Callaloo
- This article is about Caribbean soup sometimes called pepperpot. For the colonial soup made with tripe, see Philadelphia Pepper Pot.
Callaloo (sometimes calaloo) is a Caribbean dish that is most popular in Jamaica, Guyana, and Barbados (known as pepperpot). Jamaicans are known to use callaloo in a plethora of dishes. The main ingredient is a leaf vegetable, traditionally either amaranth (known by many local names including callaloo or bhaji), or taro or Xanthosoma species (both known by many local names including callaloo, coco, tannia, or dasheen bush). Because the leaf vegetable used in some regions may be locally called "callaloo" or "callaloo bush", some confusion can arise among the different vegetables and with the dish itself. Outside of the Caribbean, water spinach is occasionally used.
Plant sources for Callaloo leaves
- Taro - also called dasheen in the West Indies the leaves of this root crop are used in the Trinidadian version of the dish
- Tannia or Malanga called calalu in Puerto Rico
- Amaranth species include Amaranthus spinosus used in the West Indies and A. flavus is a yellow variety used in Brazil and known as caruru
- Pokeweed species Phtolacca octandra or West Indian foxglove
- Nightshade species Solanum nodiflorum
- Water spinach Ipomoea aquatica
Callaloo is almost always made with okra and dasheen or water spinach Ipomoea aquatica. There are many variations of callaloo which may include coconut milk, crab, Caribbean lobster, meats, chile peppers, and other seasonings. The ingredients are added and simmered down to a soup or stew consistency. When done, callaloo is dark green in color and is served as a soup or a side dish which may be used as a gravy for other food.
Callaloo is widely known throughout the Caribbean and has a distinctively Caribbean origin, created by African slaves using ideas of the indigenous people along with both African (okra) and indigenous (Xanthosoma) plants.
Reference
Davidson, Alan. Oxford Companion to Food (1999), "Callaloo". p. 125 ISBN 0-19-211579-0
