Real jerk is not a marinade - it is smoke. And the smoke has to come from one specific tree growing on hillsides across the parish of St Ann. This is why we pay to fly pimento wood across the Atlantic when British oak would be cheaper and easier.
Real jerk is not a marinade – it is smoke. And the smoke has to come from one specific tree growing on hillsides across the parish of St Ann.
Pimento wood – allspice wood – burns differently to anything else. The essential oils in the bark and the green wood carry into the smoke, and the smoke carries into the meat. You cannot fake it with liquid smoke. You cannot fake it with ground allspice. You can only use the wood.
Why We Started Shipping It
We tried British oak first. Good smoke, clean burn, honest flavour. But it was not jerk. The chicken came off the grill tasting like a good barbecue – which is not bad, but it is not what we are doing.
We found a supplier in Birmingham who imports direct from Jamaica. We now get a pallet every six weeks. It costs more than it should and we do not apologise for it.
What Happens to the Smoke
The pimento wood goes on the grill first, whole branches. We let it catch, let it settle to a deep smoulder. The chicken goes on after the flames die down – it needs smoke, not fire. Forty minutes minimum. The skin crisps up, the smoke gets into every layer, and the allspice oils do what no marinade can replicate.
That is the difference you taste when you eat our jerk. It is the wood.