the many local Trinidad and Tobago recipes. Some are going to be spicy, some peppery and HOT, and others will just have your mouth wondering what part of heaven you're in.
This weekend we went shopping, as it is also month end; of course among all the grocery items you just have to go to the market to get some of the fresh herbs for seasoning our meats and for cooking. Even though we use dried herbs in our cooking, we usually prefer to use fresh herbs when preparing our delicious meals. So, here is a little about some of the more common herbs we use in our sumptuous Caribbean cooking recipes.
Local Cooking Herbs
The first local cooking herb is the chadon beni.
First of, the most popular herb found in any pot is Chadon beni or shadow beni (Eryngium Foetidum),also known as Bandhania and Culantro (not to be confused with Cilantro Coriandrum Sativum). This is a plant that grows mostly wild (sometimes cultivated) and very hardy because it grows where other plants cannot; as we say in Trini “dis plant doh aks to grow”. The long leaves are used in almost everything; chutneys, chows, etc and of course everyday cooking.
There are a number of recipes on this site that are mostly dependent on chadon beni.
They are: chadon beni chutney, chadon beni pesto, pastelles, mango chow, pineapple chow and hot pepper sauce.
Chive
Another favourite is Chive (Escallion – Allium ascalonicum L.). Commonly known as ‘chive' with the ‘ch‘ pronounced as ‘s‘. (sigh- ve) . In Trinidad this herb is grown mostly in the mountainous areas of Paramin largely because of the soil, which allows for easy water filtration, and the stable cool temperature of the high altitude.
Chive grows easily once the conditions are right, the stalk is used and the bulbs can be replanted in a grow box or pot.
Fine Leaf Thyme
Next we have what we call fine leaf thyme This pungent herb, also grown in abundance in Paramin, also graces our pots and dishes from time to time. It is usually sold in small bunches or together with chive. From experience, this plant is very difficult to grow and seems to require the same conditions as chive – it also does not like direct sunlight.
Spanish Thyme
Spanish thyme is another of our locally grown herbs. Its leaves are a little bigger than its cousin the fine leaf thyme. Also used in cooking and in seasoning meat or fish or what have you. Once treated well, a Spanish thyme plant can last for years even if planted in a pot.
Big Leaf Thyme
Another of the thyme family is what we refer to as big leaf thyme. Known for its pungent aroma, big leaf thyme is used when cooking or seasoning meats or blended together with the other herbs to make seasoning which is then refrigerated. This herb is also sold in bunches at the market.
Well this brings us to the end of another post stay tuned for more.
Hello – I have a business venture I want to start in Trinidad and have been looking for someone who would be able to teach some hands on cooking classes to a group.
I have been looking all over online and can’t find any. I will be visiting the island in February and if you know anyone who would be interested, I would love to meet them to discuss. Any help would be appreciated.
I thank you for your comment. I’ve sent you an email concerning the cooking classes.
Hi Felix, I am really knocked senseless. As A child growing up in Trinidad, I recall the many week-ends my mother would have my brothers and I assist her in weeding our garden or drive-way path. Little did I know that plant we called a weed that seemed to grow everywhere and anywhere was the Chadon Beni plant. Even on your lawn, this plant would suddenly appear. The plant would pop out from among stone or a crack in a paved pathway. Now I use this plant among the various herbs I use to make my home-made seasoning. Here in New York, I have to buy it. I wish my magic wand would work and recall all those I wasted when I discarded them as weeds in my childhood.
Carlyle from your facebook group
Are there other names for some of the herbs you describe? I live in NY and am trying to make your Curry Shrimp recipe. I was able to find everything I needed except for the Spanish Thyme and the Big Leaf Thyme. The supermarkets here are chock full of herbs, most of which have different names depending on who you ask and where they are from. Me? I’m just a lonely puerto rican mom raising a half-trini kid and I could use some help.
Big Leaf Thyme is also known as Cuban Oregano or Mexican Mint (also known as Spanish Thyme). As for the “Spanish Thyme” listed in the article, maybe you can find it at some Caribbean markets if you’re lucky, otherwise, regular Fine Leaf Thyme will work just fine.
The botanical name for Spanish Thyme is Lippia Micromera.
Common names are:
Jamaican oregano
Dominican oregano
Puerto Rican oregano
False oregano
Are there other names for some of the herbs you describe? I live in NY and am trying to make your Curry Shrimp recipe. I was able to find everything I needed except for the Spanish Thyme and the Big Leaf Thyme. The supermarkets here are chock full of herbs, most of which have different names depending on who you ask and where they are from. Me? I’m just a lonely puerto rican mom raising a half-trini kid and I could use some help.
Are there other names for some of the herbs you describe? I live in NY and am trying to make your Curry Shrimp recipe. I was able to find everything I needed except for the Spanish Thyme and the Big Leaf Thyme. The supermarkets here are chock full of herbs, most of which have different names depending on who you ask and where they are from. Me? I’m just a lonely puerto rican mom raising a half-trini kid and I could use some help.
I’ll have to check but in the mean while a good idea would be to walk with a picture of the herbs when you’re going to buy them that might help a bit.
I grew up in St.Kitts and we have much all the same herbs. We use Thyme allot like its almost a must use herb along with garlic. Growing up Shadow Beni grew everywhere but it wasn’t used as much i remember in many of my Aunts or Grandma cooking and they were all Kitchen Bosses when it comes to cooking. Shadow Beni i do remember from my Grandma was used to make a Tea especially when we were sometime such from something. She would send me down the street to someone year and tell me to get a few leaves of the prickly, saw leaf plant and growing up thats all i ever knew of the plant really. It wasn’t until i started cooking more Caribbean later on in life living in the US and most i found was Trini cooking then did i keep hearing Shadow Beni and wonder what the hell it was until i actually saw the plant leaf did it occur to me exactly what it was after all this time.
I live here in the US in the Pittsburgh PA area and Shadow Beni i can find at a local Asian Store. Regular Thyme at local grocery most stores, but you will absolute no luck finding the other more exotic Thyme varieties unless i grow them myself in a pot. And no luck finding Scotch Bonnet anywhere around these parts either.
Five years later, I’ll just note that I’ve never seen “big leaf thyme” being sold as an herb here in NYC, even in heavily Caribbean neighborhoods, where regular (European) thyme is plentiful and sold much more cheaply than in normal “American” shops. I have (very) occasionally seen the plants of big leaf thyme for sale, most often at the Union Square Greenmarket, though of course it’s rather late in the year right now (as I post this comment) to find them, even there. Late Spring and early Summer would be the best time to look for plants, if they’re available.